SUFFRAGETTES IN ST. MARY MAGDALEN CHURCH

The congregation at St. Mary Magdalen Church, StLeonards, was startled last Sunday morning by a Suffragist protest.

It appears that several local churches, among them St. Mary-in-the-Castle, Emmannuel, St. Paul's, and Fairlight, recently acceded to a request to include in their service a prayer for true guidance in the women's movement, but others have not yet done so.

On Sunday morning about a dozen local lady members of the Women's Social and Political Union attended at St. Mary Magdalen Church, and after the first collect one of their number (whose name, as it was not intended for notoriety, the Union think it in better taste not to publish), repeated the prayer :-"O God, save Rachel Peace and Kitty Marion, and all those who are persecuted and suffer

FOR CONSCIENCE SAKE

and make our Bishops and Clergy see the justice of their Cause. Spare them O God, in Thine infinite mercy. Hear our prayer, O God, and let our cry come unto Thee. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in Thy sight, O God my Strength and my Redeemer. Amen."

The other Suffragists stood up while the prayer was said and joined in the Amen. The curate (the Rev. B. Buchanan Dunlop continued the ordinary prayers but the voice of the Suffragist could be heard distinctly.

The Suffragettes afterwards distributed leaflets of the appeal to God outside the church. Many of the congregation took the leaflets eagerly, but it is stated that two men objected in strong terms.

WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE

DISPLAY IN FORCE AT THE THEATRE

Patrons of the Hastings Gaiety Theatre on Tuesday night [11th] found that the local Suffragettes had provided them with some unlooked-for amusement.

It appears that over fifty members and friends of the Women's Social and Political Union were present, many of them having booked seats during the day. The box office officials naturally expected that there might be some fun, but they were not let into the secret the women were nursing in their breasts.

"A Place in tbe Sun " is a play which has a good deal to do with women's rights and wrongs in life, and it was evident to the unitiated [sic] early in the evening that there was some unusual element in the theatre, because of the vigorous hissing when things portrayed on the stage were not as they should be, and the hearty applause when things were put in their right phase.

At the end of the first act, an unprecedented scene occurred. Leaflets were let loose from the gallery, the upper circle, and the dress circle, upon the heads of those beneath, and there was a general flutter of excitement. Then, when an excited female in a box unfurled a banner demanding the release of Mrs. Pankhurst, the audience as a whole saw through the joke.

Then Miss F. C Tristram from a box commenced to harangue the house. she shreiked out the words: 'Women of England' and at intervals further on in her remarks were heard the words: "Release Mrs Pankhurst," but that was all. The banner had done the trick, and the audience wlich had come to the play did not give a kindly ear to the Suffragettes. They howled and shouted, catcalled and laughed, and in the general din were heard thundered from all parts of the house the orders: "Shut up." "Turn 'em out," " Sit down," and so on, and then, to add to the final discomfiture of the demonstrators, came the orchestra, which atarted to play a selection from "Maritana" - appropriately enough, the refrain, "Scenes that are brightest," being a prominent feature. It really was a bright little ten minutes, and none of the audience lost their tempers. The actors and actresses in the Company could not control their curiosity at to the cause of all the din, and they were to be seen peeping from behind the curtain.

After the outburst the ladies settled themselves to the play again, and had the good taste not to interrupt it except for their enthusiasm mentioned before. At the final fall of the curtain they gave three cheers for Mrs. Pankhurst, and again outside they cheered each other, arousing the curiosity of passers-by. Those who had been in the house smiled good-temperedly, and remarked, "Well, they've made some fun, and have not hurt anybody."

Miss Tristram, the local organiser sends us the following statement, which she say was made by her:

"Ladies and Gentlemen,- Where is English justice? Why is a woman thrown, into prison as a common criminal for inciting against property, when Sir Edward Carson is at large though he is inciting to take life, inciting a nation on to civil war? Men of Hastings, do you know that women are actually being tortured in prison? Hot wires run into their ears, drugged when a Bishop goes to see them. Our women are willing to bear just punishment. It is unjust punishment which makes them go on hunger strike. If a man who is voteless and for political reasons for concience's sake, destroys property, he is put in the First Division, and treated as a political prisoner. If a woman, for precisely the same reason, commits the same crime, she is treated as a common criminal, and she protests against this injustice by refusing food."

An unusual spectacle was witnessed on the Hastings Front just before noon on Wednesday when twelve members of the local branch of the W.S.P.U. arrayed in robes of the colours of their Society and wearing dominoes, marched in single file towards St Leonards.

The procession met with some ridiule but no violence was offered. Some of the crowd reminded them not to forget the fire at Levetleigh. On Thursday there was a painted umbrella parade.

Illustrations & References

First quote - Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 14 February 1914
Second - Nick Prince, The Entertainer, September 1999
Third - Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 14 March 1914
Fourth - Hastings & St Leonards Observer 4 April 1914
Photo: Suffragette poster-parade marching past Eversfield Place
to advertise Mrs Pankhurst's speech at the Public Hall in 1910.