Fifth Annual Report of the WSPU The Woman's Press 1911 Suffragettes

WOMEN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION (WSPU). Fifth Annual Report. London: The Woman's Press, 1911.
 
Octavo. 58pp. including wrappers. Original printed wrappers in purple, with the WSPU roundel printed in purple, white and green to the upper cover. Very good. The original staples have perished and the pages now sit loose within the wrappers, but the contents are complete and otherwise particularly well preserved. A few marks and spots to the upper edge of the wrappers, with only minor handling wear elsewhere. 
 
The fifth annual report of the Women's Social and Political Union, covering the year to 28 February 1911 and providing a detailed account of the organisation. The report includes the WSPU cash statement and subscription lists, accounts of the Woman's Press, details of propaganda work, premises and staff, publications, branch organisation, membership pledge and a form of bequest to the Union. The subscription lists include Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst and Sylvia Pankhurst, while the accounts record expenditure on salaries, printing and stationery, travelling, processions, publicity and prisoners' hospitality.
 
Of particular interest is a remarkable entry for Emily Wilding Davison: "Davison, Miss E. W., hose-pipe damages 2 0 0". Davison had successfully sued following the notorious 1909 incident at Strangeways Prison, when a hose was turned into her barricaded cell during her resistance to forcible feeding, and was awarded forty shillings damages. The £2 recorded here corresponds exactly to that award, strongly suggesting that Davison donated the entirety of her damages to the WSPU.
 
A primary source for the organisation, finances, propaganda and publishing activities of the WSPU at the height of its campaign.