June 2023 marks the 110th anniversary of the death of suffragette Emily Davison, who was fatally injured in one of her many protests in support of the suffrage movement, which helped to bring about the right to vote for women in the UK.

She made history by throwing herself in front of the King’s horse during the 1913 Epsom Derby, dying from her injuries four days later.

As a young woman, she attended Royal Holloway College, now part of the University of London, also attending  St. Hugh’s Hall, Oxford, where she took first class honours in English, although Oxford at that time did not award degrees to women.

The Representation of the People Act of 1918 granted the vote to women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification.  The same Act gave the vote to all men over the age of 21. It was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women finally achieved the same voting rights as men.

Looking back over the past century, much progress has been made, yet the road towards equality still seems to lengthen, extending out even as we look back over our shoulder.  We owe a debt to the suffragettes, not least of which is to continue to fight the cause.

Read more about Emily Davison on Encyclopaedia Brittanica and the 1918 Act of Parliament here

 

 

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