English Militancy and the Canadian Suffrage Movement
Deborah G or ham
Many people who know very l i t t l e about
n i n e t e e n t h and e a r l y t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y
E n g l i s h feminism w i l l have heard o f
Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters
C h r i s t a b e l and S y l v i a , who l e d t h e
English militant feminist organization,
the Women's S o c i a l and P o l i t i c a l Union.
The techniques used by the s u f f r a g e t t e s
in t h e p e r i o d 1905~ 191 ^* captured a t t e n -
t i o n a t the t i m e , and although general
h i s t o r i c a l treatment o f changes i n
women's s o c i a l , p o l i t i c a l and economic
p o s i t i o n has been p e r f u n c t o r y , the
Pankhursts a t l e a s t have found a p l a c e
in general treatments o f the p e r i o d
even though they may be regarded as
e c c e n t r i c p e r s o n a l i t i e s r a t h e r than as
l e a d e r s o f a genuine p o l i t i c a l movement.
In c o n t r a s t o n l y those i n t e r e s t e d i n
the h i s t o r y o f feminism know t h e names
o f the major n o n - m i l i t a n t p a r t i c i p a n t s
in t h e E n g l i s h s u f f r a g e movement. The
p o p u l a r memory r e f l e c t s the p o s i t i o n
the Pankhursts h e l d a t the time. I t
was the s u f f r a g e t t e s and not the con-
s t i t u t i o n a l i s t s who mounted v i s i b l e
a c t i v i t y i n t h e form o f mass demonstra-
t i o n s ; i t was the s u f f r a g e t t e s who made
h e a d l i n e s ; i t was the s u f f r a g e t t e
l e a d e r s who s u c c e s s f u l l y c r e a t e d p u b l i c
p e r s o n a l i t i e s f o r themselves.
The Women's S o c i a l and P o l i t i c a l Union
and i t s l e a d e r s r e c e i v e d world-wide
p u b l i c i t y . Mrs. Pankhurst h e r s e l f , her
daughters and o t h e r members o f the m i l -
i t a n t movement t r a v e l l e d abroad and
thus had d i r e c t p e r s o n a l c o n t a c t w i t h
women's groups and t h e general p u b l i c
in o t h e r c o u n t r i e s . Even when they
were not themselves t r a v e l l i n g , t h e i r
a c t i v i t i e s r e c e i v e d widespread coverage
in the p r e s s . I t i s t r u e t h a t much o f
t h i s p u b l i c i t y was h o s t i l e and o f t e n
d i s t o r t e d , but n o n e t h e l e s s i t kept not
o n l y s u f f r a g e , but a l s o wider i s s u e s
i n v o l v e d i n the women's movement i n the
f o r e f r o n t of p u b l i c consciousness. In
the case o f Canada, f o r i n s t a n c e , the
a c t i v i t i e s o f the E n g l i s h m i l i t a n t s were
o f t e n t h e main o r even the o n l y source
of news about the equal r i g h t s i s s u e .
T h i s aspect o f t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s has r e -
c e i v e d l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n from h i s t o r i a n s ,
who have concerned themselves w i t h t h e
WSPU. Indeed most a n a l y s e s of t h e
women's movement have been l i m i t e d t o
n a t i o n a l h i s t o r y and l i t t l e has been
made o f the f a c t t h a t many p a r t i c i p a n t s
thought o f themselves as p a r t o f an i n -
t e r n a t i o n a l movement. I t would be use-
f u l t o know about the s o r t o f a c t i v i s t s
who thought o f themselves i n t h i s way.
Did they espouse i n t e r n a t i o n a l i s m p r i -
m a r i l y as a way o f s t r e n g t h e n i n g t h e i r
i n t e r n a ] s t r a t e g i e s o r were t h e i r ideas
molded and developed by the f o r g i n g o f
international links?l
These q u e s t i o n s a r e o f p a r t i c u l a r r e l e -
vance when one examines the h i s t o r i o -
graphy o f the women's movement i n Cana-
da. Whereas t h e h i s t o r i o g r a p h y o f the
movement i n the U n i t e d S t a t e s and B r i t -
ain i s r e l a t i v e l y w e l l d e v e l o p e d , i n
Canada o n l y the o u t l i n e s have been
sketched out. L o c a l i z e d and s p e c i f i c
i n f o r m a t i o n about a c t i v i t i e s i n Canada
i s very s c a n t y . Attempts t o f o r m u l a t e
conceptual a n a l y s e s have t h e r e f o r e
r e s t e d on u n c e r t a i n f o u n d a t i o n s and
most o f t h e formulae f o r a n a l y s i s have
been borrowed from the work o f American
and B r i t i s h h i s t o r i a n s . The use o f
f o r e i g n e x p l a n a t o r y models i s not mis-
l e a d i n g i n i t s e l f , but they a r e b e s t
used when they h e l p t o i l l u m i n a t e a
c l e a r l y perceived pattern o f influence.
At p r e s e n t they a r e sometimes assumed
t o f i t by analogy.a s i t u a t i o n about
which not enough i s y e t known.2
Mrs. P a n k h u r s t ' s v i s i t s t o Canada and
the v i s i t s o f o t h e r members o f the WSPU
form a f o c a l p o i n t f o r an e x a m i n a t i o n
of a s p e c i f i c example o f i n t e r a c t i o n
between women a c t i v i s t s i n B r i t a i n and
Canada. From an e x a m i n a t i o n o f Can-
a d i a n r e a c t i o n t o these v i s i t s and o f
more g e n e r a l i z e d Canadian r e a c t i o n t o
the women's movement i n England, i t i s
hoped t h a t some u s e f u l g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s
about t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l c r o s s c u r r e n t s
a f f e c t i n g Canadian women a c t i v i s t s w i l l
emerge, as w e l l as some new i n s i g h t s
i n t o t h e a c t i v i t i e s o f the E n g l i s h m i l -
i tants.
One major purpose o f the comparative
a n a l y s i s w i l l be t o examine the concept
of the "women's movement" i n t h e B r i t i s h
and Canadian c o n t e x t . A l t h o u g h women
a c t i v i s t s i n England, t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s
and a l s o i n Canada spoke o f themselves
as p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n a "women's move-
ment" many o f t h e i r c o n t e m p o r a r i e s
denied t h e v a l i d i t y o f t h e i r percep-
t i o n . Many h i s t o r i a n s have a l s o ques-
tioned t h i s b e l i e f . Barbara Kanner, a
h i s t o r i a n s y m p a t h e t i c t o the causes
f o r which the women a c t i v i s t s f o u g h t ,
says t h a t the b e l i e f t h a t " t h e r e e x i s t -
ed i n England from t h e l a t e e i g h t e e n t h
c e n t u r y a steady coherent and c o n s i s -
t e n t continuum o f e v e n t s — c o m p r i s i n g a
'movement' by m i d - n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y - -
which e v e n t u a l l y ' l e d ' t o women's eman-
c i p a t i o n ' " i s "an assumption, s t i l l
l a r g e l y untested."3 Kanner i s w r i t i n g
o f the women a c t i v i s t s i n England,
where the a c t i v i t i e s o f the non-
m i l i t a n t f e m i n i s t s had generated wide-
spread d i s c u s s i o n o f the "woman ques-
t i o n " b e f o r e 1905 and where, between
1905-1914, the m i l i t a n t s u f f r a g e t t e s
became u n q u e s t i o n a b l y an important
feature of English p o l i t i c a l l i f e .
If the e x i s t e n c e o f a women's movement
i n England i s q u e s t i o n a b l e , i t i s ob-
v i o u s l y even more q u e s t i o n a b l e i n Can-
ada. Canadian women were never i n v o l -
ved i n women's emancipation a c t i v i t i e s
t o a n y t h i n g l i k e a comparable degree:
whether measured by a b i l i t y t o demon-
s t r a t e mass support o r a b i l i t y t o o r -
g a n i z e independent women's r i g h t s o r
newspapers, o r even a b i l i t y t o generate
o r g a n i z a t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e s , the s u f f r a g e
movement i n B r i t a i n had developed f u r -
t h e r than i t d i d i n Canada b e f o r e the
Canadian a c t i v i s t s r e a l l y even got
s t a r t e d . Yet female s u f f r a g e was
a c h i e v e d i n t h e two c o u n t r i e s a t ap-
p r o x i m a t e l y the same time. Might t h i s
mean t h a t the whole "women's emancipa-
t i o n movement" i n England, from the
c o n s t i t u t i o n a l phase t o the m i l i t a n t
campaign, was unnecessary and e x t r a n -
 eous and t h a t t h e r e i s l i t t l e demon-
s t r a b l e c o n n e c t i o n between t h e a c t i v -
i t i e s o f both s u f f r a g i s t s and s u f f r a -
g e t t e s and the g r a n t i n g o f the s u f f r a g e
i n 1918? If women were g i v e n the voce
in Canada w i t h o u t any comparable a c t i v -
i t y , i t might be i n f e r r e d t h a t such
a c t i v i t y was not n e c e s s a r y . On t h e
o t h e r hand, i t might mean t h a t Canadian
women a c t i v i s t s , a l t h o u g h they knew
t h a t t h e i r numbers were s m a l l , i d e n t i -
f i e d s t r o n g l y w i t h a c t i v i t i e s i n Eng-
land and the U n i t e d S t a t e s (and a l s o
w i t h those i n A u s t r a l i a , New Zealand
and the S c a n d i n a v i a n c o u n t r i e s ) and
gathered s t r e n g t h from t h e successes
and s t r u g g l e s o f women elsewhere. This
i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f the i n t e r a c t i o n be-
tween E n g l i s h m i l i t a n c y and Canadian
a c t i v i s m tends t o support the l a t t e r
interpretation.

Mrs. Pankhurst h e r s e l f v i s i t e d North

America and spoke about woman s u f f r a g e
on t h r e e o c c a s i o n s i n t h e p e r i o d b e f o r e
the o u t b r e a k o f World War I : i n 1909,
1911 and 1913.4 In a l l cases any Can-
adian engagements were a u x i l i a r y t o a
United States tour. In 1909 she went
o n l y t o Toronto. In 1911 she made a
much more e x t e n s i v e c r o s s - c o u n t r y t o u r .
I have not found r e c o r d s o f any Can-
adian v i s i t s d u r i n g the 1913 t o u r . In
a d d i t i o n t o Mrs. P a n k h u r s t , S y l v i a
Pankhurst a l s o v i s i t e d Canada. In t h e
l a s t months o f 1912, B a r b a r a W y l i e , a
member o f the WSPU whose b r o t h e r s a t i n
the Saskatchewan l e g i s l a t u r e , made an
e x t e n s i v e t o u r o f Canada i n what was
i n i t i a l l y planned as an attempt t o
Courtesy C e n t r a l Press Photos L i m i t e d
e s t a b l i s h a branch o f the WSPU i n Can-
ada.5 In a d d i t i o n t o t h e s e members o f
the WSPU s e v e r a l o t h e r E n g l i s h f e m i n -
i s t s came t o Canada d u r i n g the y e a r s
1909-1912, i n c l u d i n g E t h e l Snowdon, a
Labour P a r t y a c t i v i s t and the w i f e o f
Labour MP, P h i l i p Snowdon.6
B e f o r e b e g i n n i n g t o d i s c u s s the impact
o f t h e ideas and a c t i v i t i e s o f the m i l -
i t a n t s u f f r a g e t t e s on the Canadian
scene, i t w i l l be n e c e s s a r y t o b r i e f l y
review the o r i g i n s o f the WSPU and ex-
p l a i n i t s p l a c e i n the development o f
E n g l i s h feminism. The m i l i t a n t s u f -
f r a g e movement emerged i n England a f t e r
1903 but n o n - m i l i t a n t a c t i v i t i e s f o r
women's e m a n c i p a t i o n began a h a l f cen-
t u r y b e f o r e t h a t o r e a r l i e r and the
s u f f r a g e movement i t s e l f has a c o n t i n -
uous h i s t o r y d a t i n g from 1866.7 In the
l a s t decades o f the c e n t u r y the "Woman
Q u e s t i o n " became almost as p o p u l a r a
s u b j e c t as i t i s today, one hundred
y e a r s l a t e r . The v o t e was never t h e
o n l y i s s u e t h a t concerned women's
r i g h t s a d v o c a t e s . No one r e a l l y ever
thought t h a t the v o t e by i t s e l f was
more than a means t o a v a r i e t y o f ends
but i n the c l i m a t e o f l i b e r a l i n d i v i d -
u a l i s m out o f which the E n g l i s h f e m i n -
i s t movement a r o s e , p o l i t i c a l r i g h t s
became a symbol o f women's r e c o g n i t i o n
as f u l l members o f s o c i e t y . The c h i e f
s e t o f arguments used i n support o f t h e
s u f f r a g e were an outgrowth o f l i b e r a l
i n d i v i d u a l i s t i d e o l o g y : women, i t was
argued, were r a t i o n a l human b e i n g s , and
as r a t i o n a l human beings they had a
r i g h t t o r e c o g n i t i o n as s e p a r a t e i n -
d i v i d u a l s and a r i g h t t o a v o i c e i n
soci ety.
There was a paradox i n v o l v e d i n the
woman s u f f r a g e arguments. Male groups
f i g h t i n g f o r the s u f f r a g e (middle-class
and w o r k i n g - c l a s s groups) a l s o used
l i b e r a l i n d i v i d u a l i s t arguments. But
i t was c l e a r t h a t these groups wanted
the vote f o r c o n c r e t e ends--and i t was
assumed t h a t they would v o t e as a b l o c ,
at l e a s t about those i s s u e s where t h e i r
mutual i n t e r e s t s were a t s t a k e . Women
s u f f r a g i s t s , however, wanted the vote
l e s s because they b e l i e v e d that women
would v o t e as a b l o c than because they
saw i t as a symbol o f women's humanity.
The a n t i - s u f f r a g i s t s opposed woman s u f -
f r a g e not so much because they were
a f r a i d o f the woman's v o t e as because
they t o o saw votes f o r women as a sym-
bol . In t h e i r case i t was a n e g a t i v e
symbol, s i g n i f y i n g the d e s t r u c t i o n
o f f a m i l y l i f e and u l t i m a t e l y o f the
s o c i a l order.
T h i s d e n i a l o f t h e i r humanity was f o r
many f e m i n i s t s the b i n d i n g f o r c e t h a t
would h o l d women t o g e t h e r . However,
the p r e s s u r e s o f s o c i a l and economic
c l a s s tended t o e r a s e whatever c o h e s i v e -
ness women as a whole might have f e l t ,
and i t has o f t e n been p o i n t e d out t h a t ,
a l t h o u g h an i n t e l l e c t u a l framework v/as
d e v i s e d which was meant t o i n c l u d e a l l
women, the s u f f r a g e movement was almost
e x c l u s i v e l y a movement o f m i d d l e - c l a s s
l a d i e s who never f u l l y understood the
problems o f w o r k i n g - c l a s s women. The
problem o f c l a s s c l e a v a g e undoubtedly
must be taken i n t o account i n any i n -
t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the women's movement a
and i n the case of B r i t a i n i t has f u n c -
t i o n e d as a primary a n a l y t i c a l t o o l f o r
e x p l a i n i n g the " f a i l u r e " of the move-
ment.8 It c e r t a i n l y can be shown t h a t
many E n g l i s h f e m i n i s t s s u f f e r e d from
the same c l a s s - c o n s c i o u s n e s s as t h e i r
bourgeois husbands, f a t h e r s and
b r o t h e r s , and t h a t they were p r i m a r i l y
concerned w i t h e d u c a t i o n a l , p r o f e s s i o n -
a l , p r o p e r t y and p o l i t i c a l r i g h t s f o r
themselves r a t h e r than f o r a l l women.
But i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t h a t r e c e n t l y the
h i s t o r i o g r a p h y of B r i t i s h feminism has
been d e v e l o p i n g an a l t e r n a t i v e approach,
one which emphasizes t h a t t h e r e may have
been more c o h e s i v e and even continuous
a c t i v i t y among w o r k i n g - c l a s s women i n
the n i n e t e e n t h and e a r l y t w e n t i e t h cen-
t u r i e s than we have h i t h e r t o b e l i e v e d . 9
For i n s t a n c e , the WSPU's w o r k i n g - c l a s s
c o n n e c t i o n s have been re-emphasized r e -
c e n t l y i n an account by S h e i l a Row-
botham 10 which c o n t r a s t s w i t h most ac-
counts which t r e a t the few well-known
w o r k i n g - c l a s s women i n the movement as
an example of tokenism. The a c h i e v e -
ment of w o r k i n g - c l a s s women has been
o v e r l o o k e d because i t was, of c o u r s e ,
the m i d d l e - c l a s s women who wrote most o f
the memoirs and most o f the e a r l y a c -
c o u n t s , and they d i d tend to be i g n o r a n t
in many cases about w o r k i n g - c l a s s a c t i v -
i t i e s and problems. That such a c t i v i t y
s h o u l d have been present among
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y w o r k i n g - c l a s s Eng-
lishwomen i s not s u r p r i s i n g . It would
f i t w e l l w i t h what we know about male
p r o l e t a r i a n E n g l i s h r a d i c a l ism which
d e f i n i t e l y d i d see i n p o l i t i c a l en-
f r a n c h i s e m e n t a f i r s t remedy f o r ex-
ploi tat ion.
Up t o the t u r n of the c e n t u r y the
middle-class suffrage societies limited
themselves t o methods a s s o c i a t e d w i t h
male m i d d l e - c l a s s r a d i c a l i s m , and they
developed these methods w i t h energy,
i n t e l l i g e n c e and p e r s i s t e n c e . But as
the y e a r s went by i t became e v i d e n t
t h a t d i l i g e n c e and reason would not be
rewarded by s u c c e s s . A f t e r the f a i l u r e
of women s u f f r a g e amendments t o the r e -
form b i l l of 1884, the s i t u a t i o n became
i n c r e a s i n g l y d i s h e a r t e n i n g . The prob-
lem was t h a t n e i t h e r the C o n s e r v a t i v e s
nor the L i b e r a l s would make women s u f -
f r a g e a p a r t y i s s u e , and w i t h o u t support
from the p a r t y i n power, the s u f f r a g e
was doomed t o f a i l u r e . 1 1
P a r t l y because o f the c l a s s c l e a v a g e
d i s c u s s e d above, the emergence of the
Labour P a r t y i n the f i r s t decade of t h i s
c e n t u r y d i d not g i v e women's s u f f r a g e a
f i r m a l l y e i t h e r . Although i t was o f -
f i c i a l l y s y m p a t h e t i c , Labour's support
was f o r f u l l , u n i v e r s a l s u f f r a g e . Be-
cause the women's s u f f r a g e s o c i e t i e s
were concerned to e n f o r c e the p r i n c i p l e
t h a t women ought not t o be d e p r i v e d of
the vote s i m p l y because o f sex, they i n -
s i s t e d t h a t women should r e c e i v e the
vote "on the same terms as i t i s now, o r
may i n f u t u r e be, granted t o men."12
Such a measure would have e n f r a n c h i s e d
a v e r y l i m i t e d number of p r o p e r t i e d
women, i t i s t r u e , but the m a j o r i t y o f
women's s u f f r a g e advocates supported
t h i s l i m i t e d enfranchisement i n s p i t e
o f , not because o f , i t s l i m i t a t i o n s .
A l t h o u g h they were accused o f advoca-
t i n g " v o t e s f o r l a d i e s " i t must be r e -
membered t h a t t h e women's movement d i d
not c r e a t e the c l a s s d i v i s i o n i n Eng-
l i s h s o c i e t y , nor were t h e women r e -
s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e a n t i - d e m o c r a t i c na-
ture of parliamentary f e e l i n g .
A few Labour P a r t y members d i d see the
j u s t i c e o f the women's cause and op-
posed s e x - d i s c r i m i n a t i o n as an i s s u e
s e p a r a t e from c l a s s d i s c r i m i n a t i o n .
However, many o f t h e s o c i a l i s t and
t r a d e union men o f t h e p e r i o d c o u l d not
o r would not take t h i s view o f t h e mat-
ter. In many cases t h i s had l e s s t o do
w i t h a defence o f w o r k i n g - c l a s s i n t e r -
e s t s than w i t h t h e i r own male c h a u v i n -
ism. 1 3
The m o t i v a t i n g purpose behind t h e f o r -
mation o f the WSPU was a sense o f d i s -
enchantment both w i t h t h e t r a d i t i o n a l ,
l a r g e l y 1ibera1-dominated s u f f r a g e s o -
c i e t i e s and w i t h t h e Independent Labour
P a r t y ' s a t t i t u d e towards women's r i g h t s .
The WSPU came i n t o b e i n g q u i e t l y i n
Manchester i n 1903.14 The nucleus o f
i t s o r g a n i z a t i o n was a group o f ILP
women, l e d by Mrs. Emmeline P a n k h u r s t ,
the widow o f R i c h a r d Pankhurst (a r a d -
i c a l b a r r i s t e r who had drawn up the
f i r s t s u f f r a g e b i l l i n 1870). Pank-
h u r s t was one o f t h e Manchester s o c i a l -
i s t s who j o i n e d t h e ILP o u t o f i n t e l -
l e c t u a l c o n v i c t i o n s r a t h e r than w o r k i n g -
class origins. Both R i c h a r d and Emme-
l i n e Pankhurst had been l o n g - t i m e a d -
vocates o f women's r i g h t s .
During i t s e a r l y years ( 1 9 0 3 - 1 9 0 6 ) , t h e
WSPU was Manchester-based and drew i t s
support from w o r k i n g - c l a s s women,
c h i e f l y women t e x t i l e workers.15 A f t e r
1906, the headquarters were moved t o
London and i t q u i c k l y grew i n e f f i -
c i e n c y and membership. I t a l s o gradu-
a l l y began t o draw support from upper-
m i d d l e - c l a s s and even a r i s t o c r a t i c
women, and o v e r a number o f y e a r s
C h r i s t a b e l and Emmeline Pankhurst began
t o r e l y more on the support o f these
i n f l u e n t i a l u p p e r - c l a s s women than on
w o r k i n g - c l a s s s u p p o r t . T h i s was not
t r u e , however, o f S y l v i a P a n k h u r s t , nor
i s i t t r u e that the Pankhursts and t h e
WSPU as a whole turned t h e i r backs on
w o r k i n g - c l a s s women.16
The d i s t i n g u i s h i n g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f
the WSPU, the f a c t o r which s e t i t a p a r t
from o t h e r s u f f r a g e o r g a n i z a t i o n s , was
the t e c h n i q u e o f m i l i t a n c y . I t i s the
m i l i t a n t a c t i v i t i e s t h a t have p r e o c c u -
p i e d h i s t o r i a n s . 1 7 What does m i l i t a n c y
mean when a p p l i e d t o women s u f f r a g i s t s ?
The answer i s c o n f u s i n g , and t h e con-
f u s i o n r e v e a l s much about t h e psychology
o f Edwardian a t t i t u d e s towards women and
about the e s s e n t i a l l y i r r a t i o n a l q u a l i t y
o f much o f the o p p o s i t i o n t o women's
suffrage. In the p o p u l a r mind, m i l i -
tancy meant v i o l e n t and "unsexed" be-
h a v i o u r on t h e p a r t o f women. I t i s
t r u e t h a t i n 1913-1914 genuine a t t a c k s
a g a i n s t p r o p e r t y were c a r r i e d out but
at the b e g i n n i n g " m i l i t a n c y " meant ask-
ing a q u e s t i o n i n a p u b l i c meeting.
The s u f f r a g e t t e s themselves dated the
b e g i n n i n g o f the m i l i t a n t campaign from
October 13, 1905,18 the date o f a meet-
t i n g a t Free Trade H a l l i n Manchester
where S i r Edward Grey was a d d r e s s i n g a
L i b e r a l a u d i e n c e . C h r i s t a b e l Pankhurst
and Annie Kenney attempted t o f o r c e
Grey t o s t a t e t h e L i b e r a l government's
p o s i t i o n on votes f o r women. When Grey
r e f u s e d t o answer, they p e r s i s t e d ; they
were then f o r c i b l y e j e c t e d from t h e
h a l l and a r r e s t e d when they attempted
to address the crowd o u t s i d e . They
were both charged w i t h o b s t r u c t i o n and
in a d d i t i o n C h r i s t a b e l was charged w i t h
a s s a u l t i n g a policeman. C h r i s t a b e l
Pankhurst's account o f t h i s " a s s a u l t "
is r e v e a l i n g . Outside the h a l l ,
strong-armed by p o l i c e , she was d e t e r -
mined t o get h e r s e l f and Annie Kenney
a r r e s t e d , but with' her arms h e l d back
by t h e p o l i c e she c o u l d not commit a
"technical assault" u n t i l i t occurred
to her t h a t she c o u l d s p i t a t them: " I t
was not a r e a l s p i t , but o n l y , s h a l l we
c a l l i t , a 'pout' a p e r f e c t l y d r y purse
of the mouth. I c o u l d not r e a l l y have
done i t , even t o get the v o t e , I
think."19
This f i r s t confrontation i s revealing
because i t e s t a b l i s h e d a p a t t e r n . The
i n c i d e n t was w i d e l y r e p o r t e d i n the
press b u t , on the whole, t h e p r e s s was
unsympathetic t o the women.20 Indeed
by a c u r i o u s p e r v e r s i o n o f f a c t , v i o -
lence done t o the women ( w i t n e s s e s
d e s c r i b e d the young women as having
been mauled by the L i b e r a l stewards who
e j e c t e d them from the h a l l ) becomes
v i o l e n c e done by_ them. And even t h e
" a s s a u l t " was s y m b o l i c : r e a l l y spi t -
t i n g i n the policeman's f a c e was some-
t h i n g t h a t C h r i s t a b e l P a n k h u r s t , as a
w e l l - b r e d young woman, c o u l d not con-
template d o i n g . She was i n h i b i t e d by
her own c o n d i t i o n i n g from p e r f o r m i n g a
genuine a s s a u l t .
The h i s t o r y o f s u f f r a g e t t e m i l i t a n c y
f o l l o w s t h i s p a t t e r n . From 1905 t o
1909, s u f f r a g e t t e " v i o l e n c e " was r e -
s t r i c t e d t o h e c k l i n g L i b e r a l speakers
(the WSPU's p o l i c y o f opposing the
L i b e r a l s regardless of t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l
views was based on t h e i r a c c u r a t e e s -
t i m a t i o n t h a t women's s u f f r a g e would
be s u c c e s s f u l o n l y when the p a r t y i n
power was f o r c e d t o make i t a g o v e r n -
ment sponsored measure) and s u c c e s s i v e
attempts t o send d e p u t a t i o n s t o the
House o f Commons. In t h e case o f t h e
l a t t e r s t r a t e g y , again i t i s c l e a r t h a t
the " v i o l e n c e " done by t h e women was
s y m b o l i c : t h e o n l y r e a l v i o l e n c e was
done t o them. Only a f t e r repeated num-
bers o f these i n c i d e n t s , i n which t h e
women were pushed about by crowds and
p o l i c e — a n d , i n one case a t l e a s t , sex-
u a l l y molested by t h e p o l i c e 2 1 — a n d
then sent t o p r i s o n on charges o f un-
l a w f u l assembly, d i d t h e women b e g i n t o
break windows as a form o f p r o t e s t .
One o f t h e " u n l a w f u l assembly" i n c i d e n t s
was t h e o c c a s i o n when Mrs. Pankhurst was
w i d e l y r e p o r t e d t o have " h i t " and " a s -
s a u l t e d " a policeman (a f e a t u r e d com-
mentary i n one T o r o n t o newspaper says
t h a t she " c l u b b e d " h i m ) . 2 2 T h i s i n c i -
dent i s an i l l u s t r a t i o n o f the way i n
which t h e " v i o l e n c e " of the s u f f r a -
g e t t e s was g r o s s l y exaggerated by the
p r e s s . Mrs. Pankhurst was accompanied
on t h i s o c c a s i o n by two f r a i l o l d
women, one o f them 76 years o l d . She
s t r u c k the policeman i n o r d e r t o f o r c e
him t o a r r e s t the d e p u t a t i o n a t once so
t h a t h e r companions would be spared the
usual b u f f e t i n g about. L i k e C h r i s t a -
bel 's " a s s a u l t " i n 1905, the p h y s i c a l
" v i o l e n c e " was p u r e l y s y m b o l i c . Indeed
the f i r s t time she s t r u c k the o f f i c e r
too l i g h t l y , and he t o l d her she would
have t o do i t a g a i n - - h a r d e r . 2 3
The f i r s t s t o n e - t h r o w i n g i n c i d e n t s o c -
c u r r e d i n June 1908.24 Two s m a l l w i n -
dows a t 10 Downing S t r e e t were broken by
two women a c t i n g on t h e i r own and not
"under o r d e r s " form t h e Union. Window-
b r e a k i n g was then taken up as a t a c t i c
by the WSPU and was i n i t i a l l y used i n a
very c i r c u m s p e c t manner. The stone
throwers a t f i r s t wrapped t h e i r stones
in paper and even a t t a c h e d s t r i n g s t o
them so as t o a v o i d i n j u r y t o anyone.
As Constance Rover says: " I t i s d i f f i -
c u l t t o imagine anyone but a m i d d l e -
c l a s s Englishwoman r e s o r t i n g t o such a
procedure."25 I t was d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d
(1908-1909) t h a t hunger s t r i k i n g was r e -
s o r t e d t o . A g a i n , as w i t h window-break-
i n g , the i n i t i a t i v e came not from t h e
l e a d e r s h i p but from a woman a c t i n g on
her own, although i t soon became general
WSPU p o l i c y . W i t h i n a few months, the
government r e t a l i a t e d w i t h f o r c i b l e
feeding.26
The use o f f o r c i b l e f e e d i n g i s remark-
a b l e f o r i t s b r u t a l i t y . One can t h i n k
o f o n l y one k i n d o f male p r i s o n e r
a g a i n s t which s i m i l a r b r u t a l i t y has
been used i n t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y B r i t i s h
p r i s o n s and t h a t i s t h e c o n s c i e n t i o u s
objector.27 I t i s perhaps not c o i n -
c i d e n t a l t h a t both k i n d s o f p r i s o n e r s
were engaged i n a c t i v i t i e s that v i o l a t e
s e x - r o l e s t e r e o t y p e s . The s u f f r a g e t t e s
were women who presumed t o use ( o r were
thought t o use) t h e male technique o f
a g g r e s s i o n . The c o n s c i e n t i o u s o b j e c -
t o r s were men who dared t o r e p u d i a t e
it. The f u r y turned a g a i n s t both
groups i n d i c a t e s the i r r a t i o n a l f e a r
w i t h which s o c i e t y r e a c t s t o those who
t h r e a t e n t o upset t h e accepted p a t t e r n s
in these m a t t e r s .
The f i n a l phase o f m i l i t a n c y was the
arson campaign, c o n f i n e d t o 1913 and
1914 and brought t o an abrupt end by
the war. A g a i n , the f i r s t a c t s o f arson
were i n s t i t u t e d not by the l e a d e r s h i p ,
but by women a c t i n g independently; how-
e v e r , i n 1913 arson was taken up as
WSPU p o l i c y . 2 8 Many who had supported
the movement b e f o r e , d i d not support
the arson campaign, but i t should be
remembered t h a t as w i t h the e a r l i e r
examples o f m i l i t a n c y even t h i s r e a l
v i o l e n c e was committed w i t h r e s t r a i n t .
A l l members o f the WSPU were e n j o i n e d
to a t t a c k o n l y the " i d o l o f p r o p e r t y "
and t o guard human (and animal) l i f e .
Throughout the e n t i r e h i s t o r y o f the
m i l i t a n t campaign, t h i s r u l e was obser-
ved. The s u f f r a g e t t e s n e i t h e r k i l l e d
nor s e r i o u s l y i n j u r e d anyone. The
 Courtesy Radio Times
91 Hulton P i c t u r e Library
a u t h o r i t i e s , on the o t h e r hand, were
r e s p o n s i b l e f o r the l o s s o f s e v e r a l
suffragette lives.29
What i s the s i g n i f i c a n c e o f the m i l i t a n t
campaign? What d i d i t a c c o m p l i s h ? The
most important s i n g l e r e s u l t o f the
m i l i t a n t a c t i v i t i e s was t o make women's
s u f f r a g e newsworthy. I t seems f a i r l y
c l e a r t h a t p u b l i c i t y was the o r i g i n a l
aim.30 The s u f f r a g e t t e s r e a l i z e d t h a t
they were l i v i n g i n a p e r i o d when the
d a i l y mass c i r c u l a t i o n press had become
extremely p o w e r f u l . But s e v e r a l a c -
counts o f the m i l i t a n t movement have
seen more i n i t than merely a s u c c e s s -
f u l attempt t o a c h i e v e p u b l i c i t y .
George D a n g e r f i e l d ' s Strange Death o f
L i b e r a l England was one o f the f i r s t
general accounts o f the Edwardian p e r i o d
t o take the s u f f r a g e movement s e r i o u s l y .
D a n g e r f i e l d saw the v i o l e n c e o f the
s u f f r a g e t t e s , the U l s t e r I r i s h and the
t r a d e union movement as connected and
as h i g h l y s i g n i f i c a n t . For him, they
were a l l symptoms o f t h e same problem
— t h e breakdown o f V i c t o r i a n l i b e r a l -
ism. D a n g e r f i e l d saw i n the s u f f r a -
g e t t e movement a combination o f i r r a -
t i o n a l i t y and a r e a c h i n g out f o r f r e e -
dom. In engaging i n a g g r e s s i o n , says
D a n g e r f i e l d , the s u f f r a g e t t e s were
b r e a k i n g down the t r a d i t i o n a l image o f
V i c t o r i a n womanhood.31
D a n g e r f i e l d s assessment c o n t a i n s an im-
1
p o r t a n t element o f t r u t h . However, when
looked a t i n another way, the s u f f r a -
g e t t e a c t i v i t i e s can be seen as r e p r e -
s e n t i n g the h e i g h t o f V i c t o r i a n female
s e l f - s a c r i f i c e . As we have seen, the
s u f f r a g e t t e use o f " v i o l e n c e " was r e -
markably r e s t r a i n e d . The s u c c e s s i v e
e s c a l a t i o n s o f a c t i v i t y were always
undertaken i n response t o extreme p r o v -
ocation. I f the s u f f r a g e t t e s had been
men, contemporaries and h i s t o r i a n s
a l i k e would no doubt comment on the
" u n n a t u r a l " mildness o f the a c t i v i s t s
r a t h e r than on t h e i r "unfeminine v i o -
l e n c e . " The WSPU claimed t h a t the r e -
s t r a i n t used was a r e f l e c t i o n o f i n n a t e
female g e n t l e n e s s . It Is b e t t e r i n t e r -
preted as e v i d e n c e t h a t the women c o u l d
not throw o f f the s t r a i t j a c k e t o f
V i c t o r i a n f e m i n i n i t y even when behaving
in ways which caused t h e i r opponents t o
denounce them as "unsexed."
T h i s , among o t h e r reasons, accounts f o r
the d i s a r r a y which a f f l i c t e d the move-
ment a f t e r 1912. The arson campaign
was genuine enough t o f r i g h t e n people
but the r e s t r a i n t w i t h which i t was c a r -
r i e d out meant t h a t the v i o l e n c e was
s t i l l s y m b o l i c , not r e a l . By t h e i r r e -
s t r a i n t the s u f f r a g e t t e s were announcing
t h a t they were s t i l l committed t o behav-
ing l i k e V i c t o r i a n women and not l i k e
male r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s . A p s y c h o l o g i c a l
t r a n s f o r m a t i o n undoubtedly had begun f o r
some o f the women. The e x p e r i e n c e o f
being b r u t a l i z e d by p o l i c e , p r i s o n doc-
t o r s and h o s t i l e crowds had f o r c e d some
o f them t o r e a l i z e that c h i v a l r y had
another f a c e . When s o c i e t y f e l t genu-
i n e l y t h r e a t e n e d , not w i t h v i o l e n c e but
w i t h the f e a r o f a breakdown i n sex
s t r u c t u r e s , the veneer o f c h i v a l r y was
removed and a hatred and b r u t a l i t y o f
i r r a t i o n a l p r o p o r t i o n s was r e v e a l e d .
But o n l y a few women had e x p e r i e n c e d
t h i s p a r t i a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n and s t i l l
fewer were w i l l i n g t o engage i n genu-
inely violent a c t i v i t i e s . There were
not enough women i n v o l v e d t o e f f e c t the
r e v o l u t i o n t h a t f o r C h r i s t a b e l Pankhurst
seemed j u s t around the c o r n e r i n 1912.32
I s o l a t e d i n the g r i p o f t h e i r i n t e n s e
e x p e r i e n c e s , the women began t o misjudge
p u b l i c o p i n i o n and t o misjudge t h e i r own
s t r e n g t h . The a c t i v i t i e s o f the WSPU
in t h e years 1912-1914 have been e x -
p l a i n e d v a r i o u s l y as t h e r e s u l t o f hy-
s t e r i a , l e s b i a n i s m o r most r e c e n t l y as
a r e t r e a t i n t o mi 1 l e n a r i a n i s m . 3 3 They
might b e t t e r be d e s c r i b e d as the a c t i v -
i t i e s o f a group which was t r y i n g t o
e f f e c t a r e v o l u t i o n b u t which misjudged
the r e a l i t i e s o f the s i t u a t i o n and
t h e r e f o r e f a i l e d i n the attempt.
As we t u r n t o the Canadian scene and
survey the f o r t u n e s o f the women's move-
ment i n Canada d u r i n g t h i s same p e r i o d ,
the f i r s t and most s t r i k i n g c o n t r a s t
between the two c o u n t r i e s has t o do w i t h
the d i f f e r e n c e i n tone. The "woman
q u e s t i o n " was d i s c u s s e d i n Canada b u t
the i n t e n s i t y which c h a r a c t e r i z e d both
the " p r o s " and the " a n t i s " i n England
was f o r the most p a r t l a c k i n g . In Can-
ada i n 1903 t h e r e were s u f f r a g e o r g a n -
i z a t i o n s i n O n t a r i o , i n c l u d i n g one
which c l a i m e d t o be n a t i o n a l , but i n
the r e s t o f the country t h e r e was very
l i t t l e d i s c e r n i b l e a c t i v i t y . 3 4 How-
e v e r , women's p l a c e i n Canadian s o c i e t y
was undergoing a r a d i c a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n
d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d . These changes were
o n l y p a r t o f a general process o f de-
velopment c h a r a c t e r i z e d by r a p i d u r -
b a n i z a t i o n , i n d u s t r i a l growth, new im-
m i g r a t i o n and changes i n the s t r u c t u r e
o f a g r i c u l t u r e . New s o c i a l and econ-
omic r o l e s f o r women d i d not e v o l v e
evenly across the c o u n t r y , s i n c e t h e r e
were d i s t i n c t r e g i o n a l d i f f e r e n c e s i n
the p a t t e r n s of general s o c i a l and
economic change. These r e g i o n a l d i f -
ferences make f o r d i s t i n c t i v e r e g i o n a l
p a t t e r n s i n the development o f Canad-
ian f e m i n i s m , and t h e r e f o r e each
r e g i o n has t o be c o n s i d e r e d s e p a r a t e l y .
Given the context o f t h i s paper i t w i l l
be best t o begin t h i s p a r t i c u l a r exam-
i n a t i o n o f the i n t e r a c t i o n between
E n g l i s h and Canadian feminism by an
a n a l y s i s o f the women a c t i v i s t s i n
O n t a r i o , s i n c e O n t a r i o appears t o be
the area where E n g l i s h m i l i t a n c y had
its greatest influence.
Although women's a c t i v i s m o f o t h e r
kinds (e.g., temperance a c t i v i s m ) was
s t r o n g i n v a r i o u s c e n t r e s i n the prov-
i n c e , i t appears that a t the t u r n o f
the c e n t u r y Toronto was very d e f i n i t e l y
the c e n t r e o f what s u f f r a g e a c t i v i s m
there was. S e v e r a l c o n d i t i o n s shaped
the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f women's r o l e s and
the development o f women's a c t i v i s m i n
Toronto a t the t u r n o f the c e n t u r y .
Toronto's r a p i d growth i n the l a s t
decades o f the 19th century and the
f i r s t decades of t h i s century was based
on commercial and i n d u s t r i a l develop-
ment. As one w r i t e r s a y s , i t was de-
v e l o p i n g from " a r t i s a n a l p r o d u c t i o n f o r
a l o c a l market to i n d u s t r i a l p r o d u c t i o n
for a hinterland."35 Recent research
i n d i c a t e s that t h i s i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n
process was accompanied, as i t had been
in B r i t a i n , by l a r g e l y unchecked e x p l o i -
t a t i o n of c h i l d and female l a b o u r .
C h i l d and female labour was employed f o r
the same reasons as i t had been (and was
s t i l l being) employed in B r i t a i n ; women
and c h i l d r e n were more e a s i l y e x p l o i t e d
than men because they were in a weaker
economic, s o c i a l and p s y c h o l o g i c a l pos-
i t i o n than men were. As in B r i t a i n ,
c h i l d and female labour tended t o be
c l u s t e r e d on the f r i n g e s o f the economy,
in sweatshops and in domestic employ-
ment. 36
It appears, then, t h a t Toronto i n the
l a t e n i n e t e e n t h century was d e v e l o p i n g a
c l a s s system c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of urban
i n d u s t r i a l s o c i e t i e s , complete w i t h the
e x p l o i t a t i o n o f women and c h i l d r e n as
sweated l a b o u r . At the o t h e r end o f the
economic s c a l e a c l a s s o f l e i s u r e d bour-
g e o i s women was emerging. Although mid-
d l e and u p p e r - m i d d l e - c l a s s l i f e i n Can-
ada never approached the l e v e l o f de-
pendence on s e r v a n t s t h a t c h a r a c t e r i z e d
the E n g l i s h middle c l a s s e s i n t h i s per-
i o d ^ ? nonetheless a c e r t a i n number of
women were a b l e t o lead a l i f e which
a l l o w e d them c o n s i d e r a b l e l e i s u r e . At
the same time some women began to en-
gage in a c t i v i t i e s e x p r e s s i v e o f s o c i a l
concern, i n response t o a growing r e a l -
i z a t i o n t h a t t h e i r s o c i e t y was d e v e l o p -
ing s o c i a l problems.38 The s t r e n g t h o f
women's i n f l u e n c e i n the temperance
movement throughout Canada i s w e l l
known, as i s the c o n n e c t i o n between the
Women's C h r i s t i a n Temperance Union and
support f o r the s u f f r a g e , but women
were i n v o l v e d in a v a r i e t y o f o t h e r r e -
form a c t i v i t i e s as w e l l . From i t s
founding i n the 1890s, the N a t i o n a l
C o u n c i l o f Women acted as a n a t i o n a l
f o c a l p o i n t f o r some o f these a c t i v i -
ties.
Most women's a c t i v i t i e s i n O n t a r i o ,
r i g h t up to and i n c l u d i n g the p e r i o d i n
which s u f f r a g e was a c h i e v e d , were a l -
most c e r t a i n l y o f a reform v a r i e t y .
However, t h e r e were a l s o women's equal
r i g h t s a c t i v i s t s i n O n t a r i o from the
l a t e 1870s. The f i r s t known o r g a n i z a -
t i o n concerned w i t h equal r i g h t s f o r
women i n Canada was Dr. Emily Howard
Stowe's Toronto Women's L i t e r a r y C l u b ,
which dates from 1876. In s p i t e o f the
innocuous name, i t s founder intended i t
to be a forum f o r the women's r i g h t s
i s s u e from the beginning.39 Dr.
Stowe's c l u b met i n drawing rooms and
was c l e a r l y l i m i t e d t o f a i r l y a f f l u e n t
women: a l l the i n f o r m a t i o n at p r e s e n t
a v a i l a b l e i n d i c a t e s t h a t t h i s was a l s o
t r u e of the o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h a t developed
from the l i t e r a r y c l u b , the T o r o n t o Suf-
f r a g e S o c i e t y and the Dominion Women's
Enfranchisement A s s o c i a t i o n (which l a t e r
became the Canadian S u f f r a g e A s s o c i a -
tion) .
Very l i t t l e j s known a t p r e s e n t about
the membership of the Toronto-based
Political Equality Meeting Last Night
s u f f r a g e s o c i e t i e s , e i t h e r i n terms o f
social class or professional or marital
s t a t u s , o r i n terms o f numbers o f mem-
bers. However, something i s known
about t h e l e a d e r s h i p . It exhibited re-
markable u n i f o r m i t y and homogeneity.
The f i r s t p r e s i d e n t o f t h e Dominion
Women's E n f r a n c h i s e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n was
Dr. Stowe. She was succeeded by her
d a u g h t e r , Augusta S t o w e - G u l l e n . Stowe-
G u l l e n was a l s o a p h y s i c i a n , the f i r s t
woman d o c t o r t o graduate from the U n i -
v e r s i t y o f T o r o n t o medical s c h o o l .
Most o f t h e l e a d e r s h i p o f the T o r o n t o
movement throughout i t s h i s t o r y were
women p h y s i c i a n s . 4 0 The reason f o r
t h i s c o n c e n t r a t i o n o f m e d i c a l women i n
the l e a d e r s h i p i n T o r o n t o i s not c l e a r :
i t may s i m p l y i n d i c a t e t h e s m a l l c i r c l e
from which t h e s u f f r a g e a c t i v i s t s were F l o r a MacDonald Denison shares h e r pro-
drawn. But i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t h a t t h e f e s s i o n o f j o u r n a l i s m w i t h a remarkable
o n l y woman who was prominent i n t h e number o f women i n t h e p r a i r i e p r o v i n -
l e a d e r s h i p o f t h e Canadian S u f f r a g e ces who were a c t i v e i n the s u f f r a g e
A s s o c i a t i o n who was not a medical d o c t o r cause. T o g e t h e r , t h i s c o l l e c t i o n o f
was a l s o a s e l f - s u p p o r t i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l j o u r n a l i s t s and d o c t o r s adds up t o a
woman. T h i s was F l o r a MacDonald Den- v e r y l a r g e c o n c e n t r a t i o n o f women pro-
i s o n , who p l a y e d an important r o l e i n f e s s i o n a l s among t h e l e a d e r s h i p o f the
T o r o n t o a c t i v i s m from 1 9 0 7 . F l o r a Mac- Canadian s u f f r a g e movement, i n two geo-
Donald Denison i s a c e n t r a l f i g u r e i n g r a p h i c a l areas a t l e a s t , and p r o v i d e s
the r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f the l i n k s between an i n t e r e s t i n g c o n t r a s t w i t h t h e i r
the E n g l i s h m i l i t a n t s and t h e Canadian c o u n t e r p a r t s i n B r i t a i n and the United
a c t i v i s t s , s i n c e i t appears t h a t she S t a t e s . There were, o f c o u r s e , some
was t h e main p o i n t o f c o n t a c t between the s e l f - s u p p o r t i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l women i n -
the E n g l i s h and Canadian women and h e r v o l v e d i n those two c o u n t r i e s , but t h i s
newspaper column p r o v i d e s one o f t h e was not c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f the l e a d e r -
major s o u r c e s o f i n f o r m a t i o n about t h e ship i n e i t h e r country. U n t i l more i s
responses t o E n g l i s h m i l i t a n c y i n known about t h e membership as d i s t i n c t
Canada.41
from the l e a d e r s h i p i t i s d i f f i c u l t to
do more than s p e c u l a t e about the
reasons f o r t h i s c o n t r a s t .
The s o r t s o f a c t i v i t i e s engaged i n by
the T o r o n t o s u f f r a g e movement i n the
p e r i o d from the 1880s to the a c h i e v e -
ment of the p r o v i n c i a l s u f f r a g e i n 1917
c l o s e l y p a r a l l e l the methods used by
the c o n s t i t u t i o n a l i s t s i n B r i t a i n and
by the c h i e f s u f f r a g e o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n
the U n i t e d S t a t e s . The T o r o n t o women
employed p e t i t i o n campaigns and p u b l i c
meetings, d i s t r i b u t e d pamphlets and
attempted t o get the i s s u e d i s c u s s e d i n
the p r e s s . In the decades l e a d i n g up
to the p e r i o d o f d i r e c t concern t o us,
equal r i g h t s f o r women had made some
g a i n s , i n c l u d i n g the m u n i c i p a l f r a n -
c h i s e (but o n l y f o r unmarried women), a
m a r r i e d women's p r o p e r t y a c t and admis-
s i o n of women t o the U n i v e r s i t y o f
Toronto. But attempts t o secure the
p r o v i n c i a l s u f f r a g e met w i t h f a i l u r e .
O p p o s i t i o n t o the s u f f r a g e in O n t a r i o
and i n the r e s t o f Canada was never o r -
ganized t o the e x t e n t t h a t i t was i n
B r i t a i n , presumably because i t never
f e l t as t h r e a t e n e d , but i t d i d e x i s t .
It used many o f the same arguments t h a t
opponents of the s u f f r a g e used i n B r i t -
a i n (and i n the U n i t e d S t a t e s ) . Oppon-
ents o f the s u f f r a g e i n Canada saw the
vote as a symbol and b e l i e v e d t h a t i f
women get the vote the consequences
would be f a r more fundamental than the
narrow t a s k of e x e r c i s i n g the f r a n c h i s e
would suggest. Among the most v o c i f -
erous opponents were some members o f the
c l e r g y . A member o f the A n g l i c a n h i e r -
archy preached a sermon i n 1909 a g a i n s t
divorce, "race s u i c i d e " ( b i r t h c o n t r o l )
and women's s u f f r a g e , a l l of which he
saw as t e n d i n g " t o take away the r e -
spect f o r f e m i n i n i t y . . . . i n England
i t has reached a p i t c h o f f r e n z y , o f
p u b l i c i n s a n i t y which we have y e t t o
f i n d i n Canada. . . .the end i s Down
w i t h the Home."42 S i r James Whitney,
the C o n s e r v a t i v e premier o f O n t a r i o
from 1 9 0 5 - 1 9 1 4 , was a f i r m opponent o f
woman s u f f r a g e and one o f h i s main
arguments a g a i n s t the s u f f r a g e was t h a t
i t would c r e a t e a " s o c i a l r e v o l u t i o n "
f o r which the p r o v i n c e was not ready.43
Women's s u f f r a g e advocates i n Canada
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y turned t h i s argument
around and i n s i s t e d t h a t they d i d want
the f r a n c h i s e i n o r d e r t o e f f e c t a so-
c i a l r e v o l u t i o n — a r e v o l u t i o n of a
b e n e f i c i a l nature. In r e c e n t y e a r s , a
number o f American h i s t o r i a n s have
commented e x t e n s i v e l y on the f a c t t h a t
one commonly used f e m i n i s t argument ac-
cepted the V i c t o r i a n view of womanhood
as more m o r a l , more s o c i a l l y concerned
than men.44 T h i s argument c e r t a i n l y
was used i n Canada, j u s t as i t was in
B r i t a i n and i n the U n i t e d S t a t e s . As a
g e n e r a l r u l e , Canadian f e m i n i s t s do
seem t o have been convinced t h a t they
were necessary i n p o l i t i c s p r e c i s e l y
because they would engage i n c i v i c
housekeeping. In g e n e r a l t h e i r oppon-
ents i n Canada d i d not deny t h i s but
i n s i s t e d t h a t women's b e n e f i c i a l moral
i n f l u e n c e c o u l d be e x e r t e d b e s t o n l y i f
women remained o u t s i d e the male sphere.
 In a d d i t i o n t o t h e i r s u b s t a n t i v e a r g u -
ments a g a i n s t t h e s u f f r a g e , i t s oppon-
e n t s i n O n t a r i o (and e l s e w h e r e i n Can-
ada) had a t a c t i c a l defence as w e l l .
They c l a i m e d t h a t t h e m a j o r i t y o f
women i n O n t a r i o d i d not want the v o t e ,
o r were i n d i f f e r e n t t o t h e m a t t e r . 4 5
T h i s may i n f a c t have been t r u e , but a
comparative a n a l y s i s o f the arguments
used i n B r i t a i n and i n Canada r e v e a l s
the d i s i n g e n u o u s n a t u r e o f t h i s t a c t i c a l
argument. Even a f t e r t h e mass demon-
s t r a t i o n s and s u s t a i n e d a g i t a t i o n o f the
s u f f r a g e campaign, A s q u i t h , the E n g l i s h
Prime M i n i s t e r , s t i l l remained uncon-
v i n c e d i n 1914 t h a t women r e a l l y wanted
the v o t e . 4 6 Asquith--1ike Ontario's
Premier W h i t n e y — w a s a staunch opponent
o f women's s u f f r a g e , and i t i s c l e a r
t h a t n o t h i n g would have c o n v i n c e d him
t h a t women wanted t h e v o t e . H i s demands
f o r e v i d e n c e were i m p o s s i b l e t o f u l f i l .
The O n t a r i o s u f f r a g i s t s were never i n a
p o s i t i o n t o put Whitney t o the same
s o r t o f t e s t , but one s u s p e c t s t h a t i f
they had been, they would have met w i t h
the same s o r t o f r e s i s t a n c e . An i n d i c a -
t i o n o f t h i s was Whitney's i m p l i e d de-
mand t h a t the women o b t a i n the s i g n a -
t u r e s o f 5 1 % o f the women o f O n t a r i o on
p r o - s u f f r a g e p e t i t i o n s . 4 7 T h i s would
have been a monumental t a s k f o r a l a r g e
network o f o r g a n i z a t i o n s and was c e r -
t a i n l y i m p o s s i b l e g i v e n the s t a t e o f
suffrage organization in Ontario.
The y e a r o f Mrs. P a n k h u r s t ' s f i r s t
v i s i t t o Canada, 1 9 0 9 , was an e v e n t f u l
year f o r women a c t i v i s t s i n O n t a r i o .
In March, a d e p u t a t i o n o f about 300
people (mainly women) p r e s e n t e d Premier
Whitney w i t h a p e t i t i o n c o n t a i n i n g
100,000 s i g n a t u r e s . 4 8 In J u l y , t h e I n -
t e r n a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o f Women met i n
Toronto. I t s c o n v e n t i o n was addressed
by Anna Howard Shaw, the American s u f -
f r a g i s t , and i n the course o f i t s meet-
ings t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o f Women
came o u t i n favour o f women's s u f f r a g e .
Lady Aberdeen, founder o f the Canadian
N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o f Women, gave the
s u f f r a g e h e r open support.49 Lady
Aberdeen commanded respect from both
c o n s e r v a t i v e and p r o g r e s s i v e women's
groups i n Canada and her support i n
1909 d i d much t o propel the Canadian
N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l i n t o (lukewarm) e n -
dorsement o f the s u f f r a g e i n 1910.50
U n t i l t h i s time the O n t a r i o a c t i v i s t s
lacked any r e g u l a r p u b l i c forum f o r
t h e i r views. In September 1909, how-
e v e r , the T o r o n t o Wor1d's Sunday e d i -
t i o n began c a r r y i n g a weekly s u f f r a g e
column e n t i t l e d "Under t h e P i n e s . " The
w r i t e r o f the column was F l o r a Mac-
Donald Denison. Her column appeared
r e g u l a r l y from September 1909 u n t i l
February 1911 51 and i t p r o v i d e s a
f u l l account o f Mrs. Pankhurst's f i r s t
v i s i t t o T o r o n t o and o f the e f f e c t s o f
E n g l i s h m i l i t a n c y t h e r e . The account
must be used w i t h care s i n c e i t e x p r e s -
ses the views o f o n l y one p a r t i c i p a n t
but s i n c e she was a major o f f i c e r i n
the Canadian S u f f r a g e A s s o c i a t i o n i t
can be assumed t h a t h e r views were im-
p o r t a n t even i f they were not r e p r e s e n -
t a t i ve.
 ft** DENISON'
When m i l i t a n t a c t i o n began i n England
i n i t i a l r e a c t i o n t o i t i n Canada from
the press and from the l o c a l s u f f r a -
g i s t s was n e g a t i v e . The T o r o n t o News
ran an e d i t o r i a l i n December 1907
which d e c l a r e d t h a t "most people i n
England regard the s u f f r a g e t t e s as
. . . i n t o l e r a b l e , " 5 2 and d e s c r i b e d
t h e i r t a c t i c s as " i n g e n i o u s but d i s -
c r e d i t a b l e . " The " i n t o l e r a b l e " and
" d i s c r e d i t a b l e " behaviour a t t h i s p o i n t
i n time c o n s i s t e d o f t h e i r d i s r u p t i v e
a c t i v i t i e s d u r i n g the 1906 e l e c t i o n
campaign ( u n f u r l i n g banners and shout-
i n g , "What a r e you going t o do about
Votes f o r Women") and t h e i r f i r s t a t -
tempts a t p a r l i a m e n t a r y d e p u t a t i o n s .
F l o r a MacDonald Denison, who was l a t e r
such an ardent s u p p o r t e r o f Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t , had been i n t e r v i e w e d by the
News more than a year e a r l i e r , i n June
1906. The News wanted t o get the views
o f " o u r own s u f f r a g e t t e s " on the t a c -
t i c s o f the m i l i t a n t s . The i n t e r v i e w e r
records her as s a y i n g t h a t "she much
d e p l o r e s the l a c k o f womanly d i g n i t y .
. . . A l l suffrage v i c t o r i e s hitherto
have been won by t h e might o f r i g h t
r a t h e r than the clamor o f d i s t u r b a n c e . "
F l o r a MacDonald Denison was a s e l f -
admitted h e r o - w o r s h i p p e r , and i n 1906
her f a v o u r i t e s u f f r a g e l e a d e r was s t i l l
Susan B. Anthony, the n i n e t e e n t h -
c e n t u r y American w i t h whom she compared
the m i l i t a n t s : "Susan B. Anthony d e f i e d
what she h e l d t o be an u n j u s t law upon
more than one o c c a s i o n but w i t h a q u i e t
unsensationa1ism o f determination."53
In June 1906, t h e n , F l o r a MacDonald
Denison was offended by the m i l i t a n t s
not because they were v i o l e n t but be-
cause she thought they were c o u r t i n g
p u b l i c i t y by being s e n s a t i o n a l , and she
saw t h i s as "unwomanly." By l a b e l l i n g
the behaviour "unwomanly" she was r e -
v e a l i n g t h a t she would have f e l t d i f -
f e r e n t l y about i t had i t been employed
by men. F o r Denison, a t t h i s t i m e , any
form o f female p r o t e s t had t o conform
t o a p r e s c r i b e d s e t o f r u l e s about sex
r o l e behaviour i n o r d e r t o be a c c e p t a b l e
t o her. However, w h i l e e x p r e s s i n g her
d i s a p p r o v a l o f t h e i r methods, she r e a l -
i z e d even then t h a t press r e p o r t s o f
the m i l i t a n t s ' a c t i v i t i e s were exagger-
a t e d : " I cannot but t h i n k t h a t the
newspapers have s h o c k i n g l y exaggera-
ted r e p o r t s . They always do, don't
theyV'5k
By 1908 t h e r e i s e v i d e n c e t h a t a number
of women a c t i v i s t s had become sympath-
e t i c t o the s t r u g g l e s o f the E n g l i s h
m i l i t a n t s even though they had no de-
s i r e t o emulate t h e i r methods. At the
N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o f Women's annual
meeting t h a t year a debate o c c u r r e d i n
the e x e c u t i v e because Dr. Stowe-Gullen
had i n t r o d u c e d i n t o the r e p o r t o f the
c i t i z e n s h i p committee, of which she was
chairman, an e x p r e s s i o n o f sympathy
w i t h the E n g l i s h m i l i t a n t s . A number
of c o n s e r v a t i v e women o b j e c t e d t o t h i s
and demanded t h a t the " e u l o g i e s o f the
E n g l i s h s u f f r a g e t t e s " be removed from
the r e p o r t . Under p r e s s u r e , Stowe-
G u l l e n d i d withdraw her e x p r e s s i o n o f
sympathy but i n the c o u r s e o f the d i s -
c u s s i o n a number of women expressed
support f o r the aims o f the s u f f r a g e t t e s
i f not f o r t h e i r methods.55 Stowe-
G u l l e n ' s a t t i t u d e was one o f detached
sympathy r a t h e r than a c t i v e support and
the d e l e g a t i o n of women a c t i v i s t s who
p r e s e n t e d Premier Whitney w i t h the
l a r g e p e t i t i o n i n March, 1909, were a t
pains t o r e a s s u r e both the government
and the p r e s s t h a t they had no i n t e n -
t i o n o f engaging i n " r i o t o u s scenes"
themse1ves.56
By the m i d d l e o f 1909, on the eve o f
Mrs. Pankhurst's f i r s t North American
j o u r n e y , s u f f r a g e t t e a c t i v i t i e s were
well-known on t h i s c o n t i n e n t . But i f
Toronto i s a r e p r e s e n t a t i v e example,
these a c t i v i t i e s f u n c t i o n e d r a t h e r as
a warning and as a d e t e r r e n t t o f e m i n -
i s t a c t i v i t y than as an encouragement.
Although many of them admired the
b r a v e r y of the s u f f r a g e t t e s and were
ready to w i t h h o l d judgment on the s u i t -
a b i l i t y of t h e i r methods, they them-
s e l v e s were a f r a i d of being i d e n t i f i e d
w i t h a n y t h i n g a s s o c i a t e d w i t h "unsexed"
b e h a v i o u r . S i n c e they and the s o c i e t y
in which they l i v e d accepted o n l y a
f a i r l y narrow range of behaviour as
s u i t a b l e f o r women, one can surmise
t h a t the a c t i v i t i e s of the m i l i t a n t s as
they were r e p o r t e d i n the p r e s s would
have made them even more c i r c u m s p e c t
than usual l e s t they too be d e s c r i b e d
as " h y s t e r i c a l and h a l f - c r a z y . " 5 7
Mrs. Pankhurst decided t o come t o
America in October 1909 because o f the
c r i s i s of t h a t year i n the WSPU. T h e i r
triumphs o f 1908 (most n o t a b l y the g i a n t
Hyde Park r a l l y i n June where over
30,000 people marched i n p r o c e s s i o n and
where the crowd of s u p p o r t e r s and spec-
t a t o r s was e s t i m a t e d at 500,000) had
not succeeded i n moving the government
and, by 1909, f r u s t r a t i o n began t o
mount. I t was d u r i n g t h i s year t h a t
stone t h r o w i n g , hunger s t r i k i n g and
f o r c i b l e f e e d i n g began. Mrs. Pankhurst
came t o America t o win support f o r the
cause from people here and a l s o t o
r a i s e money both f o r her own f a m i l y and
f o r the Union. (The f a m i l y ' s personal
needs were a c u t e because Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t ' s son was g r a v e l y i l l and i n need
o f expensive medical t r e a t m e n t . ) 5 8
The WSPU's newspaper, Votes f o r Women,
d e s c r i b e s Mrs. P a n k h u r s t s r e c e p t i o n
1
in America as " m a g n i f i c e n t " and says
t h a t the t o u r was a " t r i u m p h . " T h i s
was not much o f an e x a g g e r a t i o n . 5 9
B e f o r e her a r r i v a l the North American
press as a whole had presented i t s
public with a rather l u r i d picture of
both l e a d e r s and membership: p a r t o f
Mrs. Pankhurst's success i n North Am-
e r i c a d e r i v e d from t h e f a c t t h a t she
did not l o o k , speak o r a c t t h e p a r t she
had been p o r t r a y e d as p l a y i n g . As the
e d i t o r o f Toronto's Saturday N i g h t s a i d ,
he had been e x p e c t i n g a " h a t c h e t - f a c e d
old dame o f the C a r r i e N a t i o n s t r i p e "
but i n s t e a d he found "a s i n g u l a r l y
a t t r a c t i v e lady."60 Every Toronto r e -
p o r t mentions h e r appearance, h e r man-
ner, her c l o t h i n g b e f o r e they r e p o r t e d
what i t was she had t o say. Even today
the press i s much more i n t e r e s t e d i n
the h a i r c o l o u r , d r e s s and domestic
h a b i t s o f female than o f male p o l i -
t i c i a n s ; i n the Edwardian p e r i o d t o o i t
i s c l e a r t h a t a woman was seen f i r s t as
a p h y s i c a l o b j e c t . Mrs. Pankhurst's
p h y s i c a l appearance was d i s a r m i n g , be-
cause she f i t t e d a l l the s t e r e o t y p e s o f
what an Edwardian lady should look l i k e .
She was a l s o a remarkably e f f e c t i v e
s p e a k e r , both i n h e r manner and i n con-
t e n t . Her main concern d u r i n g h e r North
American t o u r was t o j u s t i f y m i l i t a n c y .
She made two main p o i n t s : she empha-
s i z e d t h a t women had turned t o m i l i -
tancy o n l y when o t h e r methods had f a i l e d
and she s t r e s s e d t h e q u a l i t y o f s e l f -
s a c r i f i c e i n t h e women's a c t i o n s . The
press had emphasized t h e i r rowdyism;
she emphasized t h e i r w i l l i n g n e s s t o
become m a r t y r s i f n e c e s s a r y . As she
s a i d i n T o r o n t o , "Every one o f those
women has i n her h e a r t t h e f i x e d d e t e r -
m i n a t i o n t h a t i f t h e s a c r i f i c e o f her
l i f e i s demanded she i s q u i t e w i l l i n g t o
make i t . " 6 l
During h e r T o r o n t o v i s i t Mrs. Pankhurst
addressed t h e (men's) Canadian Club and
spoke b e f o r e two l a r g e p u b l i c meetings
(one o f which was p r e s i d e d over by t h e
Mayor o f T o r o n t o ) . She a l s o had t e a
w i t h Goldwin Smith who, a l t h o u g h op-
posed t o woman s u f f r a g e by 1909, was
s t i l l c u r i o u s enough about Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t t o want t o meet her. Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t r e c e i v e d e x t e n s i v e f r o n t page
coverage i n T o r o n t o . V i r t u a l l y a l l o f
the T o r o n t o j o u r n a l i s t s who commented on
her v i s i t were f a v o u r a b l y impressed w i t h
her. In a d d i t i o n t o h e r arguments i n
support o f m i l i t a n c y , Mrs. Pankhurst
a l s o argued g e n e r a l l y f o r women's s u f -
f r a g e i n a way t h a t was wel1-designed
to appeal t o T o r o n t o a u d i e n c e s . In one
speech she was r e p o r t e d as s a y i n g t h a t :
women, being women, needed t h e v o t e
because the woman's p o i n t o f view
was e s s e n t i a l l y d i f f e r e n t from t h e
man's p o i n t o f view. She hoped i t
always would be because woman's
d u t i e s and man's were d i f f e r e n t
. . . . No longer d i d p o l i t i c s
mean j u s t g o i n g out t o f i g h t . . .
but p o l i t i c s had come r i g h t down
i n t o t h e homes o f the p e o p l e , and
concerned the b i r t h and t r a i n i n g
of 1i t t l e c h i l d r e n . 6 3
 E d i t o r i a l comment i n the T o r o n t o p r e s s ,
a l t h o u g h moved by her p e r s o n a l presence
and the cogency o f her arguments i n
f a v o u r o f women's s u f f r a g e , was anxious
t o d i s a s s o c i a t e i t s e l f from any support
o f m i l i t a n c y i n Canada. However, the
most outspoken p r o - s u f f r a g e newspaper
(The World) was w i l l i n g t o concede t h a t
the methods might be j u s t i f i a b l e i n
England. In t h i s p e r i o d , p r e s s o p i n -
ion on the s u f f r a g e i n T o r o n t o ranged
from h o s t i l i t y , u s u a l l y masked as i n -
d i f f e r e n c e , to o u t r i g h t support. The
o u t r i g h t e x p r e s s i o n o f s u p p o r t had i n
f a c t been s t i m u l a t e d by Mrs. Pankhurst's
North American t o u r . In October, a f t e r
she had a r r i v e d i n the S t a t e s , but be-
f o r e her v i s i t t o T o r o n t o , the World
ran an e d i t o r i a l i n which i t urged t h a t
the i s s u e o f the p r o v i n c i a l s u f f r a g e i n
O n t a r i o be taken s e r i o u s l y , "Now t h a t
Mrs. Pankhurst i s on her way t o Toron-
t o . "The Wor_kd_ d e c l a r e d t h a t p o l i t i c s
needed women's " s w i f t i n t u i t i o n , p e r -
s i s t e n c e , d i r e c t n e s s and d e t e r m i n a -
t i o n . "64 The Mai1 and Empi r e , i n com-
ment ing on the Wor1d's ed i t o r i a 1, i nd i -
cated t h a t i t thought t h a t women's s u f -
f r a g e was unnecessary and was i n any
case not a matter o f p r a c t i c a l p o l i t i c s :
"Mrs. Pankhurst . . . has t r i e d t o r e -
v i v e i n t e r e s t i n a q u e s t i o n which on
this continent i s , generally speaking,
beyond the range o f p r a c t i c a l p o l i -
t i c s . "65
The comments o f women j o u r n a l i s t s i n
Toronto covered a w i d e r range than t h a t
o f men. The most h o s t i l e comments came
from the women's page e d i t o r o f Saturday
N i g h t . A l t h o u g h the g e n e r a l e d i t o r i a l
comment i n Saturday Night was sympath-
e t i c i n 1909, the woman's page e d i t o r
accused Mrs. Pankhurst of "working on
. . . warmhearted Canadian women" w i t h
tales of Christabel's suffering in j a i l ,
and expressed the b e l i e f t h a t women o n l y
" t u r n e d on men" i f they " f a i l e d t o a t -
t r a c t . " " I t may be t h a t p e r s o n a l g r i e -
vance i s at the h e a r t of many an ardent
s u f f r a g e t t e ' s campaign," she con-
c l u d e s .66
In c o n t r a s t t o t h i s n e g a t i v e r e a c t i o n ,
was F l o r a MacDonald Denison's o v e r -
whelming s u p p o r t . Her June 1906 a t t i -
tude of d i s a p p r o v a l towards the s u f -
f r a g e t t e s had begun t o a l t e r l a t e r i n
t h a t same year when she r e p r e s e n t e d
Canada at the t h i r d I n t e r n a t i o n a l Suf-
f r a g e A l l i a n c e c o n f e r e n c e i n Copenhagen
and came away impressed by and sym-
p a t h e t i c to the WSPU's spokeswoman
there.67 By 1909, her column r e f l e c t s
support and sympathy f o r the WSPU, and
i t was a p p a r e n t l y on her i n i t i a t i v e
t h a t Mrs. Pankhurst v i s i t e d T o r o n t o i n
1909 f o r when the North American tour
was o r i g i n a l l y planned i t d i d not i n -
c l u d e any Canadian engagements. But
Denison's sympathies b e f o r e she heard
Mrs. Pankhurst were r e s t r a i n e d in com-
p a r i s o n t o the ardent support she ex-
h i b i t e d a f t e r she f i r s t heard Mrs.
Pankhurst speak i n New York.
Denison, who went to New York t o be p a r t
o f the welcoming p a r t y , underwent what
might best be c a l l e d a c o n v e r s i o n ex-
perience. In her a u t o b i o g r a p h y , C h r i s -
t a b e l Pankhurst says t h a t the atmos-
phere t h a t c h a r a c t e r i z e d WSPU support
was s i m i l a r t o the atmosphere o f the
S a l v a t i o n Army.68 Denison's account
of her f i r s t encounter w i t h Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t c e r t a i n l y has an e v a n g e l i c a l
r i n g : "At l a s t I f e l t what i t was i n
human n a t u r e that something c a l l e d
d i v i n e , " she s a y s , and she d e s c r i b e s
Mrs. Pankhurst as "a woman f i g h t i n g
f o r the freedom o f her s i s t e r , a woman
w i l l i n g t o d i e t h a t women might be
emancipated." She p o r t r a y s Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t ' s eloquence as c a p a b l e o f
r e a c h i n g a l i k e the c o n s e r v a t i v e a n t i -
s u f f r a g i s t male and the most d e p r i v e d
among women: " I have seen audiences
t h r i l l e d , but never t h r i l l e d as Mrs.
Pankhurst t h r i l l e d t h a t v a s t audience
. . . that dear l i t t l e q u i e t mannered
E n g l i s h woman t a l k i n g i n language t h a t
Gladstone o r Goldwin Smith would under-
stand and they every f a c t o r y g i r l
p r e s e n t understood."69
In the next few y e a r s , F l o r a MacDonald
Denison c o n t i n u e d t o e x p r e s s h e r a r -
dent support f o r Mrs. Pankhurst and the
WSPU i n her column i n the Wor1d. E a r l -
i e r i n t h i s paper i t was suggested t h a t
s u f f r a g e t t e m i l i t a n c y can be i n t e r p r e -
ted as an extreme m a n i f e s t a t i o n o f the
V i c t o r i a n female v i r t u e s o f s e l f -
s a c r i f i c e and s u f f e r i n g . I t was t h i s
aspect o f t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s t h a t won
Denison's s u p p o r t ; she c o n t i n u a l l y
s t r e s s e d the s u f f e r i n g and f o r b e a r a n c e
of the m i l i t a n t s i n the f a c e o f un-
reasonableness and b r u t a l i t y , and not
t h e i r anger. Denison, who was h e r s e l f
very much concerned w i t h t h e problems
of w o r k i n g - c l a s s women, was e s p e c i a l l y
r e c e p t i v e t o one l i n e o f argument used
by Mrs. Pankhurst i n the course o f h e r
North American t o u r : Mrs. Pankhurst
c l a i m e d t h a t t h e s u f f r a g e t t e s had
"broken down c l a s s d i s t i n c t i o n among
women" and t h a t , u n i t e d i n t h e i r common
cause, o n l y one d i s t i n c t i o n remained:
i t was the " p r i v i l e g e d " women who were
doing " t h e h a r d e s t and most unpleasant
p a r t o f the work. They t h i n k i t i s
t h e i r duty t o r e l i e v e t h e i r s i s t e r s from
t h i s . " 7 0 Using t h i s l i n e o f argument,
the s u f f r a g e t t e s c o u l d be seen as s e l f -
s a c r i f i c i n g not f o r t h e i r own ends but
f o r t h e good o f o t h e r s .
Did Mrs. P a n k h u r s t ' s v i s i t i n 1909 and
her r e t u r n v i s i t i n 1911 have any l a s t -
ing e f f e c t on the f o r t u n e s o f T o r o n t o
suffrage activism? I t appears t h a t
t h e r e was some i n c r e a s e i n a c t i v i t y dur-
ing 1910, an i n c r e a s e f e l t not o n l y i n
T o r o n t o , but i n t h e p r o v i n c e g e n e r a l l y .
It was d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d t h a t t h e Can-
adian Suffrage A s s o c i a t i o n e s t a b l i s h e d
f o r i t s e l f a p u b l i c headquarters on
Yonge S t r e e t ( p r e v i o u s l y the o r g a n i z a -
t i o n had been run f o r some y e a r s from
F l o r a MacDonald Denison's house). For a
t i m e , t h e A s s o c i a t i o n operated a vege-
t a r i a n r e s t a u r a n t a t the h e a d q u a r t e r s
as a money-making v e n t u r e . One o f the
co-managers o f the r e s t a u r a n t was an
E n g l i s h m i l i t a n t , and i t appears c l e a r
t h a t the v e r y few i n c i d e n t s o f " m i l i -
tancy" i n Ontario during t h i s period
were t h e work o f a small c o l l e c t i o n o f
WSPU members t h a t remained i n Canada
a f t e r Mrs. Pankhurst's v i s i t as an
"advance guard."71
One such i n c i d e n t o c c u r r e d i n March
1910, when, at a s e s s i o n o f the O n t a r i o
l e g i s l a t u r e , a woman i n the g a l l e r y
rose and made a s h o r t statement o b j e c -
t i n g t o the f a c t t h a t the l e g i s l a t u r e
had done n o t h i n g about e n f r a n c h i s i n g
women. The woman, O l i v i a S m i t h , a l -
though born i n Canada, had spent sev-
e r a l y e a r s i n England, i s u s u a l l y r e -
f e r r e d t o as an Englishwoman, and was
a s s o c i a t e d w i t h the WSPU.72 There ap-
pear t o have been few such i n c i d e n t s
p e r p e t r a t e d by Canadian women. D e n i -
son, commenting in November 1910 on
the f e a r s expressed by a c o n s e r v a t i v e
women's group s a i d : " I a s s u r e d them
t h e r e were o n l y two ' s u f f r a g e t t e s ' i n
Canada, and t h e s e we had t o import
from England. To be a s u f f r a g e t t e ,
you have t o abandon s e l f and work f o r the
the e m a n c i p a t i o n o f your sex. I have
been t r y i n g t o a t t a i n t h i s d i s t i n c -
t i o n e v e r s i n c e I had the honor and
p r i v i l e g e , o f h e a r i n g t h a t master woman
Mrs. P a n k h u r s t , but I am m i l e s down
the mountain y e t . " 7 3
Denison h e r s e l f c e r t a i n l y wanted the
T o r o n t o women to take more v i g o r o u s
action. She was h o p e f u l , f o r i n s t a n c e ,
t h a t the s u f f r a g e a s s o c i a t i o n s would
b e g i n h o l d i n g o p e n - a i r meetings and at
one p o i n t she seems to have b e l i e v e d
t h a t women i n Canada would e v e n t u a l l y
r e s o r t to m i l i t a n c y i n some form: "the
s p i r i t i s s p r e a d i n g , and t h e r e i s no
t e l l i n g how soon Canada w i l l j o i n her
s p e c t a c u l a r s i s t e r s o f England and the
U.S."74 But i t appears t h a t among the
l e a d e r s h i p at l e a s t i t was t o Denison
a l o n e t h a t the s p i r i t had spread.
There i s no i n d i c a t i o n t h a t any o f the
o t h e r members o f the T o r o n t o l e a d e r -
s h i p were s i m i l a r l y a f f e c t e d by Mrs.
Pankhurst and the E n g l i s h m i l i t a n t s .
Both Stowe-Gullen and Margaret Johnson
p u b l i c l y r e p u d i a t e d the use of m i l i -
tancy i n Canada d u r i n g the same p e r i o d
t h a t Denison was f i l l i n g her column
w i t h d e t a i l s of the WSPU s t r u g g l e s i n
Engl and.75 There appears, i n f a c t , t o
have been a s p l i t among the l e a d e r s h i p .
It must have been c l e a r t o F l o r a Mac-
Donald Denison t h a t she c o u l d not man-
age a one-woman crusade and g r a d u a l l y
even the a c t i v i t y generated by the ex-
c i t e m e n t o f Mrs. Pankhurst's 1909 v i s i t
l a p s e d . The headquarters on Yonge
S t r e e t , f o r instance, closed during
1911 f o r l a c k o f f i n a n c i a l support.76
Mrs. Pankhurst was w e l l - r e c e i v e d by the
s u f f r a g i s t s when she returned t o Toron-
to i n December 1911. The autumn o f
1911, l i k e the autumn o f 1909, was a l s o
a p e r i o d of c r i s i s f o r the WSPU. Be-
tween November 1911 and March 1913, the
government k i l l e d the C o n c i l i a t i o n B i l l
(an a l l - p a r t y measure d r a f t e d by a
group of p r o - s u f f r a g e MP's) a f t e r having
agreed t o g i v e i t f u l l f a c i l i t i e s f o r
passage; m i l i t a n c y , which had been sus-
pended f o r a c o n s i d e r a b l e p e r i o d o f
t i m e , was once a g a i n renewed. Mrs.
Pankhurst planned another American tour
at t h i s time to r a i s e money f o r the
WSPU and a l s o because she needed a
r e s t from p r i s o n and hunger-striking.77
Although the s u f f r a g i s t ' s r e c e p t i o n of
Mrs. Pankhurst appears to have been
j u s t about as warm in 1911 as i t had
been in 1909, press r e a c t i o n was some-
what l e s s f a v o u r a b l e . The new wave o f
m i l i t a n c y in the autumn o f 1911 i n -
volved e x t e n s i v e window-breaking f o r
the f i r s t time and many of those who
had admired her in 1909 found that they
could not s t i l l do so. T h i s time the
front-page e d i t o r i a l coverage in
Saturday Night read: "Why should
Emmeline come over the ocean to t e l l
us her t r o u b l e s and the t r o u b l e s o f
o t h e r female window breakers?"78 But
she s t i l l a t t r a c t e d a s i z e a b l e crowd
in Toronto and some of the press cov-
erage remained very f a v o u r a b l e .
In 1909, Toronto was Mrs. Pankhurst's
only Canadian engagement. In 1911,
however, she went to Montreal, Port
A r t h u r , Winnipeg and V i c t o r i a as w e l l .
A l l o f these places had a nucleus of
s u f f r a g e a c t i v i s m , enough at l e a s t to
generate an i n t e r e s t in hearing her
speak. But why was there s u f f r a g e ac-
t i v i s m in one c i t y r a t h e r than in an-
other? Why, f o r i n s t a n c e , was t h e r e an
a c t i v e s u f f r a g e o r g a n i z a t i o n at t h i s
time in Port A r t h u r / F o r t W i l l i a m and
not Regina? The answer may l i e p a r t l y
in the a c c i d e n t s of circumstance:
very small group of people could form
the nucleus o f a s u f f r a g e o r g a n i z a t i o n .
If they r e c e i v e d some encouragement from
the l o c a l p r e s s , they might then be
a b l e to generate i n t e r e s t in the sub-
ject. That may have been what happened
in Port A r t h u r / F o r t W i l l i a m . There was
an Equal S u f f r a g e A s s o c i a t i o n there and
the F o r t Wi11iam Times-Journal allowed
i t space in which to run i t s own column.
In t h i s column and on i t s own women's
page, the paper f e a t u r e d a c o n s i d e r a b l e
amount o f commentary about the needs of
working women ( s i g n i f i c a n t in a commun-
i t y with an a c t i v e labour movement) and
about the importance of the s u f f r a g e . 7 9
When Mrs. Pankhurst appeared as the
guest o f the Equal S u f f r a g e A s s o c i a t i o n ,
the paper gave her good coverage.
In c o n t r a s t , one could have read the
Regina Leader d u r i n g these years and not
have known that there was a women's s u f -
frage question. In the paper's general
news s e c t i o n , the s u f f r a g e news was
sparse. The paper d i d not even run many
h o s t i l e s t o r i e s about the s u f f r a g e t t e s .
The Leader's women's page was almost ex-
c l u s i v e l y devoted to r e c i p e s and house-
hold h i n t s . At the time o f Mrs. Pank-
h u r s t ' s v i s i t to Winnipeg, the paper r e -
marked r a t h e r w i s t f u l l y that " f a i r
Saskatchewan"80 was being bypassed but
the Leader i t s e l f had done almost noth-
ing to encourage an i n t e r e s t in her or
the cause she fought f o r .
J o u r n a l i s t i c i n d i f f e r e n c e d i d not pre-
vent the growth o f s u f f r a g e a c t i v i s m in
a Saskatchewan, but i t c e r t a i n l y d i d not
do the s u f f r a g e cause any good, In
Winnipeg, by c o n t r a s t , f e m i n i s t s e n t i -
ment emanated from a group of women
journalists. I t has been p o i n t e d o u t
t h a t these f e m i n i s t women j o u r n a l i s t s
had l i n k s t o o t h e r s o r t s o f p r o g r e s -
s i v e a c t i v i s m . These t i e s t o urban
reform and t o t h e p r o g r e s s i v e f a r m e r s '
movement strengthened women's a c t i v i s m ,
gave i t support and a l s o served t o
mold t h e d i r e c t i o n i t took.
There were two newspapers p u b l i s h e d i n
Winnipeg which had p r o g r e s s i v e , a c t i -
v i s t women's page e d i t o r s , t h e Mani-
toba Free P r e s s and t h e G r a i n Grower's
Gu i de. (The Guide, a l t h o u g h i t s c i r -
c u l a t i o n spread throughout the p r a i r -
i e s , was p u b l i s h e d from Winnipeg.)
The Gui de ran the more i n t e r e s t i n g
women's page. I t s most well-known
women's page e d i t o r , F r a n c i s Marion
Beynon, took over t h e j o b i n June
1912. Beynon's p r e d e c e s s o r ( s ) a l s o
took a s t r o n g i n t e r e s t i n the q u e s t i o n
of women's r i g h t s and she/they 81 a l s o
d i s p l a y e d a remarkable breadth o f
knowledge about f e m i n i s t t h e o r y and
about t h e course o f women's a c t i v i s m
not j u s t i n Canada but throughout the
w o r l d . The women's page e d i t o r s o f
the Guide were concerned w i t h the
l a b o u r , r i g h t s and d i g n i t y o f the farm
w i f e . They were a l l determined t h a t
her e s s e n t i a l c o n t r i b u t i o n t o the farm
economy be r e c o g n i z e d by p u b l i c o p i n i o n
and by the law. The e d i t o r who s i g n e d
h e r s e l f " I s o b e l " ran a v i g o r o u s cam-
paign a g a i n s t the p r o v i s i o n s o f the
Homestead A c t , which b a r r e d a l l women
except widows w i t h c h i l d r e n from home-
s t e a d i n g on t h e i r own. The Gui de's
women's page emphasized the s u f f r a g e ,
which i t c o n t i n u a l l y l i n k e d t o t h e prob-
lems o f urban p o v e r t y , c h i l d c a r e and
the s o c i a l and economic r i g h t s o f a g r i -
c u l t u r a l women.
The Manitoba Free Press women's page
e d i t o r " L i l i a n L a u r i e " ( L i l i a n Beynon
Thomas) became the f i r s t p r e s i d e n t o f
the V/innipeg P o l i t i c a l E q u a l i t y League
in 1912. Her women's page, however,
ran much l e s s news about women's a c t i v -
ism and e s p e c i a l l y about s u f f r a g e a c -
t i v i s m than d i d the women's page o f t h e
G r a i n Grower's Guide. Most o f the Free
Press woman's page i s devoted t o s e r v i c e
a r t i c l e s and human i n t e r e s t s t o r i e s .
L i l i a n Beynon Thomas' concern f o r the
problems o f w o r k i n g - c l a s s women i s r e -
f l e c t e d i n those s t o r i e s o f g e n e r a l i n -
t e r e s t that she d i d run.
Both the Guide and the Free Press ran
s t o r i e s on t h e i r women's pages about the
E n g l i s h m i l i t a n t s b e f o r e the a r r i v a l o f
Mrs. Pankhurst. The Guide was the more
s y m p a t h e t i c o f the two papers. The same
a s p e c t s o f the s u f f r a g e t t e campaign t h a t
appealed t o F l o r a MacDonald Denison a l s o
appealed t o t h e women's page e d i t o r o f
the Guide. She admired t h e i r s e l f -
s a c r i f i c e and t h e i r b r a v e r y . When two
women d i e d as a r e s u l t o f t h e i r t r e a t -
ment by the p o l i c e on " B l a c k F r i d a y "
(October 1910), she ran a s t o r y about
i t , s a y i n g that they had been b r u t a l l y
t r e a t e d . She emphasized the w o r k i n g -
c l a s s support f o r the movement.82 In
one s t o r y she t o l d o f an A l b e r t H a l l
meeting a t which w o r k i n g - c l a s s women
had dropped t h e i r wedding r i n g s i n t o
the c o l l e c t i o n box: " h a v i n g n o t h i n g
e l s e t o c o n t r i b u t e . . . they gave
t h e i r wedding r i n g s . Such s p l e n d i d
s e l f - s a c r i f i c e ; I wonder i f we have
such women i n the west."83
L i l i a n Beynon Thomas meanwhile e x p r e s -
sed doubts about the wisdom and the
j u s t i c e o f s u f f r a g e t t e t a c t i c s , and
urged Canadian women not t o employ m i l -
i t a n t t a c t i c s i n Canada. She agreed
t h a t the m i l i t a n t a c t i o n s had been d i s -
t o r t e d by the p r e s s , she a l l o w e d t h a t
c o n d i t i o n s i n England might be d i f f e r -
ent from those i n Canada, but she urged
Canadian women t o form s u f f r a g e organ-
i z a t i o n s "on a sound and reasonable
b a s i s , marking t h e i r course by con-
d i t i o n s i n Canada and not by c o n d i t i o n s
elsewhere."84 She urged her f e l l o w
countrywomen not t o embark on a
" f i e r c e sex war." Thomas became some-
what l e s s n e g a t i v e about the m i l i t a n t s
themselves i f not about t h e i r methods
in the weeks b e f o r e Mrs. Pankhurst
a r r i v e d i n Winnipeg and, as w i t h the
Guide e d i t o r and w i t h Denison, i t i s
the s e l f - s a c r i f i c e o f the s u f f r a g e t t e s
t h a t won her sympathy: "No Canadian
. . . can ever wish to have such
scenes enacted here . . . but t h e r e must
be some very v i t a l reason t h a t would
make women, educated and cared f o r
. . . endure imprisonment, h a r d s h i p ,
r i d i c u l e and even death f o r t h i s
cause."85
Mrs. Pankhurst came t o Winnipeg i n
December 1911 as the guest o f the
U n i v e r s i t y Women's Club. She showed
h e r s e l f t o be s e n s i t i v e t o l o c a l c u r -
r e n t s o f o p i n i o n because she was c l e a r l y
aware of the s o c i a l concerns t h a t m o t i -
vated many o f the women who were sym-
p a t h e t i c t o the s u f f r a g e i n Winnipeg.
She emphasized w o r k i n g - c l a s s support
f o r the WSPU and s t r e s s e d t h a t the
movement worked f o r the vote not as an
end i n i t s e l f , but as a p r e l u d e t o "a
whole program o^ s o c i a l l e g i s l a t i o n . "
She d i s c u s s e d the w h i t e s l a v e r y i s s u e .
She even touched on the homestead
i s s u e , w a r n i n g t h a t the " b e s t " s o r t o f
woman emigrant would p r e f e r A u s t r a l i a ,
or the western s t a t e s , where they c o u l d
be " f u l l c i t i z e n s , " t o Canada, where
women's r i g h t s were r e s t r i c t e d . 8 6
E d i t o r i a l comment i n both the Guide and
the Free P r e s s was f a v o u r a b l e . Chipman,
the e d i t o r o f the Guide, was e s p e c i a l l y
impressed by her statements about the
program of s o c i a l reform which would be
ushered i n by women's s u f f r a g e . Both
papers commented t h a t her r e c e p t i o n
"showed t h a t i n Winnipeg was a w e a l t h
of untapped r e s o u r c e s f o r the r i g h t s of
women, t i l l now l y i n g dormant and
a w a i t i n g o n l y the c a l l t o awake."87 In
f a c t , the Winnipeg P o l i t i c a l E q u a l i t y
Club was launched j u s t a month a f t e r
her v i s i t ( i n January 1912). Was t h i s
in answer t o the " c a l l t o awake" u t t e r -
ed by Mrs. Pankhurst? Her v i s i t may
w e l l have had some e f f e c t . In her
a u t o b i o g r a p h y , N e l l i e McClung mentions
i t as a c o n t r i b u t i n g f a c t o r i n the
emergence o f s u f f r a g e a c t i v i s m i n
Winnipeg at t h i s time.88 But her v i s i t
was p r o b a b l y not d e c i s i v e , a l t h o u g h i t
may have p r o v i d e d t h e f i n a l push. The
G r a i n Grower's Guide c a r r i e d r e p o r t s o f
two women's c o n v e n t i o n s e a r l y i n 1911,
one i n Regina and one i n Winnipeg. A t
the V/innipeg c o n v e n t i o n a number o f t h e
j o u r n a l i s t s who were t o be a c t i v e i n
the P o l i t i c a l E q u a l i t y League were
p r e s e n t and made speeches which r e l a t e d
to women's p l a c e i n s o c i e t y . I t seems
f a i r l y c l e a r t h a t the women were coming
t o g e t h e r b e f o r e Mrs. P a n k h u r s t ' s v i s i t .
In h e r a u t o b i o g r a p h y , N e l l i e McClung
mentions the v i s i t o f a n o t h e r E n g l i s h
m i l i t a n t , Barbara W y l i e . B a r b a r a W y l i e
was the s i s t e r o f a member o f the
Saskatchewan l e g i s l a t u r e . She made a
s p e a k i n g t o u r o f Canada i n September-
December o f 1912. In terms o f i n f l u e n c e
on Canadian developments, i t i s h e r
v i s i t t o Regina t h a t was o f most impor-
tance. Mrs. Pankhurst had not v i s i t e d
Regina because t h e r e was no o r g a n i z a t i o n
in the c i t y t o i n v i t e her. But Barbara
W y l i e v i s i t e d Regina anyway, presumably
because o f h e r f a m i l y c o n n e c t i o n s t h e r e .
Regina was unused t o s u f f r a g i s t s , so a
s u f f r a g e t t e was a n o v e l t y indeed. "No
More L a d y l i k e L a d i e s i n R e g i n a " s a i d the
h e a d l i n e i n t h e Leader: " f o r t h e f i r s t
time i n her h i s t o r y , Regina i s t o be
t r e a t e d t o an e x p o s i t i o n o f t h e s u f f r a g e
movement — the m i l i t a n t branch a t
t h a t . " 8 9 W y l i e made a r o u s i n g speech
in Regina and urged t h e f o r m a t i o n o f
a s u f f r a g e s o c i e t y i n the c i t y . One
h i s t o r i a n dates the b e g i n n i n g o f an
a c t i v e s u f f r a g e movement i n S a s k a t c h -
ewan from Barbara W y l i e ' s v i s i t , and
i t i s p o s s i b l e t h a t she p r o v i d e d a
d e c i s i v e impetus.90
Barbara W y l i e made a s e n s i b l e , i f
r a t h e r outspoken speech i n Regina and
she made t h e same s o r t o f speech i n
Winnipeg. But i t appears t h a t t h e i n -
t e n t i o n s w i t h which she came t o Canada
were o r i g i n a l l y d i f f e r e n t from those
which appeared on the s u r f a c e , and f a r
l e s s s e n s i b l e . There seems l i t t l e
doubt t h a t the WSPU sent Barbara W y l i e
to Canada on a m i s s i o n t o e s t a b l i s h a
branch o f the WSPU and c o n v e r t Canada
to m i l i t a n c y : a m i s s i o n both presump-
tuous and u n r e a l i s t i c . The i n c i d e n t
r e v e a l s the l a c k o f judgment from
which the WSPU was b e g i n n i n g t o s u f f e r
in 1912. In August 1912 Prime Min-
i s t e r Borden was i n England. He was
v i s i t e d by a d e l e g a t i o n from the WSPU
who demanded t o know what he was going
to do about women's s u f f r a g e and about
the homestead a c t . The women t h r e a t -
ened him w i t h m i l i t a n c y i n Canada:
"your r e p l y t h i s morning w i l l r e g u l a t e
very much the k i n d o f a d v i c e we g i v e
our f r i e n d s i n Canada."91
F l o r a MacDonald Denison, the WSPU's
best f r i e n d i n Canada, q u i c k l y issued
a statement r e p u d i a t i n g the d e p u t a t i o n
to Borden,92 but the WSPU went ahead
anyway, and issued t h e i r own statement
s a y i n g t h a t the Union would " t a k e im-
mediate s t e p s t o s t r e n g t h e n e x i s t i n g
o r g a n i z a t i o n s throughout the Domin-
ion. "93 The f i r s t s t e p they took was
to send Barbara W y l i e on her speaking
t o u r , and a t her f i r s t two s t o p s , Quebec
and M o n t r e a l , she made m i l i t a n t
speeches. The c h i l l y r e c e p t i o n she r e -
c e i v e d must have made i t e v i d e n t t o
her t h a t the o r i g i n a l m i s s i o n was a
m i s t a k e , because her speeches became
p r o g r e s s i v e l y less i n s i s t e n t about t h e
need f o r m i l i t a n c y as she moved west-
ward .
Barbara W y l i e ' s speaking tour r e p r e -
s e n t s the l a s t major p o i n t o f personal
i n t e r a c t i o n between the E n g l i s h m i l i -
t a n t s and the Canadian s u f f r a g e a c t i v -
i s t s . The i n f l u e n c e o f the WSPU on t h e
f o r t u n e s o f the Canadian movement i n
the p e r i o d a f t e r 1912 appears t o have
been uneven. In T o r o n t o , f o r i n s t a n c e ,
F l o r a MacDonald Denison never wavered
in her support f o r the m i l i t a n t s , even
d u r i n g the arson campaign. Indeed,
d u r i n g 1913, when she was a g a i n i n
Europe ( t h i s time f o r t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l
S u f f r a g e A l l i a n c e conference a t Buda-
pest) she v i s i t e d England, spoke from
a WSPU p l a t f o r m and t h e r e i s e v i d e n c e
t h a t she j o i n e d the WSPU. Although she
maintained t h a t these a c t s r e p r e s e n t e d
personal r a t h e r than o r g a n i z a t i o n a l
support f o r the WSPU, h e r p o s i t i o n as
head o f the Canadian S u f f r a g e A s s o c i a -
t i o n was weakened, and i t appears t h a t
she r e s i g n e d from t h a t p o s i t i o n i n
October 1914 p a r t l y as a r e s u l t o f
p r e s s u r e from a n t i - m i 1 i t a n t a c t i v i s t s
i n Toronto.
With the outbreak o f the War, C h r i s t a b e l
and Mrs. Pankhurst t r a n s f o r m e d the WSPU
i n t o a j i n g o i s t i c pro-war o r g a n i z a t i o n
C h r i s t a b e l v i s i t e d T o r o n t o d u r i n g her
North American t o u r i n November 1914
but she spoke about the e v i l s o f Ger-
many, r a t h e r than about the s u f f r a g e .
Mrs. Pankhurst r e t u r n e d t o Canada both
d u r i n g and a f t e r the War and i n the
post-war p e r i o d she l i v e d here f o r a
w h i l e , but her post-war a c t i v i t i e s i n
Canada, a l t h o u g h i n t e r e s t i n g , a r e be-
yond t h e scope o f t h i s paper.94
Canadian s u f f r a g e a c t i v i s m was i n f l u -
enced by E n g l i s h m i l i t a n c y , but o n l y by
those a s p e c t s o f the m i l i t a n t movement
which g e n u i n e l y f i t t e d the s i t u a t i o n i n
Canada. The s e l f - s a c r i f i c e t h a t F l o r a
MacDonald Denison and o t h e r s responded
to was p r e s e n t i n the movement, but
o t h e r q u a l i t i e s , which seemed l e s s con-
g e n i a l t o the Canadian a c t i v i s t s , were
a l s o p r e s e n t . The s u f f r a g e t t e s ' sup-
p o r t e r s i n Canada s i m p l y ignored those
f a c t s from which they d i d not f e e l they
c o u l d draw s t r e n g t h . It i s revealing
t h a t t h e Canadian opponents o f t h e s u f -
f r a g e t t e s were much more l i k e l y t o be
aware o f the d i v i s i o n s i n the m i l i t a n t
movement and the a u t o c r a c y w i t h which
the WSPU was run than were the m i l i -
tants' supporters in t h i s country.
But why d i d the s e l f - s a c r i f i c e r a t h e r
than t h e anger o f the m i l i t a n t s appeal
t o the Canadian a c t i v i s t s ? The E n g l i s h
and Canadian women shared much o f the
same c u l t u r a l h e r i t a g e ; why i s i t t h a t
England produced a s t r o n g s u f f r a g e t t e
movement w h i l e Canada produced o n l y a
r e l a t i v e l y s m a l l number o f s u f f r a g i s t s ?
Was i t t r u e , as George D a n g e r f i e l d
s a y s , t h a t E n g l i s h s o c i e t y was under-
going a major t r a n s f o r m a t i o n at t h i s
time and t h a t the main m a n i f e s t a t i o n
of t h i s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n was i r r a t i o n -
a l i t y ? There may be some t r u t h i n
t h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , but i n my v i e w i t
s e r v e s t o e x p l a i n the response o f so-
c i e t y t o the s u f f r a g e t t e s more s a t i s -
f a c t o r i l y than i t e x p l a i n s the be-
h a v i o u r o f the s u f f r a g e t t e s . Mili-
tancy u n q u e s t i o n a b l y had i t s own mo-
mentum, and l e d i t s proponents t o un-
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c b e h a v i o u r , but i t s
o r i g i n s a r e t o be found i n r a t i o n a l ,
w e l l - f o u n d e d f r u s t r a t i o n . The m i l i -
t a n t s ' own i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e i r be-
h a v i o u r — t h a t they had t r i e d a l l the
usual methods and had met w i t h f a i l u r e
- - i s i n some ways the most s a t i s f a c -
t o r y . The same t h i n g c o u l d have hap-
pened i n Canada had the s u f f r a g e not
been a c h i e v e d when i t was.
The most important c o n t r i b u t i o n t h a t
E n g l i s h and American feminism made t o
Canadian women a c t i v i s t s was t o p r o -
v i d e them w i t h a sense o f c o n n e c t i o n
to an e n t i t y l a r g e r than the a d m i t t e d l y
small group o f a c t i v i s t s w o r k i n g i n any
Canadian l o c a l i t y . Some Canadian women
sought out such a c o n n e c t i o n more than
o t h e r s d i d : they were the " i n t e r -
nationalists." F l o r a MacDonald Denison
i s one example. E.M. Murray, a r e l a -
t i v e l y obscure Nova S c o t i a f e m i n i s t i s
a n o t h e r . When she was an o l d woman i n
the 1940s, E.M. Murray wrote a s e r i e s
of l e t t e r s t o C a t h e r i n e C l e v e r d o n , i n
one o f which she s a i d : "The s u f f r a -
g e t t e movement i n B r i t a i n had i t s e f -
fect. It d i d n ' t appeal to us t o c h a i n
o u r s e l v e s t o P a r l i a m e n t r a i l i n g s or to
be a r r e s t e d and undergo hunger s t r i k e s
but we f e l t t e r r i b l y s t i r r e d over the
t e r r i f i c f i g h t they were making f o r
freedom."95
E.M. Murray's comments b r i n g us back t o
an i s s u e d i s c u s s e d at the b e g i n n i n g o f
t h i s paper. E.M. Murray, F l o r a Mac-
Donald Denison, N e l l i e McC1ung--these
women and o t h e r s as w e l l f e l t t h a t
they were p a r t o f an i n t e r n a t i o n a l
movement f o r s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l
change. They f e l t connected w i t h women
in Canada and elsewhere who were work-
ing f o r the same ends. While i t i s
t r u e t h a t t h e r e a r e problems r e l a t e d t o
the concept o f a "woman's movement," i t
would seem mistaken t o attempt an i n -
t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the growth o f women's
e m a n c i p a t i o n which d i s c a r d e d the n o t i o n .
Such an i n t e r p r e t a t i o n would be p a r a l l e l
to the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f w o r k i n g - c l a s s
h i s t o r y i n vogue a few decades ago which
a t t r i b u t e d the a m e l i o r a t i o n o f w o r k i n g -
c l a s s l i f e t o the t e c h n o l o g i c a l e f f i -
c i e n c y o f i n d u s t r i a l c a p i t a l i s m , and
denied the e x i s t e n c e o f a w o r k i n g - c l a s s
movement. In the case o f both women
and the p r o l e t a r i a t , such a d e t e r m i n -
i s t i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n v i o l a t e s the
a u t h e n t i c f e e l i n g s o f human beings who
l i v e d i n the past and l e f t records o f
t h e i r f e e l i n g s . Women i n B r i t a i n , the
U n i t e d S t a t e s , Canada and i n o t h e r be1 Pankhurs t ,

Pankhurst, p. 2i.
p a r t s o f t h e w o r l d f e l t and s a i d t h a t cidc-nt, "31ac^ d a y " , November 18, 1 10,G
occurred after the stone
•quo. R o s e n g i ves a ve r y full account of the sexual bru-
t h e y w e r e p a r t o f a movement. Even I f 1 nq
the police or. this occasion. Pp. 139-142.

the v a l i d i t y o f t h e i r b e l i e f s i s ques- iphant in the Toronto Star , Novc 13, 1909. p- 11.

t- L i f e of Emne Pankhurs t (London , 1935^ , and

t i o n e d , t h e s e b e l i e f s h a v e t o be t a k e n
i n t o a c c o u n t i n any a t t e m p t a t an h i s -
t o r i c a l i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the changes 123. iew o* the fc-ct that the organization of the WSPU is

i n women's p o s i t i o n d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d . js.,allv described

s i qn i f i c a - ! t cc>"i quts
as "autocratic"
used by the
it
WSPU
is interesting that so
(5 t o n e - t h r o w i n q , h u n q e r s t r i k i n g ,
many of the

arson) should have oriqinated not fro-' tie leadersh b u t f rom t h e

C o n s c r i p t Jon Conf1 i ct (London, 1947). esp. Chapter 18

27.

?8.

29- At least two women died from the effects of the police brutality on Black
Friday. Lady Constance Lytton died of the effects of beinq forcibly fed
during her imprisonment as "Jane Wharton."

W. Thonnes5en, The E m a n c i p a t 1 on nf Wo mo (Frankfurt, 1969) , 30. All the Pankhurst memoirs agree.
"there seems to be l i t t l e connec-
soc ia l i s t feminist internationalism, bu 31 - D a n g e r f i e l d , pp. 139-214.
list international conferences,
tion between the socialist and non-soci Christabel Pankhurst was especially isolated, becau was d i roc t i n g the
32.
As an example, A. Kraditor's analysis o suffrage arqunpnts as "from movement from Paris after her flight there in 1912.
justice 1 1
and "from expediency" ' r
The I eas of the Woman S u f f r a g e Move-
Dangerfield thought that Christabel's oamphlet. The Great Scour nd i ca t e d
V fit the Canadian situation?
menr (New York, 1965)- Do they genuine as about
she was a lesbian. Rosen, although he anrees that Chr s ta
Barbara Kanner, ''The Women n f Fngland i lot less odd when interpreted in context (Victoria s about
M. Vicinus fed.), Suffer and Be Still I 1973) , sex seem very odd to us now) f Is s t i l l interested in her sex 1 Rosen 1
s
book, which is on the whole very valuable Indeed, does qo off neces -
4. J. Castell Hopkins, The Canadian of Publ
sary tanqents: he has a lot of charts about the marital st-^us o(
k he
1^13 gives 3 good account 'jf 'He
WSPU m e m b e r s , but since he never really explains what he's doing i t '1
dary naij'e nf r e h
Canadian tn r-
them, one is left wonderinc if he accepts on some level the charge tnpir
u

December Ij, I 905.

enemies made- that _
they were all unhappy in love. His millenarian analogy
5. Canadian Annual Re / i ew , I9' 2. :i - o n t o__G_l se, October 3, 1912, is suggestive, but he pushes it too far. The suffraqettes were working fo
p. c
. This paper does not effer account even of a 11 the pre- a rational, understandable goal, even when they saw t^inqs in black and
war tours. r
or instance, r">ca'..T space. I have not wh i t e terms. —
yiven an account of M^s . P a r k-IU R

tie Victoria Da i I y Manitoba, Ontario and Victoria, B.C. all had activities dating back before
was very favorable \ See for exam
1900 according to Cleverdon, but the earlier Manitoba movement had vir-
Times , December 21, lgil, p. 13) an accou-t of Sylvi
tually disappeared and the Victoria group was isolated. See C. Clc-verdon,
Pankhurst's intercstinc tour In
The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada (Toronto, 2nd ed., 19741.
6. Toronto World, December 7. 1909,
G.S. Kea1ey, Hogtown: Working Class Toronto at the Turn of the Century
7. 1866 was the year of the firs; m cam pa id of the (Torot.io, 1974) , p. 1. =
* ™ ' ~ ' ~ ' '
amendmen t Co the Sc t e n d 6
o f n m 5 '•i J o h n S t u a r t Mi i nt r o d u c e d .
Kealey, provides information about Toronto,'as does Wome at Work: Ontar
8. S. Rowbotham, Hidden fro- Hi stor , 1973) for instance. 1850-1930 (Toronto, 1974), especially the article by Kle and Robe r t s .
For Britain, see I. Pinchbeck Women W o r k e r s and the Industrial Revolut
e.g. C. Rover, Women 1 Suf f r Politics in Britain 1866-1914
(London, 1930) and E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class
(London , I 967) , PP • 9
(London, 1963) -
. Rowhotham, H i dden from History, pp. 9O-98.
J. Banks, Prosper ity and Paren chood (London, 1954). And for Ontario
. Rover discusses this fully. article by Genevieve Leslie in Women at Work: O n t a r o.

bid. , p . 71 . Genevieve Leslie maintains that some of this "concet n" ve i 1 e d a des i
of the formation of the WSPU was the maintain a good supply of servant girls, p. 97.
The i mned i a t e , precipitating
urst Hall was being used by a branch of
d I s co v e r y that the I LP ' s ';e.-; C1eve rdon 20.
os e n . Rise Up, Wc-en ! 'Lon^--, 107M ,
the ILP tnat exc'ucec w>~en.
This information is obtained from the Canaciai ge Association and the
29.
Toronto Suffrage Association letterheads in t' MacDonaId Den i s o n
1 bi 30 papers (Box 2^ , University o f
Toronto Library
I tc explore jeniso 's influence u r t he r future pape r
Rosen agrees .
n f

S. Pankhurst. The Suffragette Movement 'London, 1911

P. 39, ff. " ~ — — dated Marc 27 us t a S t o w e - G u
i de
After the expulsion of Sylvia Pankhurst and the East London Federation O f T
orontO L ib
from the WSPU in 1?14, it was true t^at Christabel and Mrs. Pankhurst dated Marc". 21
completely abandoned their Labour past, but not before that.
For example, C. Dangerfield, The Strange Death of Liberal England (London,
was 5ray_e_ (Chicago, 1 <?69) .
Evervorie '
1936). Andrew Rosen's new book is also preoccupied with militancy.
45- Toronto Saturday Night , December 23. '911, P-
Sylvia Pankhurst (p. 24i uses this date, and most secondary sources follow
her. Christabel, however, dates the beqinninq from an earlier meeting. 46.
C. Pankhurst, Unshackled (London, 1959), P- 46. Flora MacDonald Denison in the Sunday World, December 19, 1909, ff'
47.
ison's Srraohook no. M l (Deni son papers) .
48. H. R i d l e y , A S y n o p s i s o f Woman S u f f r a g e i n Canada (n.d.), p. 12. In 71. F o r t h e h e a d q u a r t e r s and r e s t a u r a n t , see Suniay World, O c t o b e r 30, 1910.
S t o w e - G u l l e n memorabe1ia s c r a p b o o k . Also s e e E v e n i n g News clipping, Denison's column, Denison S c r a p b o o k , n o . 111.
March 27, 1909. 72. Sunday _Wo r l _ d , Denison's column, M a r c h 2 7 , ISIi renison Scrapbook no. 111.
49. S e e Lady A b e r d e e n ' s p a m p h l e t , " P r e s i d e n t ' s Memorandum o n t h e F o u r t h Q u i n - A clipping from the T o r o n t o S t a r , April 3, I913 (Map Case C PP' 9S ,
n

quennial Meeting." Papers o f the N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o f Women, Volume 20, Denison Papers) s a y s s h e was o r i q i n a l l y f r o m Owen Sound.
P u b l i c A r c h i v e s o f Canada.
73. I b i d . , November 27, 1910.
NCW m i n u t e book, J u l y 5, 1910. 74. I b i d . , June 12, 1910.
Denison continued to publish a column i n t h e Sunday W o r l d after this date On M a r c h 3 0 , 1911, t h e News r a n a s t o r y a b o u t an a l l e g e d T o r o n t o s u f f r a -
75.
called " T h e Open Road t o Democracy." g e t t e , M i s s Browne, who " w o u l d w e l c o m e a t e r m i n j a i l . " Dr. Margaret
Toronto News, December 10, 1907- Clipping in Stowe-Gullen Scrapbook. Johnson, s e c r e t a r y o f the T o r o n t o S u f f r a g e A s s o c i a t i o n wrote a l e t t e r
52
r e p u d i a t i n g m i l i t a n c y a n d d e n y i n g t h e e x i s t e n c e o f M i s s Browne. News,
53 T o r o n t o News, J u n e 2 5 , 1906. Clipping i n Denison's Scrapbook no. II. A p r i l 6, 1911. Both from S t o w e - G u l l e n Notebook.
54. Idem.
On i t s closIng : Sunday W o r l d . Denison's "Open Road ' c o l u m n , May 7 ,
55- Dr. S t o w e - G u l l e n , Dr. G o r d o n a n d M r s . Yeomans a l l e x p r e s s e d s y m p a t h y f o r 1911 .
the s u f f r a g e t t e s . Lady T a y l o r o f H a m i l t o n (an a n t i - s u f f r a g i s t ) and M r s .
77. C. P a n k h u r s t , U n s h a c k l e d , o. 186.
T o r r t n g t o n , Chairman o f the T o r o n t o L o c a l C o u n c i l , e x p r e s s e d t h e i r d i s -
approval. NCW m i n u t e b o o k , O c t o b e r 3 0 , 1908, NCW p a p e r s , Volume 20. 78. Saturday Night, December 23, 1911.

56. T o r o n t o News, M a r c h 2 7 , 1909. clipping from S t o w e - G u l l e n Scrapbook. 1

75. E.g., F o r t Wj11i am T i m e s - J o u r n a 1 , December 12 19", P- 6 on why women
57- The words o f H e r b e r t G l a d s t o n e i n a memorandum t o G r e y . Quoted fn Rosen, f a c t o r y w o r k e r s need t h e v o t e .

P . 127. R e g i n a L e a d e r , December 15, 19", P- 2.

58. Pankhurst, L i fe. 94. I have n o t been a b l e to identify " I s o b e l " or "Mary Ford." They may be t h e
same p e r s o n .
59. For Toronto, see Votes f o r Women, December 10, 1909, P- '70.
Grain Grower' Guide, F e b r u a r y 22 • 1911, 37.
60. T o r o n t o Saturday Night, November 2 7 , 1909, p. 170.
I b i d . , December 2 0 , 191
19" 1 . p. 23.
61. T o r o n t o G l o b e , November 2 2 , 1909. P-
Manitoba Free P r e s s , Janua ry I 6, 1911, P
62. All the E n g l i s h suffragette reports mention her meeting w i t h Gotdwln
Smith--e.g., see Votes f o r Women, December 10, 1909, 0. 170. This seemed I b i d . , December 5, 19", p. 9.
to o f f e r a seal of recognition. I b i d . , December 18, 1 9 " , P. I.

63- Toronto G l o b e , November 2 2 , 1909, P. 5. Idem.

64. Toronto World, October 18, 1909, P- 5- 'c'lie McClung, The Stream Runs ^ a s t (Toronto, 1965, first p u b . 1945).
65. Toronto Mail and E m p i r e , O c t o b e r 25, 1909, P- 6. R e g i n a L e a d e r , December 10, 1912.
66. S a t u r d a y N i g h t , December 4 , 1909, p. 27. "Lady G r e y ' s " column. I haven't
Christine Macdonald, "How S a s k a t c h e w a n Women g o t t h e V o t e , " Saskatchewan
b e e n a b l e to' i d e n t i f y " L a d y G r e y . " History, (October, l°48, pp. 1-8).
67. See d r a f t o f s p e e c h t o T o r o n t o s u f f r a g e g r o u p a f t e r h e r r e t u r n f r o m
Toronto G l o b e , August 29, 1912, d . 7.
C o p e n h a g e n i n 1906: D e n i s o n p a p e r s , Box 5: a n d a l s o u n i d e n t i f i e d 1906
c l i p p i n g o f a D e n i s o n c o l u m n i n t h e u n s o r t e d map c a s e c l i p p i n g s , D e n i s o n I dem.
papers.
Ibid., August 30, 1912, p. I .
68. C. P a n k h u r s t , p. 83. F o r D e n i s o n ' s v i e w s on t h e WSPU i n 1913, s e e h e r Sunday W o r l d c o l u m n
69. Denison's column, Sunday W o r l d , October 31, '909. D e n i s o n S c r a p b o o k no. " S t r a y L e a v e s f r o m a S u f f r a g e t t e ' s N o t e b o o k " n.d. b u t c l e a r l y l a t e summer
III. On h e r v i ews i n 1908: Tee the Saint J o h n , N.P, Sun. D e n i s o n Scrap 19)3, i n u n s o r t e d 'lap Case C l i p p i n g s , D e n i s o n p a p e r s . For s p l i t in the
book no. 1. T o r o n t o movement, and a n t i - m i 1 i t a n t s e n t i m e n t , s e e a r t i c l e f r o m t h e S t a r
W e e k l y . M a r c h 2 1 , 1914, i n u n s o r t e d Map C a s e C l i p p i n g s , D e n i s o n p a p e r s .
70. Sunday W o r l d , December 26, 1909. Denison Scrapbook, no. 111.
E.M. M u r r a y t o C. C l e v e r d o n , J u l y 3 0 , 1946. Cleverdon papers. Public
Archives o f Canada-