Emily Davidson

• Emily Wilding Davison


  Born in Blackheath, southeast London on 11 October 1872. Studied at Royal Holloway College and at Oxford University, although women were not allowed to actually receive degrees at that time
• Joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst


  1906
• Emily Davison's actions


  1. Gave up job as a teacher and went to work full-time for the suffragette movement

  2. Frequently arrested for acts ranging from causing a public disturbance to burning post boxes

  3. Sent to jail 5 times

  4. Attempted to starve herself and resisted force-feeding in jail
• Davison becoming increasingly militant


  1911
• Went to the Epsom Derby and positioned herself at the final bend before the home straight


  4 June 1913
• Davison's actions at the Derby

  1. Ducked under the guard rail and ran onto the course

  2. May have held in her hands one of the suffragette flags

  3. Reached up to the reins of Anmer who was King George V's horse

  4. Was hit by the animal, which would have been travelling at around 35 miles per hour
• Davison was knocked to the ground unconscious; some reports say she was kicked in the head by Anmer</b>
• Davison died from a fracture at the base of her skull

  8 June
• Items found in Davison's pockets

  • Two suffragette flags
  • Return sub of her railway ticket to London
  • Her race entry card
  • A ticket to a suffragette dance later that day
  • A diary with appointments for the following week
• Davison's purpose in attending the Derby and walking onto the course is unclear. She did not discuss her plans with anyone or leave a note
• Theories about Davison's actions


  • She intended to simply cross the track, believing that all horses had passed
  • She wanted to pull down the King's horse
  • She was trying to attach one of the WSPU flags to a horse
  • She intended to throw herself in front of one of the horses as a protest
• John Ervine (eye-witness): 'The King's horse, Anmer, come up and Ms Davison went towards it, she put out her hand, but whether it was to catch hold of the reins or protect herself, I don't know. It was all over in a few seconds. The horse knocked her over with great force and then stumbled and fell, throwing the jockey violently onto the ground. Both he and Ms Davison were bleeding a lot. I feel sure that Ms Davison meant to stop the horse and that she didn't go onto the course accidentally, thinking the race was over.'
• Emmeline Pankhurst: 'Emily Davison clung to her conviction that one great tragedy, the deliberate throwing into the breach of a human life, would put an end to the intolerable torture of women. And so she threw herself at the king's horse, in full view of the king and queen and a great multitude of their majesties' subjects.'
• Ten days before the end of her six-month sentence, on 28 June 1912, Emily Davison was released in a run-down state, two stone lighter, with two scalp wounds. She had been force-fed forty-nine times.
• Emily Davison's continued campaign of militancy

  1. Breaking windows

  2. Setting fire to post boxes

  3. Attempting to assault Lloyd George
• Despite her constant support for the Suffragette cause, she was never employed as a paid Organiser by the Women's Social and Political Union, and not all the articles that she submitted were published in suffrage newspapers
• Suffrage groups


  • Suffragists - a calm & peaceful group aiming to get votes for women
  • Suffragettes - a group aiming to get votes for women in a violent militant way
• Suffragists did peaceful protests & marches, their leader was Millicent Fawcett (1870-1920)
• Suffragettes were violent, bombed churches, blew up mailboxes, their leader was Emmeline Pankhurst
• World War I began, so the suffrage groups had to stop their activities
• After World War I and their efforts, women got the vote
• The suffrage groups just wanted equal rights for women (getting the vote)