After the long, hot summer of 1908, the cooler days of autumn were a welcome
relief to Emmeline as she resolved to form another deputation to the House of
Commons on 13 October, the day after the reopening of parliament. She was
awaiting a reply to a polite letter she had sent to Asquith some time ago, asking
if his government intended to carry that autumn session Stanger’s Women’s
Enfranchisement Bill which was still before the Commons. On 9 October a
negative reply was received. Emmeline had already warned that women would
enter the House, ‘and, if possible, the Chamber itself. ... Women have a consti-
tutional right, being voteless, to plead their cause in person.’^1 The plans were
now put into action.
Emmeline wanted to mobilise mass support for the WSPU demand for
constitutional representation in a so-called ‘democracy’ and so decided to call
upon the general public to aid the women. On Sunday, 11 October, when
together with Christabel and Flora Drummond she addressed large crowds from
the plinth of Nelson’s monument in Trafalgar Square, thousands of handbills
were distributed stating ‘Men & Women, Help the Suffragettes to Rush the
House of Commons on Tuesday Evening, 13th October, 1908 at 7.30’. ‘The
police were there’, recollected Emmeline, ‘taking ample notes of our speeches.
We had not failed to notice that they were watching us daily, dogging our foot-
steps, and showing in numerous ways that they were under orders to keep track
of all our movements.’^2 Soon a summons was issued to all three women to
appear at Bow Street police station on the 12th, on a charge of inciting to riot.
Ignoring the order, the three women appeared instead at a crowded At Home at
Queen’s Hall where Emmeline defiantly announced, ‘We are here, and we shall
not go to Bow-street until they come and take us.’^3 The agitated audience
expected arrests to be made, but instead the magistrate, Henry Curtis Bennett,
adjourned the hearing until the next day. On the morning of the 13th,
Christabel sent a note to Inspector Jarvis appointing their own time and place
for arrest. ‘We shall not be at the office, 4, Clements Inn, until six o’clock to-
day, but at that hour we shall all three be entirely at your disposal.’^4 Incensed at
this disregard for his authority, Curtis Bennett ordered their immediate arrest
but despite an extensive search of WSPU headquarters, the women could not
nancy kaufman
(Nancy Kaufman)
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