1. Emily Davison: Suicide or accident?
Learning Objective: To evaluate evidence to form a supported conclusion

2. Starter: Look at sources A and B (p.12)
Create a short commentary on the event.
Make it as lively and dramatic as you can.

3. Who was Emily Davison? Emily Davison was a suffragette
She was highly educated- had first class degree
Been to Cambridge and London University
Bit of an odd ball and a radical

4. Davison was a committed Suffragette
She joined the WSPU in 1906
She had been to prison many times for the cause and was force fed for arson and stone throwing. She also assaulted a vicar because she thought he was Lloyd George.
At one of her stays in prison she tried to kill herself by throwing herself down the stairs.
She believed that if a woman was martyred, women would win the vote
Some of her views were extreme

5. EMILY’S PRISON RECORD One month in prison for obstruction
March 30th 1909
One month in prison for obstruction
July 30th 1909
Two months in prison for obstruction
September 4th 1909
Two months for stone throwing at White City, Manchester
October 20th 1909
One month for stone throwing at Radcliffe near Manchester
November 19th 1910
One month for breaking windows in the House of Commons
January 10th 1912
Six months for setting fire to postal boxes at Holloway, London
November 30th 1912
Ten days for assaulting a vicar who she mistook to be David Lloyd George (PM)

6. On 4th June 1913 she attended the Derby at Epsom
As the horses raced she ran across the race track and was killed by the King’s horse Amner

7. Had she intended to commit suicide?
Watch the clip; is there any proof of her actions of intentions?
Was this an accident?
Or did she deliberately kill herself?
What alternative explanations might there be?

8. Emily Davison: accident or suicide?
Using the sources and any knowledge complete the following table
Evidence that Emily Davison committed suicide (deliberate)
Evidence that Emily Davison’s actions was an accident

9. Accident or suicide? Deliberate Accident Evidence A
Emily Davison had tried to kill herself before while in prison so maybe this time, she intended to do the job properly.
Evidence G
This source suggests that she did intend to return home after the Derby as she had bought a return ticket.

10. Do you think that her death would of helped or hindered the cause of ‘Votes for Women’? What might people and the government think of the Suffragettes?

11. Task: Write an obituary for Emily Davison
This is an account of her life after her death in you can be from a supportive point of view or a critical point of view

12. What should be included?
Background information and pictures
Her role in the WSPU
The events at the derby
Her legacy- what impact did her death have?