Suffragette Violence - they were domestic terrorists

The Women's Social and Political Union, aka the Suffragettes, ran a bombing and arson campaign between 1912 and 1914 across Great Britain and Ireland. This organisation was run by and is synonymous with the Pankhurst

family. They targeted infrastructure, government, churches and the general public with the use of explosive devices, arson, letter bombs, assassination attempts and other forms of violence to gain votes for women. At least 5 people were killed in such attacks and at least 24 were injured. The organisation adopted the motto "deeds, not words".

They believed more radical action was needed to force the government to act. From 1905 their activities became increasingly militant and illegal. They stormed Parliament, assaulted politicians and smashed windows at government buildings. One member even assaulted Winston Churchill with a horsewhip at Bristol railway station.

Their reign of terror began in the summer of 2012 when they attacked the homes of three government ministers and planted a bomb in the Home Secretary's office. An extremely dangerous incident occurred at the Theatre Royal, where a packed lunchtime matinee attended by the Prime Minister was the scene of a failed gunpowder and petrol plot. The same day a suffragette threw a hatchet towards the Prime Minister, it missed him but hit another MP, cutting him in the ear.

In November 1912, post boxes were booby-trapped with dangerous chemicals across Great Britain, it began a 5-day campaign. The next day a suffragette assaulted a stranger at a train station because she thought he was a politician. In December, railway signals at Potters Bar were disabled which could have caused a major accident and potential deaths. By the end of the year, 240 suffragettes had been sent to prison for militant activities.

The suffragettes invented the letter bomb - a device intended to kill or injure. In January 1913, several letter bombs were sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister, they exploded prematurely whilst in transit. That February, five Dundee postmen were burned by a package addressed to the Prime Minister. They also successfully planted and detonated a bomb at an MP's home, which caused serious damage. They continued to endanger rail passengers by cutting signal wires.

There were failed attempts to burn down the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Preston North End FC, Blackburn Rovers FC, and Crystal Palace FC. They were successful in destroying the home of Arsenal FC (then known as Woolwich Arsenal). They specifically targeted traditionally male sports, such as golf clubhouses which were damaged and members assaulted.

On 4 April 1913, a bomb was defused in the street outside the Bank of England, one of the busiest streets in London. Railways once again were a target, a bomb exploded next to a train in Manchester, injuring the driver. Bombings on London lines also took place, some were packed with jagged metal, bullets and scraps of lead for maximum damage. The London Underground was also targeted and copies of The Suffragette newspaper were intentionally left at the scene to claim responsibility. On 20th April, there was an attempt to blow up the offices of the York Herald in York - unfavourable news coverage was not wanted. Terrorists tend not to be supportive of free speech.

In May 1913, a bomb was discovered at St Paul's Cathedral at the start of a sermon, if it exploded it would have destroyed the historic bishop's throne and other parts of the cathedral. Three London postmen were injured after opening booby-trapped pillar boxes. A letter bomb was sent to a magistrate but it was intercepted, a few days later they tried to kill him again by attempting to push him off a cliff. A bomb was discovered in the waiting room of a London train station, it was full of nuts and bolts to cause maximum damage to life. During this month, 52 bombing and arson attacks were carried out by suffragettes.

In June 1913, several fires were started in Bradford that killed two men and some horses. A bomb was discovered at the South Eastern District Post Office in London and was large enough to destroy the whole building, including a workforce of over 200. A very serious event was avoided when a bomb failed to breach the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in Birmingham, it is argued that loss of life would have occurred in the valley below. Another postman was burnt when he opened a letterbox.

In August 1913, a school in Sutton-in-Ashfield was bombed and burned down to protest a visit from Lloyd George MP – a school was attacked! On 18th December, a wall at Holloway Prison was damaged to protest the imprisonment of suffragettes. Houses nearby had their windows blown out by the bombs, and children asleep in their beds were covered in glass. On 20th December, two men were killed at Portsmouth dockyard after a fire was intentionally started. Two days before Christmas, more postal workers were severely injured when letter bombs ignited mailbags. By the end of the year, The Times newspaper reported there had been 39 recorded suffragette bombing attacks.

Attacks continued into 1914. On 7th January, a bomb was thrown over the wall of the Harewood Army Barracks in Leeds, which was being used for police training. One man was injured. In Scotland, Aberuchill Castle was set on fire, servants had to escape. In February, a cabinet minister had his house attacked and set on fire.

In May 1914, they attempted to blow up Penistone Reservoir in Upper Windleden. If successful, it would have unleashed 138 million gallons of water into the populated valleys below. On 22nd May they burnt down a hospital in Dundee.

Between 1913 and 1914, 32 churches were the subject of attacks, with several being bombed. A bomb packed with nuts and bolts exploded at Westminster Abbey, it was busy with approx 80 visitors at the time. A few days later, a bomb was found in St Paul's Cathedral.

An average of 21 bombing and arson incidents per month took place in 1913 and 15 per month in 1914. There were at least 337 arson and bombing attacks between 1913 and 1914, but the true number could be well over 500.

It is estimated that the cost of the damage caused by the suffragettes was £700,000, equivalent to £70 million today. It can be argued that this figure does not take into account the damage to works of art, window-smashing and letter-burning. If you take into account extra police costs, additional security, lost revenue etc, then the final figure could be as much as £250 million.

The Women's Social and Political Union described its actions as terrorism, some suffragettes even declared themselves to be 'terrorists'. Christabel Pankhurst used the word "terrorism" to describe their actions and stated that their "rebellion" was a form of terrorism. Emmeline Pankhurst stated that they committed acts of violence to "terrorise the British public". They were proud of their attacks and reported them in their own newspaper, The Suffragette, under the headline "Reign of Terror". Emmeline Pankhurst declared their fight was "guerrilla warfare", and that their aim was "to make England and every department of English life insecure and unsafe".

This campaign provided the template for the later bombing and terrorist campaigns of the IRA across Britain. The tactic of packing nuts and bolts into bombs to act as shrapnel was first employed by the Suffragettes, not the IRA. The same can be said for the letter bomb. A little-known fact, the first terrorist bomb to explode in Northern Ireland in the twentieth century was not planted by the IRA but by a Suffragette at Lisburn Cathedral in August 1914.