Emily Davison Essay

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-Suffragettes Suffragettes were a group of women who rallied for women votes in Victorian times. However unlike their counterparts ‘The Suffragists’ suffragettes relied on violence to voice their opinions. Because of this Suffragette members made many enemies and were not favourites of the government. Many of the ‘rallying techniques ‘used by Suffragettes include; obstructing roads; handcuffing one’s self to the gates of parliament; throwing bricks at houses and buildings owned by political officials and they would handcuff themselves to cars and other vehicles. Emily Davison was a suffragette woman who attended various derbies and horse races, pinning suffragette banners on the winning horses. However on the 4th of June 1913, her life was cut short. It was the Epsom derby (horse race) and as the horses turned the last bend towards the finishing stretch, a woman stepped below the railings and into the path of an oncoming horse. The horse that she went in front of was the King’s horse. The horse crushed Emily and her skull shatter on impact, rendering her mortally wounded, four days later she died in hospital. However the horse and the jockey survived. Many people thought that Emily wanted to die, however new evidence suggests that she did not want to die. There is a lot of evidence for and against, and had become an accepted fact that she committed suicide since the incident. However, now many historians are rethinking the reasons behind Emily Davison’s death. Source A is a police inventory of items found on Emily Davison’s body. The mentioned items include: A return ticket from Epsom London; A ticket to a suffragette ball later that day; a betting card that she had marked with the horses she thought would win and two giant suffragette banners pinned onto the inside of her jacket. A police inventory on items found on Emily, suggest that she did not intend to

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