The Suffragettes fought a long and often bloody battle to see women given the right to vote.
1897: The movement officially took off when Millicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women’s Suffrage.
1903: Emmeline Pankhurst and others, frustrated by the lack of progress, decided more direct action was required and founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) with the motto ‘Deeds not words’.
The more militant arm were known as suffragettes while their previous, more law-abiding sisters, were called suffragists
Emmeline Pankhurst wanted to take more direct action over women’s rights
1905: A turning point for the women was when Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney interrupted a political meeting in Manchester between Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey where they unfurled a banner and shouted at the men.
The pair refused to pay a fine saying they would rather be in prison.
Afterwards, the women became more daring, breaking the law and carrying out public stunts to show they would not back down.
Some Suffragettes began to attack politicians and their properties and the violence against them rocketed. Some abstained from more violent protesting.
In prison the women were force-fed in using painful and heavy handed techniques which left many with long-term health problems.
1912: Four suffragists, including Mary Leigh, attempted to set fire to the Theatre Royal while Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was attending a packed show
1913: Emily Davison was the first Suffragette to lay down her life for the movement as she threw herself under the King’s horse, Anmer, on Derby as it rounded Tattenham Corner.
The protests dipped during the war as women supported their nation at the orders of Ms Pankhurst.
1918: The Representation of the People Act passed on February 6, which allowed women over 30 with certain property qualifications to vote