The suffragette plot to burn down Wimbledon
The suffragettes took militant action in a bid to gain British women the vote. Here’s how a plot to set the Wimbledon tennis grounds ablaze in 1913 was foiled.
Image: Millicent Fawcett statue in London | chrisdorney / stock.adobe.com
We all think we know the suffragettes, the Edwardian-era activists eager to secure the vote for women in Britain. The mere mention of the suffragettes doesn’t just bring to mind images of women marching with tricolour banners and tying themselves to railings.
That’s because many individual women involved in the suffragette movement also became household names as a result. Examples still famous today include Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison. Nonetheless, many suffragettes’ names have been lost in the mists of time.
One case in point is the ‘silent suffragette’ who, in February 1913, came close to engulfing the Wimbledon Championships’ tennis grounds in a fiery inferno. Though caught, she refused to share her name with the press. Far from trying to stake a ‘claim to fame’, she was more determined to pursue a mere ‘claim to flame’, as Sky HISTORY discovers…
Why the suffragettes resorted to destruction
British women had been politely requesting the vote for decades when their Kiwi counterparts beat them to the big breakthrough. Yes, the first country to grant national voting rights to women was New Zealand in 1893.
With British women still waiting for the same privilege a decade later, many decided to pursue it much more directly than before. Hence the emergence of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Pankhurst in 1903.
According to Pankhurst, the group sought to launch a ‘reign of terror’ that would pressure the UK government into finally giving women the vote.
Today, there is controversy over whether the suffragettes were technically terrorists. However, many of their activities were certainly aimed at destroying property. Churches, postboxes and sports grounds are just examples of the many sites physically damaged by suffragettes.
Wimbledon: a hive of suffragette activity
In the early 1910s, the southwestern London suburb of Wimbledon saw a particularly large concentration of suffragette activity. Much of this was at the behest of Rose Lamartine Yates, a leading figure at the WSPU’s Wimbledon branch.
These days, the mere mention of Wimbledon is bound to bring to mind the namesake tennis tournament held annually in the area. The Wimbledon Championships started in 1877 — and, in Edwardian times, took place at Worple Road. It was here that one suffragette in 1913 sought to set fire to the tournament’s venue, the All England Club.
Why did the suffragettes target sports grounds?
'The suffragettes are the largest domestic terror organisation who ever operated on British soil,'
historian Dr Fern Riddell claims. However, the suffragettes strove to avoid harming life.
This helps to explain why many of the suffragettes targeted sports grounds. They were often empty, with few people tending to guard them in the late hours, making it easier for suffragettes to pounce without being interrupted.
How was the silent suffragette caught?
When this devious suffragette approached the Wimbledon grounds that fateful night, she must have been confident of success. She was following a playbook that had worked for many other suffragettes in preceding years.
In the event, however, groundsman Joseph Parsons found her with paraffin oil and wood shavings on the site. Though she attempted to flee, Parsons stopped her in her tracks before reporting her to the police.
The woman refused to publicly reveal her name or any other personal information about herself. For this reason, the press dubbed her ‘the silent suffragette’, though she was thought to be aged in her thirties.
Who was the silent suffragette?
The offending woman was handed a two-month prison sentence, but her true identity remains unknown to this day. Given the dogged persistence of the suffragettes, it seems likely that this one returned to militant activities soon after her release from prison.
Indeed, both before and after her prison sentence, she could theoretically have been responsible for suffragette attacks on other sports facilities. Grandstands were especially often set ablaze, perhaps unsurprisingly so. The sight of the flames from far and wide would doubtless have garnered publicity for the suffragette cause.
The silent suffragette would also likely have known other suffragettes. They could even have included Emily Davison, famously killed at the Epsom Derby. In June 1913, Davison ventured onto the racetrack and was fatally struck by the King’s horse.
Video footage of this incident suggests that Davison was trying to put a suffragette banner on the horse. Could she have sourced this banner from Yates? By subscribing to the Sky HISTORY Newsletter, you can get updates about findings that shed further light on such mysteries.
