OFFICIALS at the House of Commons have been urged to respect the memory of the suffragette who threw herself under the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby by ensuring a memorial to her in the Westminster parliament building is given more protection.
The call has been made by Hannah Bardell, the SNP MP, who has written to the Serjeant at Arms asking him to take better care of the plaque to Emily Wilding Davison, who died of her injuries a few days after the race in June 1913.
Tony Benn, the late Labour MP, put up the memento to Davison illegally in a broom cupboard in the building where the suffragette had hidden during the night of the 1911 census – allowing her to record her address as “the House of Commons”.
However, little attention has been given to the memorial and Bardell says the cupboard has become a “dumping ground” for unwanted office equipment.
“It’s fantastic to have a plaque in the cupboard where Emily Wilding Davison spent the night in 1911, however it was disappointing to see it had become a dumping ground with computer equipment currently restricting access,” she said.
“Emily Wilding Davison was a strong and honourable suffragette, who ultimately gave her life for the cause of women’s suffrage.
“We have so few memorials to women in the Houses of Parliament – at the very least this plaque and cupboard should be looked after, and I hope parliament takes steps to ensure this is the case.”
Benn put up the plague in 1991 in “loving memory” to Davison, who died at the age of 40.
The wording on it says that by hiding there, “she was able to record her address of that census, as being at “the House of Commons”, thus making her claim to the same political right as men.
Bardell wants the plaque to help promote the role of women in parliament, and for it to draw attention to continuing issues surrounding the under representation of women in politics.
She has asked officials to clear the cupboard and put up better signposting allowing MPs and visitors access.
“When it comes to the representation of women in parliament, we still need more women MPs – of 649 MPs currently in the House of Commons, just 192 are women,” she said.
“In other words, there are nearly 140 per cent more men than women – and more men are elected now to the UK Parliament than the total number of female MPs throughout history.”
She said she was delighted to see a new artwork installation in parliament this month to mark 150 years of the suffragette movement.
She added: “We could do a great deal more to honour women in British history and in parliamentary history within our halls, just as we have done for many men.”
Davison was born in southeast London on October 11, 1872.
She studied at Royal Holloway College and at Oxford University, although women were not allowed to take degrees at that time.
In 1906, she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst.
Three years later she gave up her job as a teacher and went to work full-time for the suffragette movement.
In 1909, she was sentenced to a month’s hard labour in Strangeways Prison in Manchester after throwing rocks at the carriage of chancellor David Lloyd George.
She attempted to starve herself, and resisted force-feeding.
On June 4, 1913, Davison ran out in front of the king’s horse, Anmer, as it was taking part in the Epsom Derby. She died from her injuries on June 8.
A Parliamentary spokesperson said: "The plaque to Emily Wilding Davison was put up in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft by Tony Benn MP in 1991. It is located in the broom cupboard in which Emily Wilding Davison hid in 1911. Due to its location it is not possible for this plaque to form part of the tour route, however, information including a photograph is available online. The plaque is an important part of Parliament's commemoration of the vital work of the suffrage movement, which includes a permanent public exhibition of suffragette artefacts and New Dawn, a new permanent art installation on public display which was unveiled on Tuesday 9 June.
New Dawn is intended to represent everyone involved in the campaign for the vote – all of the individuals who made up the movement, rather than only one of them."
Speaking in 2001, Benn said: “I have put up several plaques—quite illegally, without permission; I screwed them up myself.
“One was in the broom cupboard to commemorate Emily Wilding Davison, and another celebrated the people who fought for democracy and those who run the House.
“If one walks around this place, one sees statues of people, not one of whom believed in democracy, votes for women or anything else.
We have to be sure that we are a workshop and not a museum.”
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