Emily Davison

Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 – 8 June 1913) was a suffragette who fought for women's suffrage in Britain in the early 20th century. She was known for extreme tactics that resulted in her arrest on nine occasions. She protested by means of hunger strikes, and was force-fed 49 times while incarcerated. The hunger strike was a common tactic among suffragettes as was force-feeding by British penal authorities in response. In her most famous moment of protest, Davison stepped in front of King George V's horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby on 4 June 1913 and suffered injuries that proved fatal four days later. Her funeral on 14 June 1913 was organised by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Thousands of suffragettes accompanied the coffin and tens of thousands of people lined the streets of London. After a service in Bloomsbury, her coffin was taken by train to the family plot in Morpeth, Northumberland.

Davison was born in Blackheath, South East London, to Charles Davison (of Morpeth, Northumberland) and Margaret Davison (of Longhorsley, Northumberland). She had two sisters and a brother, as well as several step-siblings from her father's first marriage.

She later attended Kensington High School (now Kensington Preparatory School) and won a bursary to Royal Holloway College in 1891 to study literature. However, she was forced to drop out in January 1892 because her father died and her mother could not afford the fees of £20 a term. Later, she was able to enroll at St. Hugh's College, Oxford. She obtained first-class honours in her final exams at St. Hugh's, but women were not allowed to graduate from Oxford at that time. After her time at university, Davison found positions teaching the children of families in Berkshire and Spratton, Northamptonshire.

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