BOMBS & PILGRIMS

Women continued campaigning for the vote right up to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Many MPs and some sections of the public believed that property-qualified women should now have the vote but there was no move from the Liberal Government under Asquith. Suffragists pressed on hopefully, writing passionate letters to the papers, holding public meetings and using other law-abiding methods to promote their cause. Invited by the local NUWSS, Muriel Matters returned to Hastings and spoke at the Palacette, site of Hastings’s first full time cinema. By contrast, the WSPU stepped up their campaign of damaging property. In 1914 suffragette Mary Richardson caused outrage when she slashed the Rokeby Venus in London’s National Gallery. WSPU members also began to place small home made bombs in public places, including Westminster Abbey. The bomb exploded causing only a small amount of damage. In May 1913 three crudely made bombs were found in Hastings. The verger of Holy Trinity Church found one in the church. It consisted of a large tin full of wood shavings, gunpowder and petrol-soaked rags. Attached to the tin was a label: “Votes for Women. No Law. No order till we get the vote.” Hearing ticking, caretaker Mr Butterfield found another in the Brassey Institute, which consisted of a large stone, a clock and smouldering cigarette buts. A local tobacconist found a third bomb, which he took into the police station. No one knew who had made or planted the bombs. The police suspected local suffragettes but WSPU member Isabel Sieveking wrote to the press saying the local WSPU had nothing to do with them.

“It is now or never… women have got to come out and fight.”

Suffragette Barbara Ayrton Gould, speaking in Hastings

Right: photograph shows Holy Trinity Church on the left and the Brassey Institute in Claremont (now the public library). In May 1913, home-made bombs were found in both buildings.

A BIT OF A SHOCK

In February 1914 the local congregation in St Mary Magdalen Church nearly jumped out of their seats, when local suffragists staged a protest. The suffragettes stood up and recited a prayer asking God to save Kitty Marion and other suffragettes who were suffering for “conscience sake” and asking God to make Bishops and Clergy see the justice of the women’s cause.

WOMEN’S PILGRIMAGE

In 1913 local suffragists Jane Strickland and Kate Rance joined a Women’s Suffrage Pilgrimage. Organised by the NUWSS the pilgrimage aimed to demonstrate just how many women wanted the vote. Some 50,000 converged peacefully on London’s Hyde Park, having walked and cycled from all over Britain.