Emily Davison: Suicide or accident?

Learning Objective: To evaluate evidence to form a supported

conclusion

Starter: Look at sources A and B (p.12)

Create a short commentary on the event.

Make it as lively and dramatic as you can.

Who was Emily Davison?

• Emily Davison was a suffragette

• She was highly educated- had first class degree

• Been to Cambridge and London University

• Bit of an odd ball and a radical

• Davison was a committed Suffragette

• She joined the WSPU in 1906• She had been to prison many

times for the cause and was force fed for arson and stone throwing. She also assaulted a vicar because she thought he was Lloyd George.

• At one of her stays in prison she tried to kill herself by throwing herself down the stairs.

• She believed that if a woman was martyred, women would win the vote

• Some of her views were extreme

March 30th 1909One month in prison for

obstruction

July 30th 1909Two months in prison for

obstruction

September 4th 1909Two months for stone throwing at

White City, Manchester

October 20th 1909One month for stone throwing at

Radcliffe near Manchester

November 19th 1910One month for breaking windows

in the House of Commons

January 10th 1912Six months for setting fire to

postal boxes at Holloway, London

November 30th 1912Ten days for assaulting a vicar

who she mistook to be David Lloyd George (PM)

EMILY’S PRISON RECORD

• On 4th June 1913 she attended the Derby at Epsom

• As the horses raced she ran across the race track and was killed by the King’s horse Amner

Had she intended to commit suicide?

• Watch the clip; is there any proof of her actions of intentions?

• Was this an accident?

• Or did she deliberately kill herself?

• What alternative explanations might there be?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siZ1rcIECdk

Emily Davison: accident or suicide?

Using the sources and any knowledge complete the following table

Evidence that Emily Davison committed suicide (deliberate)

Evidence that Emily Davison’s actions was an accident

Accident or suicide?

Deliberate Accident

Evidence AEmily Davison had tried to kill herself before while in prison so maybe this time, she intended to do the job properly.

Evidence GThis source suggests that she did intend to return home after the Derby as she had bought a return ticket.

Do you think that her death would of helped or hindered the cause

of ‘Votes for Women’?

What might people and the government think of the

Suffragettes?

Task: Write an obituary for Emily Davison

This is an account of her life after her death in 1913. you can be from a

supportive point of view or a critical point of view

What should be included?

• Background information and pictures

• Her role in the WSPU

• The events at the derby

• Her legacy- what impact did her death have?