be found. Emmeline and Christabel had retreated to the roof garden of the
Pethick Lawrences’ private flat where, under a blue autumn sky, they were
making preparations for their long absence. At six o’clock prompt, they walked
calmly down to the WSPU offices where they were joined by Flora Drummond.
The journalists who had been hovering in the corridors all day, got their story
and flash photographs were taken as the waiting police read out the warrants for
arrest. The three were then taken to Bow Street police station where the late
hour meant that their request for bail could not be made, thus necessitating a
night in the police cells.
Emmeline, who wanted to be in good form for the pleading of her case in
court the following day, became anxious since there were no beds in the cells,
only wooden benches. Earlier that day, Lady Constance Lytton, not yet a WSPU
member, had visited Clement’s Inn and, offering to help, been given the task of
approaching the Home Secretary with a view to securing First Division treat-
ment for the prisoners as political offenders. Unsuccessful in this task, she then
went to the police station where she met Emmeline for the first time. Awed by
Emmeline’s presence, Constance willingly accepted the Union leader’s plea to
try to get them released so that they could have a comfortable night’s rest. When
Constance eventually found Curtis Bennett, he told her he could do nothing on
behalf of the prisoners, although he did point out that the taking in of food and
bedding to the cells was a matter for the police to decide.^5 Meanwhile,
Emmeline had telegraphed James Murray, the Liberal MP for East Aberdeen and
father-in-law of one of the younger WSPU members, explaining their plight.
Immediately he arranged for beds from the Savoy Hotel to be erected in the
cells, supervising the task himself, and for a delicious meal to be served from a
table set with damask tablecloth, silver, candlesticks, brightly coloured fruit and
flowers. When a breathless Constance and Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, whose
helped had been enlisted, arrived with bedding and rugs, they found that every-
thing had been provided to make the stay as pleasant as possible.^6 Yet, despite
the relative comfort of her cell, Emmeline spent a restless night.^7
The defendants had decided that Christabel, with her legal training, should
act as their lawyer. It was with a proud mother’s heart that Emmeline sat in the
packed police court watching her eldest daughter conduct skilfully her first case
at law. Emmeline had resolved to lift the political activity of her followers out of
the ‘squalid atmosphere’ of the police court, where cases could be summarily
dealt with, into the full arena of trial by jury, and so Christabel asked the magis-
trate at the outset that their case be sent for trial, a request which was refused.^8
In a brilliant move, she subpoenaed two members of the government, Herbert
Gladstone, Home Secretary, and Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
since both had been present at the WSPU demonstrations on 11 and 13
October. The case was adjourned for a week so that the defence could gather
evidence and procure witnesses.
Emmeline’s admiration for her eldest daughter rose to new heights when, in
the crowded court room, the clever, articulate Christabel with her quick, legally
EMMELINE AND CHRISTABEL