To mark the anniversary of the fateful day in June 1913 when alumna Emily Wilding Davison ran out in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom Derby, a bronze statue has been unveiled at the race’s home town in Surrey.
The Suffragette, who died four days after the incident, has been remembered ever since as the campaigner who lost her life while trying to secure the vote for women. The depiction, by sculptor Christine Charlesworth (pictured with the statue above), shows Davison sitting on a bench holding a pamphlet, with her university mortarboard and a pile of books next to her.
Emily read English at St Hugh’s in 1895 and achieved first class honours in the university examinations for women. She joined the militant organisation the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906, a group which arguably did much to persuade politicians to give some women the vote in 1918.
For more information on the role St Hugh’s College played in the women’s suffrage movement please click here.
