For hundreds of years, Bristol has been one of the cities at the forefront of the fight for equality among its residents. It was the fifth city in the UK to join the suffragette movement by starting its own society, in 1868.
But, there is a seldomly told tale of an attack on the city’s suffragettes. An ugly reality of the division that existed in the city in the early 20th century which many would argue can still be found in certain corners of Bristol.
In 1913, a movement to found a Women’s Suffrage Society at the University of Bristol was gathering momentum. A meeting was held on February 11 of that year and a motion that the society be formed was passed with 34 votes in favour and two against. Although, the support for the society would soon be tested in October of the same year when the male students’ sports pavilion at Coombe Dingle was found burned to the ground. A note was left nearby claiming suffragette responsibility.
Students pulled together plotting revenge on the arson attack - deeply aggrieved at the incident, they decided on an elaborate and vicious retaliation. Around 300 students congregated upon the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) shop on Queen’s Road, which opened in 1907, smashing the store’s windows and trashing the pro-womens’ rights literature inside, eventually creating a bonfire from its pages on the street.
The incident was recorded in the form of a poem in the university’s student magazine, the Nonesuch, as shown below:
“Would you hear how on a Friday,
After lectures were all over,
Rushed some students madly yelling
Rushed as one down ‘’Varsity roadway,
Rushèd to the “Women’s Vote Shop,”
Smashed the windows with their hammers,
With their brickbats and their hatchets.”
Students would also write in the publication of their glee at the destruction caused to the WSPU. They wrote: “We may congratulate ourselves on the completeness of our revenge on the ‘Suffs’”. More extreme retaliation to further attacks by the movement was also hinted at as the authors added: “‘The arm of the law is just too short to reach these female fanatics”.
Below is a selection of photographs showcasing the damage sustained to the Boat House in Eastville targeted by the city’s Suffragettes and the subsequent damage caused to the WSPU.
1. One of Bristol’s earliest Suffragette groups calling for votes for women.
2. The arson attack on the Eastville Boat House.
3. Hundreds surround the store as it is attacked
4. A crowd gathers outside the building.