Emily Davison

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Emily Davison

Suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison memorial issue of the newspaper edited by Christabel Pankhurst

Emily Wilding Davison (1872 – June 8, 1913) was an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. She died when she was struck by King George V's horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby.

Davison was born in Blackheath, London, and had a university education, having studied first at Royal Holloway College in London. She later studied English Language and Literature at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and obtained first-class honours in her final exams, though women were not at that time admitted to degrees at Oxford. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906, and immediately involved herself in their more militant activities. She was arrested and imprisoned for various offences, including a violent attack on a man she mistook for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George. She went on hunger strike and was force-fed in Holloway prison, where she threw herself down an iron staircase as a protest. She landed on wire netting 30 feet below, which saved her, however she suffered some severe spinal damage.

On July 13, the night of the 1911 census, Davison hid in a cupboard in the Palace of Westminster overnight so that on the census form she could legitimately give her place of residence that night as the "House of Commons".^[1] Tony Benn MP once unofficially placed a plaque there to commemorate the event.^[2] In 1913 she planted a bomb at David Lloyd George's newly built house in Surrey, damaging it severely.^[3]

Emily Davison's Funeral

Davison's purpose in attending the Derby of June 4 1913 is unclear. Much has been made of the fact that she purchased a return rail ticket, suggesting that suicide was not, on this occasion, her initial intention.

A possibility of her reason for entering the race track was that she was trying to attach a flag to the kings horse, so when the horse crossed the finishing line it would quite literally be flying the suffragettes flag. Evidence for this was that supposedly she had been seen in the weeks before stopping horses in the lane outside her house. However this is only one of many theories.

Film of the incident shows her stepping out in front of the horse, Anmer, as it rounded Tattenham Corner, with Davison carrying the banner of the WSPU. But instead of stopping, Anmer trampled her, knocking her unconscious. Eyewitnesses at the time were divided as to her motivation, with many believing that she had simply intended to cross the track, believing that all horses had passed; while others reported that she had attempted to pull down the King's horse. She died 4 days later in Epsom Cottage Hospital, due to a fractured skull caused by the incident. Herbert Jones, the jockey who was riding the horse, suffered a mild concussion in the incident, the horse survived but with bruised shins.

Davison is buried in the church yard of St. Mary the Virgin, Morpeth, Northumberland. The funeral attracted a large crowd. Her gravestone bears the WSPU slogan, "Deeds not words". She had two funerals, one in London and one in Morpeth.

She has been immortalized in song by American rock singer Greg Kihn, whose elegy "Emily Davison" is included on his first album, 1975's "Greg Kihn."