Great Pilgrimage
Great Pilgrimage | |||
---|---|---|---|
Part of first-wave feminism | |||
Date | 18 June – 26 July 1913 | ||
Location | Marchers converged on Hyde Park, London, England 51°30′31″N 0°09′49″W / 51.508611°N 0.163611°W | ||
Caused by | Fight for women's suffrage | ||
Methods | Demonstrations, marches | ||
Parties | |||
Lead figures | |||
Millicent Fawcett (NUWSS) Prime Minister H. H. Asquith |
The Great Pilgrimage of 1913 was a march in Britain by
Background
The idea for the march was first put forward by
March
The first marchers set off on 18 June, allowing six weeks to reach London from Carlisle and Newcastle.
The march was organised in great detail. Advance information provided to marchers included a "village-by-village itinerary" with details about accommodation and facilities. A single piece of luggage per person would be transported, there were daily roll calls, and marchers were asked to wear rosettes in green, white and red - not the purple of the suffragettes. Some marchers brought horse-drawn caravans to accommodate themselves en route, while others stayed with local supporters or were found other accommodation. Marchers were welcome to join the pilgrimage for as long as they could: while some women marched for six weeks others could only spare a shorter time.[6]: 155
Public meetings were organised along the routes of the march, and in some cases the women were met with violence from hostile locals, as at Ripon where they were attacked by drunks celebrating the local agricultural show,[6]: 174–175 and at Thame where an attempt was made to burn one of the marchers' caravans while they slept in it.[6]: 1–4, 213–215
Rally
On Saturday, 26 July, the marchers and others converged on Hyde Park for their rally. They assembled at pre-arranged points to march to the park, where 78 speakers addressed the crowd from 19 platforms, one for each federation within the NUWSS. At 6pm a vote was taken at each platform, and those present unanimously passed the motion "That this meeting demands a Government measure for the enfranchisement of women".[6]: 227
Centennial commemoration
In 2013 a series of walks were held to commemorate the centenary of the pilgrimage. Playwright Natalie McGrath's play Oxygen, which was inspired by the 1913 march, was performed by the arts organisation Dreadnought South West at venues along the march route.[7][8][9]
See also
- Mud March, 1907 suffrage procession in London
- Women's Sunday, 1908 suffrage march and rally in London
- Women's Coronation Procession, 1911 suffrage march in London
- Suffrage Hikes, 1912 to 1914 in the US
- Woman Suffrage Procession, 1913 suffrage march in Washington, D.C.
- Silent Sentinels, 1917 to 1919 protest in Washington, D.C.
- Selma to Montgomery march, 1965 suffrage march in the US
References
- ^ "Women's Pilgrimage". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 8 January 2018. Includes full text of several primary sources
- ISBN 9780198794981. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ISBN 9780415257374. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ Malins, Phillipa (2013). "The Walk for Women - July 2013" (PDF). Cuckfield Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2018. Includes a photograph of the marchers
- ^ Evans, Neil (March 2017). "The Welsh women who took the long road to get the vote". Wales Online. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0857523914.
- ^ Cochrane, Kira (11 July 2013). "Join the great suffrage pilgrimage". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ "Who we are". Dreadnought South West. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ "The Pilgrimage". Dreadnought South West. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0857523914.