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Thomas Laird's avatar

One of the things that get's up my hooter about the insufferable suffragettes was their infernal warmongery.

During WW1 at least one of the Pankhursts encouraged women to go about handing out white feathers to young men they thought "looked" old enough to be in uniform thus shaming them into sacrificing themselves on the Western Front. An obligation the women didn't have. (many of the young men were too young to have a vote either)

It's preposterous that The Pankhursts swanning about London in a big hat drinking tea, scoffing cucumber sandwiches and playing croquet with Lord and Lady Asquith (ok they may not have done that but you get the picture)were somehow "oppressed" and a man working himself to an early death down a black hole in Yorkshire was "privileged".

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Paul Snaith's avatar

I had wondered what the connection was between Emily Davison and the village of Longhorsley ( just one 'e') and the town of Morpeth some 4 miles south, where she is buried in a local churchyard. Morpeth was my hometown growing up and I remember her name being revered in these parts. It likely still is by those who (like me) were indoctrinated with the myth and not the facts about this clearly deranged individual. I'll take a closer look at her grave next time I'm there as she has the largest plot in the graveyard with a huge headstone and some words engraved about her life I think. It could make for interesting reading. I'll let you know what's written there if you like.

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Simon Webb's avatar

I'd be interested to know what her epitaph is.

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Paul Snaith's avatar

I'll be going there this coming week so I'll take a photograph if I can and post it on here.

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Simon Webb's avatar

Thanks!

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Paul Snaith's avatar

Please let me know if these links to the pictures have worked or not all those who were interested in this.

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Paul Snaith's avatar

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qKDFFNVogpuoZM6R7

This is the close up of the plaque on the house in Longhorsley which can be seen in the following and last picture.

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Simon Webb's avatar

These pictures are fascinating! Thanks so much for putting them up here.

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Paul Snaith's avatar

You're welcome Simon. I found myself wondering who was the ' loving Aberdeen friend' who considered Miss Davison to be a ' veritable princess of spirituality ' A fellow suffragette perhaps?

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Paul Snaith's avatar

https://photos.app.goo.gl/i5QfC9YsAx3MN7re7

This probably as near as an epitaph as I could find. It's situated on the village green. It's quite difficult to read so I'm going to write what it says below...

' Upon this village green Emily developed her speech making skills in the cause of equal rights for women. Emily stayed with her mother in the village in between her suffragette activities and consequent spells in prison. She was called from Longhorsley to the Epsom Derby where she met her death for the cause '.

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Paul Snaith's avatar

https://photos.app.goo.gl/S6uS8TbcUc77vtw96

These next ones are situated in the village of Longhorsley, and in this picture the other personalities unconnected with Miss Davison also make for quite interesting reading

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Paul Snaith's avatar

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GbGEKwckrJQmeQSV7

If you zoom in on this you can see that the family memorial pictured earlier is sited at the crest of that part of the churchyard in a prominent place.

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Paul Snaith's avatar

https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9QPUi44fHevG3sK7

I'm assuming those ribbons are the colours of the suffragettes

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Paul Snaith's avatar

I have taken quite a few pictures relating to this and will try to post them here if I can work out how to do that for your perusal and for others here who might be interested.

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Patricia's avatar

It appears that Emily Davison was as you say ‘deeply disturbed’ some might say ‘completely unhinged’ it’s a wonder she wasn’t committed to a lunatic asylum for the protection of herself and indeed the general public. In a time where it was possible to be committed for far less offences such as having a baby out of wedlock.

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Simon Webb's avatar

I thought 'deeply disturbed' was a more sensitive way of putting it, rather than utterly barking mad!

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LuLu's avatar

Excellent piece Simon! Thank you for bringing these lesser known details to our attention. Your essay pieces are clearly as entertaining as your videos.

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Simon Webb's avatar

I'm glad that they entertain and inform!

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Gordon Semmens's avatar

A very well written and interesting piece just like your YouTube output.

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Simon Webb's avatar

Thank you!

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Kit's avatar

I'm reminded of your quote about women being a riddle with the answer being pregnancy. A disturbed, hysterical woman randomly causing chaos.

The answer to her unhappiness was never 'the vote'. It would have been marriage and children.

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Pierre Bezukhov's avatar

Good article, but as a watcher of your videos for years, it seems that this is the video done in essay form! Also, there are a lot of reruns in the videos, the suffragette and British concentration camps repeats on occasion!

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Simon Webb's avatar

All fair points!

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