On Saturday lunchtime while down in London, we walked from North End Road into an area of Fulham known as the Baron's Court Estate. At the end of Fairholme Road I noticed a blue plaque on the end house and went over to investigate.
You may not know the significance of a blue plaque. They are placed on certain buildings by an organisation called English Heritage. They recognise noteworthy people and Amongst other things - where they lived in past times.
This particular plaque recognised a woman who literally died for women's suffrage in the summer of 1913. She went to the racecourse at Epsom to ostensibly watch the English Derby being run. However, when the king's horse Anmer came round the bend where she was standing, she ran onto the track and tried to grab the horse's reins. She suffered a fatal head injury and died two days later. Her name was Emily Wilding Davison and this was the front page of "The Daily Sketch" the day after Emily's death:-
She had been an activist for almost twenty years, recognising in her bones that women had been denied the right to vote for far too long. Maybe she didn't mean to die at Epsom racecourse that day but she was undoubtedly a martyr and indeed a heroine. It was brave women like her who paved the way for women's suffrage in Great Britain and all that followed afterwards in the struggle for women's equality. It is of course a struggle that continues to this day
I watched the highlights of the match and your team had some great plays. Great for making it that far!
ReplyDeleteYou are correct about women still fighting for their rights. I can't believe some of the things that are being done these days and hope it can be corrected soon.
It was a good game, a good battle. We were not disgraced.
DeleteWomen have had a long up hill battle to obtain voting rights as well as other rights. The story is not over yet.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that The Micromanager will attest to that!
DeleteI don't think I would ever be brave enough to die for a cause.
ReplyDeleteWe have the blue plaques here on heritage places, but they are oval shaped, though they do have the required information on them.
No. I would not want to die for a cause either Elsie.
DeleteI am with Ellen there - great for making it that far! My sister and I watched together. rooting for England. They can still be proud of themselves; nobody beat Spain but they didn't make them win easily.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to think of Emily Wilding Davison's action. Did her losing her life and endangering that of others really have a positive influence on the cause she was fighting for?
I understand that her death was something of a turning point for the Suffragette movement and Emily Wilding Davison remains a legendary figure. That is why I was thrilled when I unexpectedly spotted her plaque. I am glad that you and your sister enjoyed the game and rooted for England.
DeleteAlso rans. I never thought for a second that England would or could win. Kane should have been dropped and Toney played up front. Have you seen the film Suffragette?
ReplyDeleteAre you Scottish Dave?
DeleteYes. I have seen that film.
This made no sense to me (what grabbig the reins of a king's horse in a race had to do with women's rights), so I read the whole Wikipedia article about her. It still makes no sense to me...
ReplyDeleteIt made sense to me. Through her actions she single-handedly boosted the profile of the suffragette movement though it is not clear that she wanted to die that day.
DeleteWell done Ms Davis. It was an extreme self sacrifice for the greater good.
ReplyDeleteBad luck about the footy old chap.
Emily Davison died to highlight a cause she believed in and she is still remembered today.
Delete"The unintended consequence of an intended action" suddenly sprang to mind from times long past. So history is so often made and lives so often changed.
ReplyDeleteSome say that she simply wanted to fasten the ribbons of the suffragettes' cause to the horse's reins - green, purple and white.
DeleteGoogle tells me that women are paid only 84% of what men are paid for the same job, 100 years later and still striving for fairness.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is in a country that imagines it has already nailed the equality issue.
DeleteSad that she had to die for the cause and therefore didn't see the results of her, and many others, efforts.
ReplyDeleteYes - very sad. But for change to happen, there must often be trailblazers.
DeleteI agree with Dawn Treader that I can't see a relationship between trying to grab the King's horse and women getting the vote but she was known, I suppose, for her "militant" (as Wikipedia puts it) actions.
ReplyDeleteRemember when that protesting student stood in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square in June 1989? This was something similar.
DeleteBut the tank was part of what the student was protesting.
DeleteWhat a way to go. I guess it's a bit like activists who lie down on a motorway nowadays (and run the risk of being run over).
ReplyDeleteThere have been many who have died for causes they believed in. I remember Jan Palach who set fire to himself in 1969 in a protest against the Soviet invasion of what was then Czechoslovakia.
DeleteAnd also, what happened to the horse? And the jockey? I ask in all seriousness.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall from my reading - the jockey, Herbert Jones, suffered a simple concussion and the horse (Anmer) ran a race two weeks later. They were both okay.
DeleteI thought of you when I was reading about Spain's victory. Interesting that a Spaniard also won the men's final at Wimbledon on the same day.
ReplyDelete