Suffragettes
A powerful episode this week as Philippa Bilton, Katy Arnander and Matt Jopling discovered how their ancestors were linked to suffragette Emily Davison's tragic death at Epsom racecourse in 1913.
Find out more about the people involved through the records on findmypast.co.uk
Census records
Our investigations led us to Emily Wilding Davison in the 1891 census on findmypast.co.uk. Emily is Philippa Bilton's first cousin thrice removed:
Emily was killed after she stepped in front of the King's horse at the 1913 Derby. At this point in her life, she was living at 43 Fairholme Road in Fulham with her parents and sister.
We also unearthed Emily in the 1911 census on findmypast.co.uk. Her census return displays another of her protests: hiding in the Houses of Parliament on the night of the 1911 census. She was found by the Clerk of Works who recorded her presence:
The address page, which is free to look at when you've paid to view the household form, tells us that Emily was found hiding in the Crypt of Westminster Hall and that she'd been there since Saturday. The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911:
Searching the 1911 census on findmypast.co.uk also led us to Katy Arnander's great-grandfather, Reginald McKenna. Reginald was Home Secretary at the peak of the suffragette protests, but here he is listed as First Lord of the Admiralty. He was recorded with his wife, two sons, a visitor and 14 servants:
We also discovered Matt Jopling's great-grandfather, Herbert Jones, in the 1901 census. Herbert was the jockey riding Anmer, the horse that knocked down Emily Wilding Davison at the Epsom Derby in 1913. In 1901, he was living at Egerton House in Newmarket, Cambridgeshire and is recorded as being a racehorse jockey:
Suffragettes in the 1911 census
Householders' original census returns have survived for the 1911 census and they provide a unique opportunity for us to see the extra information that people recorded, which would have been excluded in census enumerators' summaries. We've found several comments sympathetic to the campaign for Votes for Women:
This form states 'no votes for women, no census' and 'no persons here, only women!':
This census return includes the statement 'Votes for Women!' around the edges and is signed by Ada Florence Wightwick a 'non-militant suffragette (at present)':
Here the resident states 'I have joined the brave women of England in their dignified protest against the systematic blocking by the Government of the "Woman's Conciliation"':
Mary Howey recorded herself as an artist and suffragette and wrote 'Votes for Women' in large, bold letters at the bottom of her census form:
Finally, this resident wrote 'No vote – no census. House deserted (April 2nd to 3rd) by Suffragist who demands the vote...if she is intelligent enough to fill up this schedule she can surely make a X on a ballot paper':
Passenger lists
Reginald McKenna was quite the traveller – we found him recorded four times in the passenger lists on findmypast.co.uk. He travelled twice to the USA and twice to Canada from Southampton.
Here we can see Reginald and his wife journeying from Southampton to Quebec in 1937, travelling in cabin class on the Empress of Britain. Reginald is recorded as being a Privy Councillor and his address was 70 Pall Mall, London:
Search the passenger lists now
Kelly's Handbook 1901
Tracing Reginald McKenna further back, we found him listed in the 1901 edition of Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes. Reginald is listed at the bottom right of the page, and the record tells us his father's name, when he was born, where he was educated, his occupation, his address and the club he was a member of:
Kelly's Handbook can be really useful to add these kinds of niche details to your family tree.
Search Kelly's Handbook 1901 now
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