Struggles of city’s suffragettes set to take centre stage in major new exhibition
● Displays will honour 1909 parade participants
Little-seen photographs and artefacts linked to the women and children involved in the suffragette movement in Edinburgh a century ago are to take centre stage in a major exhibition this summer.
Scarves, sashes, placards and banners normally stored in the city’s archives will be going on display at the Museum of Edinburgh in honour of the participants in the 1909 demonstration that brought the city centre to a standstill.
The exhibition, Their Work Will Not Be Forgotten, will have a special focus on the story of nine-year-old Bessie Watson, who played the bagpipes as she marched along Princes Street wearing a Votes For Women sash.
She rode on a float beside a woman dressed as Isabella Macduff, one of the leading women involved in Scotland’s Wars of Independence.
The show, which will run for more than four months, is also expected to focus on other high-profile protests staged by women around the city.
These include the case of Maude Edwards, who was convicted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for slashing a portrait of King George V in the Royal Academy in protest at Emmeline Pankhurst’s famous arrest at Buckingham Palace.
A suffrage campaigner was thought to be behind the stillunresolved bomb attack on the Royal Observatory, in Edinburgh, which only employed men at the time of the attack in Police recovered a “ladies handbag of the kind used for shopping” at the scene. Also recovered was a note which read: “How beggarly appears argument before defiant deed. Votes for women.”
Also featured will be Ethel Moorhead, who became the first suffragette to be forcefed in Scotland when she was imprisoned at Calton Jail in Edinburgh.
The exhibition will also explore the evolution of social and political protests in Edinburgh and the part played by women in them.
Organisers want to include the voices of modern-day young women in the show, which will be launched at the Museum of Edinburgh on the Royal Mile just days before thousands of women and girls are expected to parade through the capital to commemorate the 100th anniver- sary of women winning the right to vote.
Edinburgh is one of four locations around the UK, along with London, Cardiff and Belfast, to be taking part in the Processions event. Participants will be urged to wear green, white or violet – the suffrage colours – at the four parades on 10 June.
The Museum of Edinburgh will be hosting a special event on 27 April to allow young women to record their views on modern-day protests, women’s rights and the relevance of the suffrage centenary.
Anna Macquarrie, Edinburgh Museums and Galleries history curator, said: “Edinburgh’s place as a centre for political and social action is long-standing and our museum collections reflect this.
“We’re thrilled to be display1913. important objects from the suffrage movement in Edinburgh as well as objects from recent political demonstrations held in the city.
“This exhibition offers an opportunity to reflect on the significant role that women have played at the heart of Edinburgh’s social and political action for over a hundred years.”