Battle of Downing Street

{{Infobox civil conflict

|title = Battle of Downing Street

|image = Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst, c.1910. (22756050680).jpg

|caption = Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst, 1910

|date = {{start date|1910|11|22|df=y}}

|place = Downing Street, London, England

|coordinates = {{coord|51|30|11.6|N|0|07|39.0|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline, title}}

|methods = Demonstration, smashing windows

|side1 = Women's Social and Political Union (suffragettes)

|side2 = Liberal government, 1905–1915

|leadfigures1 = Emmeline Pankhurst

|leadfigures2 = H. H. Asquith

|howmany1 = 200 protesters

|casualties_label = Arrests

|notes = Preceded by: Black Friday

|result =

|injuries =

|arrests = 159 women; three men

}}

The Battle of Downing Street was a march of suffragettes to Downing Street, London, on 22 November 1910. Organized by Emmeline Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union, the march took place four days after Black Friday, a suffragette protest outside the House of Commons that saw the women violently attacked by police.{{harvnb|Bartley|2002|p=125}}; {{cite news |date=23 November 1910 |title=Suffragist Disturbances |newspaper=The Times |location=London}}

Prime Minister's statement

Taking place in the context of the debate over the Conciliation Bill 1910 (giving a limited number of women the vote according to property and marital status), the march was a direct response to a statement by the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith that: "The Government will, if they are still in power, give facilities in the next Parliament for effectively proceeding with a Bill which is framed so as to admit of free amendment", which suggested that the bill would have no chance of being passed.{{harvnb|Lee|Colmore|2008|p=342}}; {{harvnb|Rosen|2013|pp=142–143}}.

Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst were at Caxton Hall when news arrived of Asquith's speech; Christabel announced to the audience that it was a declaration of war: "The promise for next parliament is an absurd mockery of a pledge. They have been talking of declarations of war. We also declare war from this moment." Emmeline told the crowd: "I am going to Downing Street. Come along, all of you."{{sfn|Purvis|2002|p=151}}

March on Downing Street

Around 200 women marched on Downing Street, smashing windows at the Colonial Office and Home Office, and on Asquith's car;{{sfn|Rosen|2013|p=143}} Emmeline Pankhurst and her sister, Mary Clarke, were arrested, along with another 157 women and three men. Clarke was arrested for throwing a stone through the window at Canon Row Police Station, where Pankhurst was being held, after the police refused to let Clarke see her.{{sfn|Purvis|2002|pp=151–152}} About 20 women approached 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence, from the back and swarmed around Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland. He said they "pulled me about and hustled me, 'stroked' my face [and] knocked off my hat". In trying to get away, he was left with a twisted knee and slipped kneecap.{{harvnb|Rosen|2013|pp=143–144}}; also see Pankhurst, Christabel (24 November 1910). "Correspondence: Assaults on Cabinet Ministers". The Manchester Guardian. p. 3. Birrell did not seek a prosecution; he wrote to the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, on 21 February 1911: "[L]et the matter drop but keep your eye on the hags in question."{{harvnb|Churchill|1969|p=1468}}, citing A. Birrell to W. S. Churchill, Irish Office, Old Queen Street, 21 February 1911; {{harvnb|Rosen|2013|p=143}}.

References

Works cited

{{cite book|last=Bartley|first=Paula|year=2002|title=Emmeline Pankhurst|location=London|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-20651-8}}
{{cite book|last=Churchill|first=Randolph Spencer|year=1969|title=Winston S. Churchill: Volume Two Companion, 1900–1914|location=London|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}
{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Alison|last2=Colmore|first2=Gertrude|year=2008|chapter=Appendix D: The Conciliation Bill and Black Friday|editor-last=Lee|editor-first=Alison|title=Suffragette Sally|location=Peterborough, Ontario|publisher=Broadview Press|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fAk8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA342&lpg=PA342 342–357]|isbn=978-1-55111-474-3}}
{{cite book |last1=Purvis |first1=June |author-link=June Purvis|title=Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |location=London and New York |isbn=978-0415239783}}
{{cite book|last=Rosen|first=Andrew|year=2013|orig-year=1974|title=Rise Up, Women! The Militant Campaign of the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903–1914|location=London|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-24754-5}}

Battle of Downing Street

Prime Minister's statement

March on Downing Street

See also

References

Works cited

Further reading