On this day, three hundred women marched to the Houses of Parliament as part of their campaign to secure voting rights for women. The women, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, intended to petition the prime minister Asquith directly, following his decision to dissolve parliament and call a general election. Asquith’s decision was an attempt to resolve a parliamentary impasse, but it meant overriding his electoral promise to introduce a Conciliation Bill which, if passed, would have given the vote to over one million propertied women. Asquith refused to meet the delegation and the protest quickly degenerated when policemen and male bystanders started to manhandle the women, subjecting them to violence and insults, much of which was sexual in nature. The demonstration continued for six hours and earned itself the name “Black Friday” because of the violence meted out to the protesting women.
