"The book is filled with stories of feats of endurance, ruses, escapes and disguises - amusing, touching, and sometimes horrifying. The Suffragettes in Britain tried peaceable methods and were eventually driven to extremes of behavior totally alien to their upbringing and previous life. They were caught up in battles with policemen and reduced to to fighting sadistic doctors and wardresses in prison, who tried to feed them through tubes. when the fight was on, class barriers ceased to exist; led by the Pankhursts, mill girls and ladies of high rank worked equally together. A study of the activities of the militants, using, among other artifacts, the accounts of some of the survivors" --book jacket.

The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was the most controversial militant branch of the British women's suffrage movement. From 1903-1918, WSPU members made numerous public speeches, both in rented halls and in the open air, and many were brought to trial for their political activities. This collection of speeches and trial transcripts documents the WSPU from its founding through its turn to violent tactics to the winning of the vote in 1918. An introduction to each section summarizes Union activity over discrete periods, outlining the major verbal arguments and images for that time frame. These introductions, combined with the speeches and several trial transcripts, provide a chronological view of WSPU history.

The image of middle-class women chaining themselves to the rails of 10 Downing Street, smashing windows of public buildings, and going on hunger strikes in the cause of "votes for women" have become visually synonymous with the British suffragette movement over the past century. Their story has become a defining moment in feminist history, in effect separating women's fight for voting rights from contemporary issues in British political history and disconnecting their militancy from other forms of political activism in Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing upon private papers, pamphlets, newspapers, and the records of a range of suffrage and political organizations, Laura E. Nym Mayhall examines militancy as both a political idea and a set of practices that suffragettes employed to challenge their exclusion from the political nation. She traces the development of the suffragettes' concept of resistance from its origins within radical liberal discourse in the 1860s, to its emergence as political practice during Britain's involvement in the South African War, its reliance on dramatic spectacle by suffragette organizations, and its memorialization following enfranchisement. She reads closely the language and tactics militants used, analyzing their challenges in the courtroom, on the street, and through legislation as reasoned actions of female citizens. The differences in strategy among militants are highlighted, not just in the use of violence, but also in their acceptance and rejection of the authority of the law and their definitions of the ideal relationship between individuals and the state. Variations in the nature of protest continued even during World War I, when most suffragettes suspended their activities to serve the nation's war effort, while others joined peace movements, opposed the state's reduction of civil liberties in wartime, and continued the struggle for suffrage. Mayhall's revealing account of the militant suffrage movement sheds new light upon the social history of gender but, more importantly, it connects this movement to the political and intellectual history of Britain. Not only did militancy play an essential role in the achievement of women's political rights but it also contributed to the practice of engaged citizenship and the growth of liberal democracy.

“The Suffragette Movement - An Intimate Account Of Persons And Ideals” is a 1931 work by E. Sylvia Pankhurst. In this volume, Pankhurst aims to describe the events and experiences of the movement, as well as the characters and intentions of those involved. In this fascinating volume, Pankhurst shows the strife, suffering, a hope behind the pageantry, the rhetoric, and the turbulence of the time. Highly recommended for those with an interest in the British suffragette movement and worthy of a place on any every bookshelf. Contents include: “Richard Marsden Pankhurst”, “The Rise of the Women's Suffrage Movement”, “Emmeline Goulden”, “The Manchester by-election of 1883”, “Green Hayes”, “Third Reform Act. Pankhurst V. Hamilton”, etc. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women attain voting rights. “Time” magazine named Pankhurst one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century in 1999.