Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Epsom Derby
The video we watched mentioned the Emily Davison and her death at the Epsom Derby. I thought this was an interesting bit of information, so I decided to look into it more. Emily Davidson was a very active and one of the more violent members of the Suffragettes. She'd had several arrests within the few years leading up to her death. This particular public statement was not meant to be a suicide mission. She'd been planning on raising the Suffragette flag on the King's horse so it would finish the race with the Suffragette colors. About a year or so before this happened she did try to commit suicide, but most people believe that this was not an attempt to kill herself because she'd had a train ticket and tickets for a Suffragette event later that day. Her actions not only killed her, but also permanantly injured the jockey that was riding the horse. Many people speculate that the jockey's suicide 40 years later was somehow caused by Emily Davidson's death. Davidson's death was highly publicized and used as a tool for the Suffragette's cause.
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That's interesting. Seems kind of stupid to think that in the middle of a horse race she could have raised the flag on a horse moving about 30 MPH.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting! Even though it was a stupid idea on her part, if you think about it, it worked! Now some people will remember her as a strong leader of the suffragettes, who became a martyr fighting for her cause. Even if she did not intend to die, this isn't a bad outcome for her.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the hunger strikes, only unintentional!(or so we think) Why was the jockey's suicide caused by Emily Davidson's death? Did he feel that much guilt for killing her even though it was her own fault?
ReplyDeleteWhile becoming a martyr may have been honorable among the Suffragettes, in this case it probably did not help their cause very much. As James first pointed out, jumping in front or a racing horse is very, very stupid, so I'm sure the public could hardly blame the king's horse for Davidson's death. Davidson's actions probably only fueled the cause for the anti-feminists, because they only proved the main point against the Suffragettes: that women were to unintelligent to have rights. Davidson should have thought through her actions more carefully before hand.
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