todayinhistory: June 4th 1913: Emily Davison at the Epsom DerbyOn this day in 1913, suffragette Emil
todayinhistory:June 4th 1913: Emily Davison at the Epsom DerbyOn this day in 1913, suffragette Emily Wilding Davison ran out in front of King George V’s horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby; she was trampled by the horse, and died from her injuries on June 8th. Davison had spent years campaigning for women’s rights and female suffrage, being subjected to force feeding while on a hunger strike in prison. Her acts of civil disobedience included hiding in the chapel of the Palace of Westminster during the 1911 census, in order to list her place of residence as ‘the House of Commons’. At the 1913 Derby, she appears to have been attempting to attach a suffragette flag to the King’s horse, though it has also been suggested she was trying to pull down the horse. Others believed she had been aiming to commit suicide and become a martyr for the suffragette cause, but the fact she had purchased a return rail ticket that day appears to suggest otherwise. Herbert Jones, the jockey on the horse, was “haunted by that woman’s face” for many years and committed suicide in 1951.“Deeds not words”- Suffragette slogan on Davison’s gravestone -- source link
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