Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant'
4th June 2013, 08:30
One hundred years ago Emily Wilding Davison was trampled upon by King George V's horse at the Epsom Derby and died from her injuries four days later. Her fellow suffragettes made her into an international martyr, but was this her own intention?
On 4 June 1913, a crowd of around 300,000 spectators were present at the Derby, when the race was interrupted.
A woman ran out onto the track in the path of the horses. Knocked down, she lay unconscious, bleeding. It was Emily Wilding Davison, a militant suffragette already well-known to the police.
The footage was captured on film (http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-death-of-emily-davison/967.html) and broadcast around the world.
Emily Wilding Davison
Gained a first-class honours in English at Oxford University, but could not graduate as degrees were closed to women
1906: Joined the WSPU
1909: Sentenced to a month's hard labour for throwing rocks at the chancellor's carriage
1911: Was found "hiding in the crypt in the Houses of Parliament" on the night of the census, so she could put House of Commons as her official residence
1912: Sentenced to six months in Holloway Prison for setting fire to a pillar box. While in prison she was force-fed after going on hunger strike
(BBC History - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/22596311)
On 4 June 1913, a crowd of around 300,000 spectators were present at the Derby, when the race was interrupted.
A woman ran out onto the track in the path of the horses. Knocked down, she lay unconscious, bleeding. It was Emily Wilding Davison, a militant suffragette already well-known to the police.
The footage was captured on film (http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-death-of-emily-davison/967.html) and broadcast around the world.
Emily Wilding Davison
Gained a first-class honours in English at Oxford University, but could not graduate as degrees were closed to women
1906: Joined the WSPU
1909: Sentenced to a month's hard labour for throwing rocks at the chancellor's carriage
1911: Was found "hiding in the crypt in the Houses of Parliament" on the night of the census, so she could put House of Commons as her official residence
1912: Sentenced to six months in Holloway Prison for setting fire to a pillar box. While in prison she was force-fed after going on hunger strike
(BBC History - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/22596311)