Emily Wilding Davison (October 11, 1872 – June 8, 1913) was an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. She died when she was struck by King George V's horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby.
Davison was born in Blackheath, London. She was the daughter of Charles Davison and Margaret Davison. She was a good performer at school and had a university education, having studied first at Royal Holloway College in London although having to drop out after her recently widowed mother couldn't afford the £20 term fees. She then became a school teacher and raised enough money to study English Language and Literature at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and obtained first-class honours in her final exams, though women were not at that time admitted to degrees at Oxford. She then obtained a post teaching the children of a family in Berkshire and then joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906, and immediately involved herself in their more militant activities. She was arrested and imprisoned for various offences, including a violent attack on a man she mistook for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George. She went on hunger strike and was force-fed in Holloway prison, where she threw herself down an iron staircase as a protest. She landed on wire netting 30 feet below, which saved her, however she suffered some severe spinal damage.
On July 13, the night of the 1911 census, Davison hid in a cupboard in the Palace of Westminster overnight so that on the census form she could legitimately give her place of residence that night as the "House of Commons".[1] Tony Benn MP once unofficially placed a plaque there to commemorate the event.[2] In 1913 she planted a bomb at David Lloyd George's newly built house in Surrey, damaging it severely.[3]
Davison's purpose in attending the Derby of June 4 1913 is unclear. Much has been made of the fact that she purchased a return rail ticket and also a ticket to a Suffragette dance later that day, suggesting that suicide was not, on this occasion, her initial intention.
Davison falling to the ground unconscious after being stuck by Anmer.
A possibility of her reason for entering the race track was that she was trying to attach a flag to the King's horse, so when the horse crossed the finishing line it would quite literally be flying the suffragettes flag. Evidence for this was that supposedly she had been seen in the weeks before stopping horses in the lane outside her house. However this is only one of many theories.
Film of the incident shows her stepping out in front of the horse, Anmer, as it rounded Tattenham Corner, with Davison carrying the banner of the WSPU. But instead of stopping, Anmer trampled her, knocking her unconscious. Eyewitnesses at the time were divided as to her motivation, with many believing that she had simply intended to cross the track, believing that all horses had passed; while others reported that she had attempted to pull down the King's horse. She died 4 days later in Epsom Cottage Hospital, due to a fractured skull caused by the incident. Herbert Jones, the jockey who was riding the horse, suffered a mild concussion in the incident, the horse survived but with bruised shins.
Davison is buried in the church yard of St. Mary the Virgin, Morpeth, Northumberland. The funeral attracted a large crowd. Her gravestone bears the WSPU slogan, "Deeds not words". She had two funerals, one in London and one in Morpeth.
She is the subject of a song by American rock singer Greg Kihn, whose elegy "Emily Davison" is included on his first album, 1975's "Greg Kihn."
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