The Suffragette Bombers: Britain's Forgotten Terrorists

by Simon Webb

Overview

In the years leading up to the First World War, the United Kingdom was subjected to a ferocious campaign of bombing and arson. Those conducting this terrorist offensive were members of the Women's Social and Political Union; better known as the suffragettes. The targets for their attacks ranged from St Paul's Cathedral and the Bank of England in London to theatres and churches in Ireland. The violence, which included several attempted assassinations, culminated in June 1914 with an explosion in Westminster Abbey.Simon Webb explores the way in which the suffragette bombers have been airbrushed from history, leaving us with a distorted view of the struggle for female suffrage. Not only were the suffragettes far more aggressive than is generally known, but there exists the very real and surprising possibility that their militant activities actually delayed, rather than hastened, the granting of the parliamentary vote to British women.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473838437
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	188
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Simon Webb is the author of a number of non-fiction books, ranging from academic works on education to popular history. He works as a consultant on the subject of capital punishment to television companies and filmmakers and also writes for various magazines and newspapers; including the Times Educational Supplement, Daily Telegraph and the Guardian.

Table of Contents

List of Plates vii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction xi

1 Suffragettes and Suffragists 1

2 The Edwardian World 15

3 An Undemocratic Organisation 29

4 The Use of Terror and the Need for Martyrs 53

5 Emily Davison - Portrait of a Terrorist 71

6 Bombing and Arson 87

7 The Terrorist Campaign Gathers Pace 107

8 Winter, 1913 129

9 Dead End - Saved by the War 141

10 The Plot to Kill the Prime Minister 161

11 How the Vote was Won 169

12 The Birth of a Myth 177

Bibliography 183

Index 185