Frustrated by the lack of progress made by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies from whom the group had split, the WSPU soon became known for its militant and sometimes violent actions under the motto ‘Deeds, not words’.
The WSPU sought votes for women on the same basis as votes for men rather than universal suffrage. Many men at the time were denied the vote due to property qualifications, which meant the proposals by the WSPU were seen by some not as ‘votes for women’ but ‘votes for ladies’. The WSPU even split from the Labour Party after Labour voted in favour of universal suffrage, leading the suffragettes to became more explicitly middle-class.
The actions of the suffragettes soon brought into question the traditional ideas of ladylike behaviour as they were routinely arrested for activities that were designed to shock the refined members of the establishment. Actions such as window breaking, arson and the sending of letter bombs routinely saw members of the WSPU imprisoned, where they would often go on hunger strike and be subjected to force-feeding by the authorities. The best known militant action is probably that of Emily Davison who was killed after stepping in front of the King’s horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby.
Daily Mail newspaper reporter Charles Hands introduced the term ‘suffragette’ to describe the WSPU’s members as a way to distinguish their violent actions from those of the less militant suffrage groups.
