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Emily Davison and the Suffragettes
Part 1: On the Downs There is an atmosphere at Epsom on Derby Day which cannot be sensed from the camera lens or television screen - an atmosphere which has drawn millions of people to Epsom Downs for over two centuries. The Derby has been described as the last genuine folk festival left in England . It was always London's unofficial holiday. Derby Day is for the masses - "it was once said that London transported itself bodily to Epsom Downs" for most of the Victorian period. The House of Commons adjourned so that members could attend; and even after this stopped, as late as 1939, members would work the name of the winner into their speeches so that other members would know as soon as possible who had won. The 1913 Derby was the most sensational, the most tragic, the most dramatic and the most unsatisfactory of the twentieth century. The King's horse Anmer was brought down by a militant suffragette who received fatal injuries. The Derby was one of the main events of the social calendar for the aristocracy. The liberal Government had firm links with the race since Lord Rosebery, a Liberal Prime Minister (1884-95) was a local land-owner at the Durdans and had won the race while in office. Previous suffragette attacks had been carried out on the house of Lloyd-George at nearby Walton Heath, and on the golf-course there. Not only would an incident hit both Government and royalty but it would also have afforded maximum publicity. The race result would be telegraphed along the railway system carrying with it any other news, and the Gaumont newsreel service as well as the national newspapers would be there covering a race that attracted up to a million spectators. Emily Davison left Morpeth, Northumberland and travelled to the four-day Suffragette Summer Festival held at the Empress Rooms in Kensington. She arrived on 3rd June 1913 with her friend Mary Leigh and stayed for two days. On Derby Day, Wednesday 4th June, she went to Victoria Station and bought a second class return to Epsom racecourse for 8s 6d. This would have taken her to either Epsom Town Station (now on Upper High Street) or Epsom Downs Station. She would then have had a choice of routes up to the course since even the nearer Epsom Downs station was 1½ miles away from the course. The evidence from the contents of Emily Davison's handbag, Mary Richardson's evidence, police evidence from the Coroner's inquest and the Gaumont newsreel film reveal what happened on Derby Day. All the races were marked on her race-card except that of the Derby Stakes. Mary Richardson described how 'she looked absorbed and yet far away from everybody else and seemed to have no interest in what was going on round her. A minute before the race started she raised a paper of her own or some kind of card before her eyes. I was watching her hand. It did not shake. Even when I heard the pounding of the horses hoofs moving closer I saw she was still smiling'. The horses rounded the Tattenham Comer curve in two groups and as the second group of stragglers approached she ducked under the rails and moved onto the course with her hands raised where she was struck by the King's horse, Anmer. A police witness Police Constable Edey described at the Coroner's inquest later how 'she faced the other horses which were coming on and was struck by a horse, it appeared to him as if it was with its front feet'. He then described how 'she turned very nearly a somersault at the same time the jockey and horse came down'. Emily Davison finished about ten yards nearer Tattenham Corner with her head towards the near side of the course. The jockey Herbert Jones was lying fifteen yards away by the inside rail in a crouched position with the horse lying in between the jockey and Emily. The three horses following behind then dodged those on the ground and after they had passed the King's horse Anmer then scrambled to its feet, not much hurt, leaving the jockey and Emily motionless on the turf . Mary Richardson related how when it happened 'there was an awful silence that seemed to go on for minutes, then suddenly many cries and shouts arose as people swarmed onto the racecourse'. After the incident Emily Davison was soon attended by Dr. Lane of Battersea and a Mrs. Warburg of Paddington who were on the spot. Police Sergeant Bunn and Police Constable Edey also helped and soon after Dr. Thorney from Epsom was in attendance. Police Sergeant Bunn said that 'she was quite unconscious when he went to her, a slight moan escaping her lips occasionally'. He also asked if there were any friends - but no one came forward to claim her at all. (Mary Richardson was nearby but had to flee the course after being attacked by a man with a newspaper). The same officer then obtained the loan of a motor from Mr. J. B. V. Faber Esq., the Manor House, Ewell of licence plate LA 7959. She was then taken to the Cottage Hospital in Alexandra Road. At the Cottage Hospital where Emily Davison lay, extra police had to be drafted in to stop a mob which had surrounded it from breaking in and lynching her. The King and Queen had little sympathy with the suffragettes either and both were more concerned with the health of the jockey. The King wrote in his diary on the night of her fall 'of course she was knocked down and seriously injured and poor Herbert Jones and Anmer were sent flying. Jones unconscious, badly cut, broken rib and slight concussion: a most regrettable, scandalous proceeding'. The Queen in her private diary that night also thought of 'poor Jones' the jockey 'who was much knocked about'. She had less sympathy with Emily Davison of whom she wrote 'the horrid woman was injured but not seriously'. However on the following day she sent a telegram to inquire about her. Once at the Cottage Hospital, Emily was examined by the house-surgeon Dr. Peacock who found her to be suffering from severe concussion of the brain. There was a severe bruise on her forehead and she was placed in the women's ward. On Wednesday evening her condition was described as very critical. She was later examined by Dr. Thornley and at first they thought there was no fracture of the skull. In the mean-time she was identified as Emily Wilding Davison by her possessions. These included two flags in the suffragette movement's colours (green, white and purple stripes), a helper's pass for the Kensington WSPU meeting, a race card, a small memo book, a half return ticket Epsom to Victoria 3s 8¾d, a purse, a key and a handkerchief with her name in black ink on it and initials EWD in red cotton. The hospital authorities were notified on Thursday afternoon ( the 5th) that Miss Davison was to be regarded as a prisoner and police were sent to the Cottage Hospital. Mr. Mansel Moullin, a London surgeon and a prominent male supporter of militancy who was attending Emily, stated that it would be some weeks before she could leave the institution. However later symptoms developed making it evident that there was a fracture at the base of the skull. She became worse and Mr. Moullin decided on an operation to relieve the pressure on the brain. This took place on Friday afternoon (the 6th) but it did not relieve the condition and she never regained consciousness. On Saturday her condition became worse through the day and when Captain Davison her half brother arrived in Epsom late on Saturday evening all hope had gone for recovery. Other noteworthy visitors on Saturday night were two ladies of the WSPU who draped the screen around her bed with the Union's colours and the Union badge at the head of the bed. However she never regained consciousness and died the following day on Sunday afternoon at 4.50 p.m. The body was then removed late on Sunday evening (the 8th) to the Epsom Urban Council's mortuary at the Dorking Road Infirmary to await the inquest. The coroner's inquest was held at the new court house on Ashley Road by Gilbert White, the divisional coroner of West Surrey, on the afternoon of Tuesday 10th June 1913. The time for the start of the inquest was 3 o'clock but even before the doors opened a large crowd was reported to have gathered These included many ladies in WSPU colours of green, white and purple, Lamartine Yates representing the family of the deceased, Superintendent Quirin and a married sister of the deceased. C.F. Gill K.C. (instructed by Messrs. Chas. Russell & Co.) represented the stewards. The coroner's inquest, completed in an afternoon, returned a verdict of misadventure. The jury reached the conclusion that she 'died from fracture of the base of the skull caused by being accidentally knocked down by a horse through wilfully rushing on to the racecourse, Epsom Downs on the 4th June last, during the progress of the race'. It is difficulty to see how the jury could have come to any other conclusion given the range of evidence presented to them. There were five witnesses and only two of them actually saw the incident, while a key witness - the jockey, Herbert Jones - was never questioned after presenting a medical certificate. Of the two witnesses present, neither were questioned as to whether she picked out the King's horse. At the inquest Lamartine Yates had said that 'he thought she intentionally did it with a view to calling the attention of the public that the government had not done justice to women': but the coroner had already said that he did not propose to allow anything of a political nature to enter into the inquiry. He continued by asking the jury to dismiss from their minds that she went for the King's horse in particular. Therefore the verdict makes no mention of the suffragette movement, the King's horse or the Derby Stakes. Instead, it only mentions 'a horse' and 'a race'. Was Emily intent on suicide, or was it a gesture that went tragically wrong? Some idea of her state of mind can be revealed from an earlier suicide attempt of June 1912, a poem she wrote and her visit to a statue of Joan of Arc on the eve of the Derby. Her first suicide attempt was made at Holloway prison a year before the 1913 Derby. A statement she wrote revealed that she had made three successive attempts to kill herself, twice being caught by the wire netting 40 feet below and finally throwing herself head first on to an iron staircase. When the Governor asked her why she had done it, she replied that she thought one big tragedy would save others. This belief is further reflected in an unpublished article 'The price of liberty', which was found in her private papers and published posthumously in the Daily Sketch, 28th May 1914. It concludes: 'The glorious and inscrutable Spirit of Liberty has but one further penalty within its power, the surrender of life itself. It is the supreme consummation of sacrifice, than which none can be higher or greater. To lay down life for friends, that is glorious, selfless inspiring! But to re-enact the tragedy of Calvary for generations yet unborn, that is the last consummate sacrifice of the Militant! Nor will she shrink from this Nirvana. She will be faithful unto this last'. The idea of martyrdom was still on her mind on the eve of the Derby where she went with two friends to the WSPU bazaar in the Empress Rooms, Kensington. There amid the trivial artificiality of a bazaar fitter's ornamental garden and the chatter of buying and selling at the stalls she had joined in laying a wreath on the plaster statue of Joan of Arc whom Christabel Pankhurst had called 'the patron saint of suffragettes'. It was in this state of mind that she prepared to jump in front of the King's horse. Her personal possessions (the two flags and the handkerchief) and the Gaumont newsreel all reflect her intentions on the day. The flags she wore and the labelled handkerchief were to speak for her after the event. The newsreel camera she stood in front of not only publicised the event but also showed her waiting in the path of Anmer until she was struck. 'The Suffragette' for Friday June 13 1913, No.35 -Vol.1 was an issue 'In honour and in loving, reverent memory of Emily Wilding Davison', 'She died for women'. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends", "Miss Davison, who made a protest at the Derby against the denial of voted to women, was knocked down by the King's horse and sustained terrible injuries of which she died on Sunday June 8th 1913". On the front page is a drawing of Emily as angel with a halo of 'Love that overcomes' against a background of the racing crowd behind the race course barrier. The issue of the magazine contains several articles concerning Emily: an article about Emily's death by Christabel Pankhurst; A statement made by Emily on her release from Holloway the year before; a poem on 'The first martyr of Woman Suffrage'; 'Emily Wilding - in Memoriam "I'll put a girdle round the earth"', 'A supreme sacrifice, A life laid down, Petition presented to the King'; Some Appreciations; Funeral Arrangements - A last Tribute; Racing and Politics. Part 2: The Suffragette Background Imprisonment Between 1906 and 1914 more than 1,000 suffragettes went to prison, with thousands being arrested. Prison rules stated that, for criminal prisoners, the first four weeks of a sentence had to be served in solitary confinement. Prison regulation limited access to writing materials. Inmates kept records of prison life on toilet paper using smuggled pencils. Prison rules stated that, for criminal prisoners, the first four weeks of a sentence had to be served in solitary confinement. Prison regulation limited access to writing materials. Inmates kept records of prison life on toilet paper, writing with smuggled pencils. Women sent to prison as a result of their suffragette activities were both from upper classes and poorer families. The majority of wealthier and titled ladies that were sent to prison were not given long sentences, force-fed or were released soon after they were incarcerated. Such women were spared the torture; often under the pretext that their health was not good enough to withstand force-feeding. This act was noted by one suffragette from a wealthy family; she deliberately set about at being arrested and once arrested gave a false, untitled name. This lower class woman was then subjected to force-feeding several times a day and was only released after her sentence was complete. Upon her return home, the suffragette's health declined dramatically as a result of this brutal activity and she never fully recovered. Helen Gordon Liddle, a militant Sufffragette from Peaslake in Surrey, left us an account of life in a women's prison during the Suffragette struggle. She was force-fed on several occasions. After Helen had refused her bread and gruel for three days in prison, warders decided that her health was suffering and so the chief doctor decided to force feed her. Three methods of this torture were tried in the first three days. The first act involved being put on a bed with four wardresses holding her down. One doctor held her head, a second, with attendant nurse, rammed a gag between her teeth to hold her mouth open and ladled in a mixture of brown bread and mince. Her nose was held to force her to swallow. It took 20 minutes. The gag was very painful. The second day Helen was held in a chair with a tube thrust up her nose and so down into her throat. Cold fluid was poured through it. Severe indigestion followed this procedure and Helen had difficulty in speaking. On the third day, the gag was used again. It was thrust into her by now ulcerated mouth, and a tube was thrust down her throat. "The feeling of choking was intolerable, with my jaws immovable and my head held back". The Cat and Mouse Act was a nickname for a British law of 1913-the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act-that allowed the government to release and later re-imprison suffragettes who went on hunger strike in jail. The nickname for the act was probably derived from a poster issued by the WSPU that showed the government as a giant cat with a suffragette struggling like a mouse in its jaws. The law was the response of the Liberal government of Herbert Asquith to an embarrassing political problem. Since the suffragette movement had begun campaigning for women's suffrage in 1903, many of those jailed for property damage and other offences committed to draw attention to their cause had continued their protests by going on hunger strike, and the government was anxious to find an alternative to the unpopular policy of force-feeding them. Under the new law any prisoner whose health was damaged by going on hunger strike could be released and then jailed again once she had recovered. In the most famous instance, Emmeline Pankhurst, was jailed 11 times in succession in 1913-1914. Suffragettes, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, refused to accept this new law as it effectively extended the sentence that a suffragette had to serve. By 1912, conditions in most British prisons were better, including Holloway, where under the young Winston Churchill's Rule 243A, food parcels and inter-cell visiting were allowed. Suffragette prisoners were also permitted to wear their own clothes. Emily Davison was force-fed on several occasions during her prison sentences. At Strangeways Gaol, as usual, Emily was put into solitary confinement, where she started a hunger strike at once. Later that evening, five wardresses, two nurses and a matron entered the cell with the news that they were going to force feed her. In a letter home to a friend, Emily describes the terror that ensued; "I was grasped by the hair by the senior doctor and was forced onto the bed by the matrons. While they held me flat the elder doctor tried all round my mouth with a steel gag to find an opening. On the right side of my mouth two teeth are missing; this gap he found, he pushed in the horrid instrument and prised my mouth open its fullest extent. The wardress poured liquid down my throat from an enamel tin cup. What it was I could not say but there was some medicament which was foul to the last degree. As I would not swallow the stuff and jerked it out with my tongue, the doctor pinched my nose and somehow gripped my tongue with the gag. The torture was barbaric." After this torture, Emily was removed to a cell on her own with two beds in it. She saw this as a means to barricading herself in the cell. She piled up the beds against the doors. She then sat on the beds to add extra weight. When it was inspection time, he wardress summoned her to open the door, Emily refused. After imploring from other members of the prison staff, the chief warden warned Emily that she would have the hosepipe put on her if she did not cooperate. This was not a threat. The cell window was broken, allowing the cold October wind to enter the already un-heated cell. After being asked once more to cooperate, and again, refusing, the hosepipe and its icy shower was turned on Emily. This lasted for fifteen minutes or so after which the barricade was eventually broken down and Emily captured. News of this act soon spread and newspapers demanded an enquiry into the cruelty that Emily received. Crowds gathered outside Strangeways Gaol, "The Manchester Guardian" reported that over 9000 people gathered there to express their concern over the treatment of the Suffragette. In January 1910, Emily was awarded 40 shillings by the Visiting Justices if Strangeways Gaol in compensation against her harsh treatment. Blowing Up Walton Heath 19.02.13 Emily Wilding Davison and other suffragettes of the WSPU attempted to blow up a bedroom in a new house at Walton Heath belonging to David Lloyd-George. On 20th February 1913, the Daily Mail published an account of the incident at Walton Heath of which the following is an extract; '"We have blown up the Chancellor's house". Mr. Lloyd George's new country house at Walton Heath near Epsom, was seriously damaged, though not destroyed by the explosion of a bomb at six o'clock yesterday morning. It is assumed to be the work of the Suffragettes. Mrs. Pankhurst, speaking at Cardiff last night, said "In Mexico they have put a Minister in Prison. We have not put any member of the Liberal Government in prison; but we have blown up the Chancellor of the Exchequer's house. An interrupter asked why, and Mrs. Pankhurst said: "To wake him up". She said she personally accepted full responsibility, and, if sent to penal servitude, she would declare a hunger strike and they would either have to let her die or set her free. Mrs. Drummond, one of the leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union, acclaims the outrage as "grand, a fine affair, successfully carried out showing the determination of the women". The women have made another blunder; for the house is not yet the property of Mr Lloyd George, no part of the damage will fall upon him, and he will not even suffer inconvenience insomuch as he had not intended to enter into occupation before Easter. The house is quite new, and it has not yet received a man. It stands on the overlooking Walton Heath golf course, where Mr. Lloyd George regularly plays. Recently he decided to have a residence at Walton Heath for weekends. Sir George Riddell, to whom a good deal of the land in the neighbourhood belongs, built the house, and it is still in his hands. Although described as a 'weekend cottage', the house contains fourteen rooms, many of considerable size. It has cost about 2000 pounds. It is adapted for a weekend party of about eight. Building began last July, and the house, which is of red brick with red tiles, was to have been completed next week. Just after six o'clock yesterday morning the residents of the neighbourhood were startled by a loud explosion. Men hurried to the spot and found that a determined attempt had been made to blow up the house. The servant's wing, in the north gable, was seriously damaged. Ceilings were ruined, doors and windows blown out bodily. An outer wall bulged out and cracked, and the key from a lock in an inner room was found in an adjoining field. Nobody was in the house; but at half past six a dozen workmen arrived to continue their work, they found the rooms of the left wing full of smoke. In a cupboard at the top of the main staircase was discovered a can of powder, still unexploded. It was clear that the wreckers had planned two explosions, one of which failed. Black powder in two lots of seven pounds each had been used in the ordinary tin canisters in which it is sold. The method of exploding it had been to moisten the top layer, and a rag fuse, saturated with oil, had then been placed within the slide of the canister. This fuse had touched a layer of shavings saturated with paraffin, in the middle of which had been fixed a burning candle. As the candle burnt down it had set the shavings on fire, and the shavings had lit the fuse, which exploded the powder. To increase the force of the explosion, the canister had been stiffened with tight bands of string. Why the second bomb did not explode can only be inferred. Probably the first explosion, which rattled the furniture, in houses a hundred yards away, shook the burning candle clear of the shavings saturated with paraffin. It had burnt down to within three inches of the bottom. A surprising circumstance is that the house did not catch fire and that it looks so little the worse. Large quantities of brown paper saturated with petroleum had been placed in various rooms. Nobody appears to have seen any suspicious person in the neighbourhood during the night. Several residents they heard a motor car draw up in the vicinity of the house at about four o'clock in the morning. The vehicle remained for about half an hour and then went away at a quick pace in the direction of London. Since the onslaughts of the Suffragettes on golf greens began, the greens of Walton Heath Club have been watched night and day by two shifts of men numbering about a dozen each. Knowing that the house was intended for Lloyd George, a constable has kept a special watch on it, intermittently, for a fortnight, but he appears to have been on another part of his beat when the explosion took place. Apparently the women squeezed into the house through a narrow window, about thirty inches by eighteen, which is at the foot of the main staircase. Since 14th February, Mrs. Pankhurst had accepted responsibility for the WSPU's actions and she was arrested at her flat in Knightsbridge and taken to Scotland Yard. She was held overnight in Leatherhead's new police station in Kingston Road. Her daughter Sylvia mentions that her case came up at Epsom the following day and she was finally committed for trial at the Old Bailey on 1st April (where she was sentenced to three months penal servitude). The Funeral The suffragettes were confronted with two problems at the funeral - firstly trying to find a clergyman to conduct the funeral, and secondly confrontation at the funeral itself. Although a verdict of death by misadventure was recorded at her inquest it was difficult to find a clergyman prepared to conduct the funeral. Eventually the Reverend C. Baumgarten, the vicar of St. George's Church, Bloomsbury, agreed to take the service. All the arrangements for the ceremony and for a great procession were organised by Grace Roe from hiding. Any public demonstration at this time involved great risk, for in making an appearance many of the leading suffragettes were exposed to arrest. The funeral arrangements were placed in the hands of a local firm Messrs. G. & J. Fumiss of the High Street. On Saturday 14th June the body was removed from the Council mortuary and placed in an elm shell covered with white brocaded velvet, trimmed inside with cashmere and lace. The casket was of French polished elm fitted with brass Gothic rings and angle plates. The inscription read 'Emily Wilding Davison, Born 1lth October 1872. Died 8th June 1913. Fight on God will give the victory'. The casket was taken from the mortuary in the Dorking Road Infirmary in procession through Epsom to the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway station in Upper High Street. It was then transferred to the 11.47 a.m. train from Epsom to Victoria. It was reported that when it arrived at Victoria station at about 2 o'clock nearly 3000 suffragettes had formed up in Buckingham Palace Road for the funeral procession and many more thousands of supporters besieged the approaches of the station. Emily Wilding Davison's funeral march was the last great Suffrage march. Acutely aware of the power of the press, Suffragettes used these occasions to get maximum public exposure for their campaign. Emily Davison's body was taken from Epsom to Victoria by train, escorted by Captain Davison and Richard Lamartine Yates, a friend of the family. The funeral cortège was lead by funeral director Bradley Furniss of G & J Furniss from Epsom Cottage Hospital or Epsom Mortuary to the old Epsom train station. Upon arrival at Victoria, the side streets around the station were thronged with people; estimates of 50,000 to pay their respects to Emily. Grace Roe had meticulously planned the funeral arrangements, including ten brass bands and supplying all marchers with a Madonna lily, a red peony or a purple iris. Banners were carried throughout the march, with the lead banner reading "Fight on and God will give the Victory". Emily's coffin was put on a low dray covered by a pall of purple, white and green, which bore two arrows embroidered in silver. Three laurel wreaths were placed on top of the coffin, which was then drawn to church by four black horses. The head of the procession was lead by a girl from Newcastle upon Tyne, Charlotte 'Charlie' Marsh, who carried a large gilt cross. The militant W.S.P.U were represented at the head of the procession behind Charlie Marsh. Members of the W.S.P.U all wore purple and carried white flowers. Behind the W.S.P.U followed 100 hunger strikers, notable in their white outfits with black armbands. The hunger strikers all carried a single white Madonna lily. It was only after these mourners had passed that the dray preceded with its sad load. Six of Emily Davison's closest friends, including Sylvia Pankhurst (her sister Christabel was in hiding in France so was unable to attend), walked beside the dray, all dressed in white, wearing black armbands and carrying white ribbons attached to the dray. Following the hearse was the Chief Mourner, Captain Henry Davison, one of Emily's half-brothers. A second procession of hunger strikers brought up the rear, also dressed in white, walking four abreast. In total, more than 5000 suffragettes marched in columns of four deep, some wearing their University caps and gowns. One notable absentee from the funeral and its procession was Emmeline Pankhurst who had been arrested just before boarding a carriage set to take her to Victoria train station to join the procession. Recently released from prison early due to hunger-striking and poor health, Mrs Pankhurst was arrested outside her home in an attempt to minimise public outcry at her presence. Mrs Pankhurst was taken to Holloway gaol. The plain clothes arresting officer informed Emmeline that she was being arrested under the Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health Law (the Cat and Mouse Act). The carriage that she had been due to ride in remained poignantly empty throughout the procession. As well as the W.S.P.U., there were representatives and banners from many other Franchise societies such as the Women's Freedom League, the Actresses' Franchise League and the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society. Representatives of the Labour Party and Trades Unions also paid their respects by walking with the procession. The cortege stretched from Victoria Station to Piccadilly. For the most part, crowds were respectfully silent, listening to the brass bands playing Chopin's 'Funeral March' and the solemn music of Handel. When the first half of the procession passed Hyde Park Corner, the police diverted the other half of the procession through side streets; everybody managed to out-do this crowd control and gather at the steps of St. George's Church, Hart Street Bloomsbury, on time. Upon the arrival of the procession at Hart Street, a small group of people started to boo and hiss, and were accompanied by the cries of "Three cheers for the King's Jockey!" The rector, Reverend Baumgarten, was the only minister contacted who was willing to receive the body of Miss Davison and conduct her funeral service. St. George's Church was crowded to the door, with many mourners having to stay outside on the church steps. Without the use of modern-day loud speakers to broadcast the service, one can imagine the respectful silence that prevailed. One interesting mourner was the sister of Herbert Jones, the jockey of the King's Horse who received only minor injuries as a result of his fall on June 4th. Once the service had ended, the procession re-formed and made its way to King's Cross station, from where Miss Davison's body would make its long and weary journey, by steam train north bound to be returned to her mother and her final resting place. The procession's leader, Charlie Marsh, had just set-off from Hart Street, when a protestor standing on the roof of a nearby pub threw a brick at the coffin. It was a mis-judged throw and landed on the roadside and nobody was hurt. Further along the processional route, Suffragettes encountered another problem. A mob of people intent on ruining the procession attacked it. The strength, number and determination of leading Suffragettes ensured that the skirmish did not last. No major incidents were further reported along the route apart from a few shouts of disapproval. Once at King's Cross station, only a limited number of Emily's friends were allowed on the platform to watch over their friend's coffin. The majority of the mourners remained on the streets outside and around the station, which were heavily patrolled by the police. From Kings Cross Station, Emily's body returned home on the 5.30pm train, bound for Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The carriage was draped in crepe of the suffragette colours. Mary Leigh and five other of Emily's closest friends guarded the coffin on the train. The journey lasted through Saturday night, until Sunday noon when the coffin finally arrived at Morpeth station. Holding vigil over her coffin, suffragettes remained motionless at the head and foot of the coffin, whilst passengers looked on at York, Darlington and Durham. Floral tributes (some estimates total 200), were removed from the coffin at Morpeth station. The funeral procession re-formed once again, the hearse drawn by four black horses, as it made its slow procession to St. Mary's Church. Once at Morpeth, the head of the procession was led by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne branch of the W.S.P.U. Morpeth's streets received almost as many mourners as did London. The official mourners were taken to the churchyard in private coaches; Margaret Davison, Emily's mother and Madame de Baeker, a half-sister from St. Malo in France. The Caisleys (Emily's mother's family) were also represented. At St. Mary's, there was a short service for family and close friends, and then the coffin was taken to the family burial plot. Emily then joined her father, David and her sister Ethel. The Emily Davison lodge was founded after the Suffragette's death. Its headquarters were based at 144, High Holborn, London, W.C. Its entrance was at the back of the building in Bury Street. Its objective was to perpetuate the memory of a gallant woman by gathering together women of progressive thought and aspirations with the purpose of working for the progress of women according to the needs of the present. Annual minimum subscription was 5/-.
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