Ask Derby for tribute to suffragette
Call for a one-minute silence at major horse-racing event in memory of Emily Davison.
On 4 June 1913, the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison ran in front of King George V’s horse during a race at the Epsom Derby and was knocked unconscious. She died of her injuries four days later.
Davison’s protest against the refusal of Britain’s rulers to grant votes for women made her a martyr for democracy and women’s rights.
It will be the 100th anniversary of her protest in 2013, and in a letter to The Guardian this week, a number of signatories have called for a minute’s silence to be observed at the 2013 Derby in tribute to Davison and the sacrifice she made.
They have asked for our support and we are asking for yours.
To add your name to the petition, click here.
The letter has been signed by: Bonnie Greer OBE; Jeanette Winterson OBE, writer; Miriam Margolyes OBE, actor; Frances O’Grady, new TUC general secretary; Tony Benn; Ceri Goddard, chief executive, Fawcett Society; Professor Richard Pankhurst OBE, son of Sylvia Pankhurst; Rita Pankhurst, daughter-in-law of Sylvia Pankhurst; Ruth Spellman OBE, Chief executive, Workers Educational Association; Sally Hunt, General secretary, UCU; Christine Blower, General secretary, National Union of Teachers; Megan Dobney, Regional secretary, Southern and Eastern Region of the TUC; Diane Abbott MP; Natalie Bennett, Green party leader; Lindsey German, author and campaigner; Vicki Baars, vice-president union development, NUS; Kate Hudson, general secretary, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Nina Power, senior lecturer, Roehampton University; author, One Dimensional Woman; Louise Raw Historian; author of Striking a Light: The Bryant and May Matchwomen and their Place in History; Yvonne Ridley, European president, International Muslim Women’s Union; Mel Whitter, London and Eastern Region women’s organiser, Unite the Union; Salma Yaqoob; Laurie Penny, writer; Romayne Phoenix, Chair, Coalition of Resistance; Green party activist; Paul Mackney, former general secretary, Natfhe; Peter Barratt, great-grandson of Leicester suffragette Alice Hawkins; Jo Rust, Secretary, King’s Lynn and District Trades Council; Sarah Levitt, Head of arts and museums, Leicester city council; Clare Solomon, President, University of London Union 2010-11; Elly Badcock, NUS women’s committee 2010-11; Mary Joannou, Professor of literary history and women’s writing, Anglia Ruskin University; Katherine Connelly, author of forthcoming biography of Sylvia Pankhurst; Jacqueline Mulhallen, actress and writer; Derek Taylor, author and journalist; Anne Moore, Museums Officer, Woodhorn Trust; and Penni Blythe-Jones, director, Centre for Creative Change.
Please make this happen
I am obviously not related to any of the Pankhurst family but I really appreciate the courage of those women at the beginning of the last century. When we hear about the fate of women so often in the present day Muslim world, I am so grateful to the women who put up such a fight for our freedom.
“MONTHS of events to commemorate the centenary of the death of Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison are set to get under way.
The Northumbrian campaigner had been arrested and imprisoned for her part in Women’s Social and Political Union demonstrations to support votes for women.
But it was when the Longhorsley resident stepped on to the track at the 1913 Epsom Derby and was struck by the King’s horse that she became known around the world.
On June 15 she was brought back to Morpeth and thousands lined the streets to watch the funeral procession to St Mary’s Church, where the Suffragette was laid to rest.
It has become something of a tradition for St Mary’s Church to hold a memorial service on Friday, March 8, which not only recognises Emily Davison’s contribution, but also celebrates women’s achievements generally.
Now the town is set to embark on months of events to pay tribute to her memory.”
From: http://www.morpethherald.co.uk/community/town-gets-set-for-centenary-tribute-to-suffragette-1-5456925
Centenary of Emily Wilding Davison’s death to be marked by plaque at Epsom – in April of this year, two months before the 100th anniversary of her death on Derby Day, June 4.
from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/9823464/Centenary-of-suffragette-Emily-Wilding-Davisons-death-to-be-marked-by-plaque-at-Epsom.html
Epsom Racecourse etc is ‘pleased to confirm the centenary will be marked at the racecourse by the unveiling of a plaque during a private ceremony with Emily Davison’s family.
This will take place the week of 15 April, 2013.
Other events are planned for Morpeth, Northumberland in June where Emily is buried – particularly over the Centennial weekend (13-16 June).’