Joan Harvey Drew studied at London’s Westminster School of Art and worked as an illustrator and embroiderer in addition to contributing poster designs to the Artists’ Suffrage League. In this work, Drew uses the figure of ‘John Bull’ to personify an England beset by the governmental and social issues of the day. The concerned and respectable figure of ‘Womans Suffrage’ looks on and offers help, suggesting that women voters would assist in easing the nation’s political burdens. Drew’s illustration suggests the emergence of a new female political identity – that of the loyal, enfranchised citizen.

This decorative paper souvenir was produced to commemorate the first major suffrage demonstration in England, which was held in London’s Hyde Park on 21 June 1908. Mass processions were important campaigning tools for the suffrage movement from 1907 to 1913. The 1908 rally, referred to as ‘Women’s Sunday’ was the largest public rally in the nation’s history at the time, attracting between 200,000 and 300,000 people. The demonstration marked a turning point in the suffrage movement’s use of visual marketing: it was the first time the purple, green and white colours of the Women’s Social and Political Union were publicly displayed en masse.

In 1910, composer and suffrage campaigner Ethel Smyth composed March of the Women as the official anthem of the Women’s Social and Political Union, based on the rousing melody of a traditional Italian folk song. The lyrics were written by journalist and suffragist Cicely Hamilton. March of the Women was widely adopted around the world as a rallying cry for suffragists, and was sung at rallies, meetings and in prison. When composer Thomas Beecham visited Smyth in Holloway Prison in 1912, he reportedly found her conducting a group of women singing the anthem, keeping time with a toothbrush.

This postcard, published by the artists’ collective Suffrage Atelier in 1909, was designed by portrait and landscape artist Jessica Walters. In the graphic, black-and-white illustration, Walters depicts a group of women standing in front of Parliament (the ‘people’s house’) carrying ‘Votes for Women’ banners and asking to be let into the building. The dog sitting at the door to Parliament represents the British Prime Minister of the day, Herbert Asquith, a frequent target for suffrage artists, who portrayed the politician as a traitor to the liberal cause.

In this postcard, artist Gladys Letcher takes aim at Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, who was known for his ambivalent position towards women’s suffrage. He allowed bills on suffrage to be introduced to Parliament, but did not grant parliamentary time for them to be debated or voted on. Asquith reportedly referred to suffrage as a question for ‘a remote and speculative future’, a quote that Letcher plays on in this postcard design. Asquith, dressed as a young girl, picks petals from the daisy of women’s suffrage, saying, ‘this year, next year, sometime’.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, numerous profession-specific societies were founded to mobilise support for women’s suffrage. The Women Writers’ Suffrage League (WWSL) was founded in 1909 and was inclusive of gender, class and category of writer. The WWSL sought political change by hosting fundraisers and meetings, writing plays, pageants and articles, and running competitions for suffrage writing. William Henry Margetson was largely known for his pre-Raphaelite-inspired paintings of women. In this postcard for the WWSL he depicts a woman clinging to a statue of Britannia, who holds the scales of justice, while a man labelled ‘prejudice’ tries to pull her away.

Louisa Thompson-Price produced a series of satirical illustrations for the Women’s Freedom League (WFL) caricaturing opponents of women’s suffrage. These two examples feature a monocle-wearing pseudointellectual who claims that ‘Women are not Sufficiently Intelligent to Vote, Don’t You Know’ and a weedy bureaucrat who claims that ‘Women have no right to Vote because they can’t defend their Country’. The cartoons were published in the Women’s Freedom League’s newspaper The Vote, for which Thompson-Price was a consultant editor, and were reproduced as popular postcards. An established journalist and cartoonist and a long-time supporter of women’s causes, Thompson-Price embraced the non-violent militarism of the WFL.

Louisa Thompson-Price produced a series of satirical illustrations for the Women’s Freedom League (WFL) caricaturing opponents of women’s suffrage. These two examples feature a monocle-wearing pseudointellectual who claims that ‘Women are not Sufficiently Intelligent to Vote, Don’t You Know’ and a weedy bureaucrat who claims that ‘Women have no right to Vote because they can’t defend their Country’. The cartoons were published in the Women’s Freedom League’s newspaper The Vote, for which Thompson-Price was a consultant editor, and were reproduced as popular postcards. An established journalist and cartoonist and a long-time supporter of women’s causes, Thompson-Price embraced the non-violent militarism of the WFL.

This cartoon appeared on the cover of the 19 November 1909 edition of the Women’s Social and Political Union’s magazine, Votes for Women. Artist Alfred Pearce, under the pseudonym ‘A Patriot’, depicts Prime Minister Herbert Asquith with two faces, reflecting what many suffrage campaigners saw as his hypocritical and duplicitous position towards their campaign. Reproduced as a poster as well as a postcard, this image was distributed widely in the lead up the January 1910 general election, as campaigners worked to make women’s suffrage a major electoral issue. Pearce produced numerous cartoons for Votes for Women and was a co-founder of the Suffrage Atelier artists’ collective.

Named for suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst and her political adversary, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, ‘Pank-a-Squith’ was one of many toys and games sold by the Women’s Social and Political Union to raise funds for their campaign. Games were a vehicle for the suffrage message to reach a broad audience and inoffensively enter middle-class homes. Pank-a-Squith is similar to Snakes and Ladders: each player moves their suffragette game figure along a spiral of squares from their ‘home’ to the Houses of Parliament, navigating obstacles, prejudices and obstructions along the way. The first player to reach the final square of ‘universal suffrage’ is the winner.

This set of 48 playing cards was marketed as a gift in the Women’s Social and Political Union newspaper and sold for two shillings. Panko is a similar game to Rummy and was designed by popular cartoonist for the British magazine Punch, E. T. Reed. Instead of the traditional suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades, Panko cards feature four types of suffragettes and four types of anti-suffragettes. Each illustration depicts common occurrences in the suffragette movement, including the striking ‘Gaol! Gaol! Gaol!’ card, which features a suffragette enduring a hunger strike in prison.

This figurine was first made in 1978 to mark fifty years of universal female suffrage in England. The figure holds a pamphlet in one hand and a ‘votes for women’ poster in the other, and wears a sash and rosette in the purple, white and green colours of the Women’s Social and Political Union. Royal Doulton was the first established ceramic firm to create products inspired by the suffrage movement. In 1909, it produced two ceramic inkwell figurines that alluded to the 1909 suffrage march on parliament. Both figures were squat and featured dour facial expressions. Although not explicitly anti-suffragist, the inkwells did not depict suffrage activists in a postive light.

This teacup, saucer and plate were commissioned by the Women’s Social and Political Union in early 1909. The tea sets were used to serve refreshments at the landmark Women’s Exhibition held at Princes’ Skating Rink, Knightsbridge, in May 1909 and were later sold to raise funds for the movement. Each work is decorated with the ‘angel of freedom’ motif, designed by artist and suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst. Both the Women’s Exhibition and the suffrage china were conceived to demonstrate the respectability, talent and traditional feminine aesthetics of the suffrage campaign, and distance the movement from the ‘shrieking sisterhood’ stereotype perpetuated by its detractors.

This object, known as a muffineer, was used to sprinkle sugar on muffins. The silver figurine wears a bonnet, bow and long garment that suggests an air of respectability. It was a known suffragist tactic to conform to contemporary fashions and ideals of femininity. In contrast, this figure wears a placard bearing the forceful and direct messages, ‘Votes for women’ and ‘We can make things hot for you’. Domestic objects such as this one brought the discussion about suffrage causes into the home. Due to the popularity of suffrage merchandise, more than nineteen Women’s Social and Political Union storefronts were in operation in Greater London between 1907 to 1914.

This tobacco jar, shaped to caricature the head of a vociferous suffragette, is a rare example of anti-suffrage visual culture. Anti-suffragists relied on portraying their opponents as unhinged harridans and promoted the fear that women would be ‘masculinised’ by their participation in politics. In this work, the suffragette fulfils this fear with her eyes wide, face red and mouth open, yelling the words inscribed on her neck: ‘I say, Down with the Trousers’. The figure is identifiable as a suffragette by the purple, white and green colours on the ribbon of her hat and sash on her shoulder.

The Women’s Freedom League (WFL) was founded in 1907. In its branding, the WFL emulated the successful strategies pioneered by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), choosing a distinctive colour scheme of gold, white and green and manufacturing myriad badge designs for its members to wear. The ribbons attached to this badge would have been added by its owner. Interestingly, one length of ribbon is in the white, gold and green of the WFL, and the other features the purple, white and green tricolour of the WSPU. Perhaps this suffragist was a member of both groups, or was hedging her bets as to which of the societies to support.

Sashes were an essential part of the ‘suffrage uniform’ and were worn at demonstrations, processions and other public events to visually identify suffrage campaigners. This sash design was first seen at the Women’s Sunday march held on 21 June 1908. In the lead up to that event, the Women’s Social and Political Union treasurer, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, selected the colours white (for purity), purple (for royalty, freedom and dignity), and green (for hope) to represent the WSPU. She impressed on women the importance of sporting the colours, rightly believing that the white, purple and green would become synonymous with the suffrage cause.

This grosgrain sash belonged to sisters Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson, who were all active members of the Women’s Freedom League from 1908 until the 1930s. The Hodgson sisters collected a variety of WFL-branded items of dress and accessories, including some that were homemade, and would have worn this sash at processions and marches. Wearing such items of dress was a means for the sisters to visibly communicate their commitment to the cause while publicising the suffrage message through the visual codes of colours and logos.

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was founded in 1897 as an amalgamation of several suffrage organisations around Britain. By 1914 it had become the largest suffrage society in the country, with over 50,000 members. Its leader, Millicent Fawcett, was one of the key figures in the history of the British suffrage campaign, and appealed to middle-class and university-educated women who supported legal and non-militant methods of advocacy. This enamel pin is rendered in the NUWSS colours of red, white and green, which were chosen to visually represent the society in 1907.

Badges and pins were first manufactured and distributed by suffrage campaigners in 1907 and were widely popular until 1914. The introduction of celluloid pins, which were made by inserting a sheet of transparent plastic over paper, made pins cheaper to manufacture and more accessible to buy. A celluloid badge like this one would have retailed for one penny, affordable for a shopgirl or clerk. The first badges produced by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies coincided with the introduction of the Union’s colour scheme, and badges were used as a form of visual rhetoric and to popularise the suffrage ‘brand’.

The International Women’s Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) represented pacifist suffragists from twenty-six countries. Formally founded in Berlin in 1904, it was headquartered in London and provided an international platform and network for suffrage campaigners. The IWSA published a newspaper, Jus Suffragii, and organised international conferences for the promotion of equality, international cooperation and peace. Like most suffrage organisations it embraced a distinctive colour scheme, adopting the sunflower yellow that had characterised the American suffrage movement since the 1860s. This badge features the IWSA logo, a female figure holding the scales of justice, and may have been purchased at one of the organisation’s conferences.

Suffrage organisations affiliated with religious groups were founded in England between 1908 and 1912. These groups, which included the Free Church Federation for Women’s Suffrage, were non-militant and typically admitted men as well as women. Each religious league had its own colours and visual identity but often marched together in processions and ran coordinated campaigns, including against forcible feeding of hunger-striking suffragettes in 1913. While the militant Women’s Social and Political Union viewed the Church of England as male-dominated and resistant to reform, many religious women drew parallels between their belief in the equality of men and women before God and their belief in equality of enfranchisement.

Flag pins were a popular design among suffrage campaigners. This one is rendered in the white, gold and green colour scheme of the Women’s Freedom League. Each of the colours has a distinct meaning: ‘gold, the earliest suffrage colour and the colour of the dawn; white for purity of purpose; and green for the promise of spring’. This enamel pin was designed to be worn on a woman’s lapel and bridged the gap between political badge and decorative jewellery. The ‘Votes for women’ slogan leaves no ambiguity as to the pin’s purpose.

Cloth badges have historically been used to identify military or uniformed personnel and were sewn onto the lapel or upper sleeve of clothing to communicate the army or clan of the wearer. In a similar fashion, this badge was manufactured for supporters of the Women’s Freedom League to proudly adorn their clothing and express their support for women’s suffrage. The badge’s design is simple, clear and effective. Text is used sparingly, with the phrase ‘Votes for women’ the focus. This phrase originated in 1905 following the need to cut a protest banner that originally read ‘Will the Liberal Party Give Votes for Women?’

This celluloid badge features a portrait of the well-known leader and co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928). Emmeline and her daughters Sylvia and Christabel founded the WSPU in 1903 with the aim to ‘wake up the nation’ to the cause of women’s suffrage through direct action. Their tactics were characterised as militant. This approach led to arrests and imprisonment for the suffragettes. Emmeline Pankhurst herself was jailed and released on eleven occasions. In this photograph, Emmeline can be seen to be wearing the Holloway brooch awarded to suffragettes who had gone to prison for the cause.

The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) produced and sold numerous ‘pretty and useful things’ to raise funds for the cause of women’s suffrage. This small oval brooch features bands of enamel in the WSPU colours. This type of brooch would have been sold in the WSPU retail shops, which sold fashion accessories, pamphlets, badges, posters and the WSPU newspaper Votes for Women. By 1910, the colour scheme of green, purple and white was widely recognised as representing the suffrage cause. Small jewellery items like this could be incorporated into suffrage supporters’ daily wardrobes as a subtle but clear indicator of their advocacy.

This popular badge design was widely distributed by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the most prolific suffrage group in terms of production of badges and pins. It features a chain-link design framing the letters ‘WSPU’ and was produced in several colourways, including the two represented here. The design of this badge was copied by several other suffrage societies across England and the United States, including the Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement and the Connecticut Women’s Suffrage Association (CWSA), who took advantage of the WSPU’s successful branding. The CWSA distributed an identical badge with the letters ‘CWSA’ replacing ‘WSPU’.

This popular badge design was widely distributed by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the most prolific suffrage group in terms of production of badges and pins. It features a chain-link design framing the letters ‘WSPU’ and was produced in several colourways, including the two represented here. The design of this badge was copied by several other suffrage societies across England and the United States, including the Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement and the Connecticut Women’s Suffrage Association (CWSA), who took advantage of the WSPU’s successful branding. The CWSA distributed an identical badge with the letters ‘CWSA’ replacing ‘WSPU’.

Sylvia Pankhurst designed the logo printed on this badge around 1909, and it was used widely on suffrage stationery, posters and ephemera. The logo depicts a woman stepping over broken chains as she emerges from prison gates, accompanied by doves and streamers spelling out the words ‘Votes for Women’. Pankhurst gave up a promising career as an artist to devote herself to the suffrage cause but continued to practice and view activism through the lens of art and design. She renovated and decorated the Women’s Social and Political Union’s offices and later led architectural projects in London’s East End.

Enamel pins were just as popular as celluloid badges among suffrage supporters. They were durable and could be made in brilliant, rich colours, mimicking the look of jewellery. For this reason, they were popular amongst middle- and upper-class suffragists who could afford their steeper price tag. Enamel pins sold for between one to four shillings each, up to $30 in today’s money, which was much more than the one penny price of a celluloid badge. This pin features the five-petal red rose commonly used as a logo by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.

Medals for Valour, such as this one and the one nearby awarded to Grace Chappelow, were presented by the Women’s Social and Political Union to women who had endured a hunger strike while serving a prison sentence for an act of suffrage militancy. Fewer than 100 of these medals are thought to have been awarded, making receiving one the crowning achievement for a suffragette. The significance of these medals is emphasised by their comparable design to military medals of bravery.

Medals for Valour were first bestowed to recipients at a Women’s Social and Political Union ceremony in August 1909. Each medal was presented in a silk-lined box with gold text on the inside: ‘Presented to [name] by the Women’s Social and Political Union in recognition of gallant action, whereby through endurance to the last extremity of hunger and hardship a great principle of political justice was vindicated’. Metal bars with either date/s or the words ‘force-fed’ were added to individual suffragettes medals each time they underwent a hunger strike in prison. These esteemed medals were intended to inspire personal sacrifice for the cause.

The Holloway brooch was awarded to members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) who had been imprisoned in Holloway Prison, London. It is a delicate and decorative piece of jewellery with a subversive design. The metal grid with pointed ends is adapted from the portcullis gate symbol of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and is akin to a cell gate. The loose chains symbolise metal handcuffs and the broad arrow or convict symbol superimposed over the portcullis traditionally symbolises government property, here though, the colours of the WSPU are used in a triumphant gesture.

Sylvia Pankhurst designed this illuminated scroll to accompany the Holloway Medals given to suffragettes who endured terms of imprisonment. It incorporates the purple, green and white colour scheme adopted by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in June 1908 and, in the roundel at the top of the scroll, the ‘angel of freedom’ symbol which Pankhurst went on to use on many WSPU products. Pankhurst’s admiration for Arts and Crafts design principles can be seen in the ornate, hand-coloured border of the address, made up of a repeat pattern based on natural motifs including berries and flowers. Each scroll expressed deep admiration for the recipient’s courage and sacrifice.