Late Night Line-Up | The Suffragettes Remembered

Joan Bakewell chairs a discussion on the struggle for women’s franchise with Lady Asquith (Violet Bonham Carter) and Lady Stocks (Mary Danvers). Both are critical of the suffragettes, believing they became too militant, preferring instead the non-violent constitutional means of the suffragists. Lady Asquith is especially disapproving, since her father, Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, was targeted by the suffragettes. Despite this, Lady Stocks speaks highly of Emmeline Pankhurst and was one of the few to have heard her speak.

The term 'suffragette' was first coined by 'The Daily Mail' to describe the more radical and militant elements of the women's suffrage movement. Initially intended as a term of disparagement, it was soon adopted as their preferred name by members of the movement.