The Women's Marseillaise

Last updated

"The Women's Marseillaise" was the former Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) official anthem. It was sung to the tune of La Marseillaise and included words about women's suffrage written by Florence MacAulay. The song was sung by suffragists in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Contents

About

Votes for Women Songs including lyrics for "The Women's Marseillaise." "Rise Up Women," "Women of England" and "In the Morning." Votes for Women songs.jpg
Votes for Women Songs including lyrics for "The Women's Marseillaise." "Rise Up Women," "Women of England" and "In the Morning."

"The Women's Marseillasie" was a former official anthem of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). [1] The song included words written by Florence MacAulay and was sung using the tune of La Marseillaise. [1] Macauley lead the WSPU office in Edinburgh from 1909 to 1913. [2]

The song was sung in many different settings, but most often as a form of protest or solidarity for women's rights in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The song was sung in order to lift the spirits of prisoners in Holloway Prison in 1908. [3] [4] Between 1908 and 1911, the Mascottes Ladies Band often performed "The Women's Marsellaise." [5] In 1913, "The Women's Marsellaise" was sung by a protester in Britain during the trial of two suffragettes. [6] In 1911, it was performed at a suffrage rally in Idaho. [7] Suffragists in North Dakota also sang "The Women's Marsellaise" at an event in 1917. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Social and Political Union</span> UK movement for womens suffrage, 1903–1918

The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and policies were tightly controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. Sylvia was eventually expelled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence</span> British activist (1867–1954)

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence was a British women's rights activist and suffragette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion Wallace Dunlop</span> British artist and suffragette (1864–1942)

Marion Wallace Dunlop was a Scottish artist, author and illustrator of children's books, and Suffragette. She was the first and one of the most well known British suffrage activists to go on hunger strike on 5 July 1909, after being arrested in July 1909 for militancy. She said she would not take any food unless she was treated as a political prisoner instead of as a common criminal. Wallace Dunlop's mode of protest influenced suffragettes after her and other leaders like M. K. Gandhi and James Connolly, who also used fasting to protest British rule. She was at the centre of the Women's Social and Political Union and designed some of the most influential processions of the UK suffrage campaign, as well as designing banners for them.

Nellie Hall, later known as Nell Hall-Humpherson, was a British suffragette, arrested and imprisoned several times for her activities with the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffragette</span> British movement for womens suffrage

A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members of the British Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a women-only movement founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, which engaged in direct action and civil disobedience. In 1906, a reporter writing in the Daily Mail coined the term suffragette for the WSPU, derived from suffragistα, in order to belittle the women advocating women's suffrage. The militants embraced the new name, even adopting it for use as the title of the newspaper published by the WSPU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The March of the Women</span>

"The March of the Women" is a song composed by Ethel Smyth in 1910, to words by Cicely Hamilton. It became the official anthem of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and more widely the anthem of the women's suffrage movement throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Activists sang it not only at rallies but also in prison while they were on hunger strike. Smyth produced a number of different arrangements of the work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daisy Solomon</span> South African suffragette (1882–1978)

Daisy Dorothea Solomon (1882–1978) was posted as a human letter in the British suffragette campaign using a quirk in the postal system to approach the Prime Minister who would not receive a delegation of women demanding the right to vote. Solomon was secretary to suffragette groups and imprisoned for protest, and went on hunger strike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Ainsworth</span> British teacher and suffragette

Laura Frances Ainsworth was a British teacher and suffragette. She was employed by the Women's Social and Political Union and was one of the first suffragettes to be force-fed. She left the WSPU in 1912 in protest at the ejection of the Pethick-Lawrences, but continued to work for women's suffrage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Hawkins</span> English suffragette

Alice Hawkins was a leading English suffragette among the boot and shoe machinists of Leicester. She went to prison five times for acts committed as part of the Women’s Social and Political Union militant campaign. Her husband Alfred Hawkins was also an active suffragist and received £100 when his kneecap was fractured as he was ejected from a meeting in Bradford. In 2018 a statue of Alice was unveiled in Leicester Market Square.

Jessie Cunningham Methven was a Scottish campaigner for women's suffrage. She was honorary secretary of the Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage from the mid 1890s until 1906. She subsequently joined the more militant Women's Social and Political Union and described herself as an "independent socialist".

Florence Jessie Hull was a British suffragette who wrote about her experience of being imprisoned for the cause. She was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and secretary of its Letchworth branch. She was an active campaigner for women's suffrage and served time in prison for her role in a suffragette protest. Her arrest took place in the context of a window smashing campaign by the WSPU. Hull is noted on the Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Hudson</span> British nurse and suffragette

Edith Hudson was a British nurse and suffragette. She was an active member of the Edinburgh branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and was arrested several times for her part in their protests in Scotland and London. She engaged in hunger strikes while in prison and was forcibly fed. She was released after the last of these strikes under the so-called Cat and Mouse Act. Hudson was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by the WSPU.

Elizabethand Agnes Thomson were Scottish suffragettes and members of the Edinburgh branch of the Women's Social and Political Union. They were arrested for their involvement in WSPU protests in Scotland and London. The sisters were involved in the first arson attempt in Scotland as part of the WSPU arson campaign in 1913. Elizabeth was imprisoned for her role and went on hunger strike. She was later released under the Prisoners Act 1913, so-called Cat and Mouse Act. Elizabeth was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by the WSPU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger Strike Medal</span> Medal awarded to British suffragettes

The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving their sentences in the prisons of the United Kingdom for acts of militancy in their campaign for women's suffrage. Many women were force-fed and their individual medals were created to reflect this.

Patricia Woodlock was a British artist and suffragette who was imprisoned seven times, including serving the longest suffragette prison sentence in 1908 ; she was awarded a Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) Hunger Strike Medal for Valour. Her harsh sentence caused outrage among supporters and inspired others to join the protests. Her release was celebrated in Liverpool and London and drawn as a dreadnought warship, on the cover of the WSPU Votes for Women newsletter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Douglas Smith</span> British militant suffragette (born 1878)

Katherine Douglas Smith was a militant British suffragette and from 1908 a paid organiser of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was also a member of the International Suffrage Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music and women's suffrage in the United States</span>

Music was often used in the women's suffrage movement in the United States. Music played an instrumental role in the parades, rallies, and conventions that were held and attended by suffragists. The songs, written for the cause, unified women from varying geographic and socioeconomic positions because the empowering lyrics were set to widely known tunes. Singing was expected from women, whereas political speaking was discouraged, which meant the use of music provided women with an outlet to voice their political opinion. Music made a significant impact on women's rights efforts throughout the twentieth century. It also continues to be a medium to remember past suffrage efforts and promote feminism today.

Florence Elizabeth Mary MacAulay (1862–1945) was a British suffragist and part of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In 1909, she wrote the lyrics to The Women's Marseillaise, which was a popular marching song for the WSPU.

Bertha Brewster was a British peace activist and suffragette who achieved fame with her letter to the Editor of The Daily Telegraph in February 1913. She was arrested five times, imprisoned twice and received the Hunger Strike Medal from the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

References

  1. 1 2 "Today in London's musical history: the 'March of the Women' premieres, Albert Hall, 1911". Past Tense. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  2. Crawford, Elizabeth (2 September 2003). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-43401-4.
  3. Pankhurst, Estelle Sylvia (1911). The Suffragette: The History of the Women's Militant Suffrage Movement, 1905-1910. Sturgis & Walton Company. p. 335. ISBN   9780876810873.
  4. Lytton, Constance; Warton, Jane (2010). Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences. Cambridge University Press. p. 65. ISBN   978-1-108-02222-4.
  5. Wood, Elizabeth (1995). "Performing Rights: A Sonography of Women's Suffrage". The Musical Quarterly. 79 (4): 612. doi:10.1093/mq/79.4.606. ISSN   0027-4631. JSTOR   742378.
  6. "Apples are Hurled at Judge by Suffragists". Detroit Free Press. 16 October 1913. p. 14. Retrieved 18 January 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "'Women's Marseillaise' Sung by Suffragettes". The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer. 2 May 1911. p. 8. Retrieved 19 January 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Dakota Suffragists are Proud of Miss Amidon". The Weekly Times-Record. 22 March 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 19 January 2020 via Newspapers.com.