Votes for Women newspaper "Victory" by Frederick and Emmerline Pethick Lawrence

PETHICK-LAWRENCE, Frederick and Emmeline. Votes for Women. Vol. III (New Series), No. 122. Friday, 8 July 1910. London: Votes for Women, 4, Clement's Inn, Strand, 1910.

Original newspaper issue. 16 pp., numbered 661-676, including the front page. Illustrated with a large front-page cartoon and a map showing procession routes to Hyde Park. A tear and a couple of small nicks midway along the outer edge and a couple of tiny nicks to the upper edge; toning towards the outer margins. Otherwise very good.

A striking issue of the Women's Social and Political Union's newspaper, with a large front-page cartoon by Alfred Pearse, signed with his pseudonym "A Patriot". A sailing ship bearing the name "Victory" approaches the shore, where a crowd of women wave in welcome beneath a W.S.P.U. banner. The image expresses the movement's expectation of approaching success as the Woman Suffrage Bill awaited its second reading, scheduled for 11 and 12 July.

The contents include parliamentary reporting under "The Woman Suffrage Bill" and Christabel Pankhurst's article "The Bill Must Go Through", urging supporters to secure the measure's passage through its remaining stages. A substantial illustrated notice headed "To Hyde Park!" sets out arrangements for the suffrage demonstration planned for 23 July, including the routes of two processions, forty speaking platforms and a Prisoners' Pageant of more than 600 women representing those imprisoned for the cause. A striking edition of the newspaper, leading up to the Suffrage Bill that gained support in the commons but was then stalled by the Asquith Government, causing further acrimony with the WSPU supporters.