 Let me start by saying that.. my name is Alison Mc Season, I am the Labour Member of Parliament for Wyrrwr South in my capacity as the Member- of the Parliament's Works of Art' committee that advises the Speaker. So can I just begin by welcoming everybody to Parliament on behalf of the Speaker's advisory committee on Works of Art, thank you so much for coming ac rwy'n cael ei fodwch ar yr oedd ein dweud y teimlo ond mae'r ysgol o'r event efallai yn ymgyrchol. Felly, mae'r ysgol yn y gweithio, mae'r ysgol yn y cwmhau a'r gael, mae'r ysgol yn y dyfodol fod yn y dyfodol, sy'n ddim yn cwestiynau bod ychydig bod y pwrdd yn cwestiynau gwirionedd, mae'n gweithio, a'r cyflwyno'r gwych, a'r cyflwyno'r gweithio. In the unlikely event of a fire, there will be a voice alarm, and staff will show you the nearest exit. On this day 100 years ago, Emily Wilding Davison undertock her protest at the Derby, the result of which was that she collided with the king's horse and was fatally injured. She never regained consciousness and died four days later. Y cwmysgol yma gweithio'n gwych ar gyfer y maen nhw'n gweithio'r cyffredinol yng Nghymru, ac o'n gweithio'n gweithio'r gwybodaeth yr hyn yng Nghymru o'r gweithio'r gwybodaeth ac o'r gwybodaeth yr hyn yng nghymru o'r gwybodaeth. Yna yw'r ffordd i'r ffordd o'r amlun o'r Gweithio. I just want to add that I personally feel that it's amazing to wonder at what those who will hear about this evening might have thought about us here standing here today, and as I gaze around at the many women parliamentarians and women who give their time to parliament in other ways, I cannot imagine what they would say to us in this room. I do know that what we achieve, we do so because we stand on the platform that they built for us, and for that we are truly grateful. Emily Wilding Davison was a regular visitor and protester at parliament. She is best known for her overnight stay in the Chapel Broomcobart on census night in 1911, but that was only one of a number of protests. The parliamentary archives hold police reports of five further incidents which mention her. She hid in a ventilation shaft, broke a window in the crown office, threw a hammer through a division lobby window, and was once discovered on a staircase near the Commons Chamber in the middle of the night. Emily and the other suffragette protesters presented the palace authorities with many challenges. As they are today, the sergeant at arms and the metropolitan police were responsible for enabling parliament to sit securely and undisturbed. There has been much written on the policing of suffragettes, but very little has been written about how this was dealt with inside the building. Police were not used to dealing with respectable, well-dressed middle-class women who suddenly stood up and shouted protest, chained themselves to statues, and so on. The two men responsible were Sir David Erskine, the sergeant at arms, and Chief Inspector Scantelbury of the Metropolitan Police. The parliamentary archives holds a file which includes more than 50 police reports about suffrage incidents in the building, mostly by Inspector Scantelbury reporting on events to the sergeant at arms. I am delighted, therefore, to introduce you to their modern counterparts Lawrence Ward, the current sergeant at arms, and Inspector Richford. One of six police inspectors working on the parliamentary estate. Andy and Lawrence are going to read out some of the archive documents written and received by their predecessors for us. Good evening everybody. I'm delighted to have been invited to take part in this reception marking the centenary of Emily Wilding Davison's death. I'm a police inspector working here in the 21st century. I'm going to read you all a couple of extracts from official police records made here when Emily was at the height of her suffragette activities 100 years ago. I must say it struck me when I first read the reports that despite the passage of 100 years, the security challenges facing the house authorities and the police remained strikingly similar today. The first report was made by Palace of Westminster police inspector Scantelbury on 11 February 1908 and he wrote, suffragettes visit, I beg to report that at 4 p.m. on the 11th two large pan-technican vans drove up to St Stephen's entrance and slowed down when a large number of women commenced to jump out of the vans making a determined rush for the entrance. I ordered the doors to be closed and sent for and turned out the reserves and many arrests were made by the police on duty outside. Only two, Viz, Mrs Domet and Singer were allowed in as they desired to be to present a petition to Sir H Campbell Bannerman. They were seen by his private secretary and he refused to entertain it and they both left the building in an orderly manner. The latter woman was also seen by Mr R MacDonald MP, all passed off correct inside, signed C Scantelbury inspector. The second extract is from a report made by the same officer on the 24th of June 1910. Only he was by now chief inspector Scantelbury. Clearly 100 years ago promotion could be achieved even when things were not going very well professionally, if only it were the same today. And chief inspector Scantelbury wrote, excuse me, I have today received the following report from PC Abili. At 8 p.m. I was on duty at the Chancellor's Gate entrance to the House of Lords when the prisoner who I later identified as Emily Wilding-Davidson came to me and said, I have broken two windows along there at the same pointing to the crown office, House of Lords. I took her to the spot indicated where I saw two small panes of glass broken and a quantity of broken glass and chalk scattered about the footway. I said to her, of these the windows? She replied, yes. I asked her why she did it, she said for certain reasons. I then took her into custody and brought her to Cannon Row station where she was charged. Inside the room was found two pieces of chalk with labels attached bearing the following written in ink. On the first, to Mr Asquith, give four facilities for the new bill for women's suffrage signed E.W. Davison. On the second, to Mr Asquith, intelligent womanhood will take this insult, be wise, signed E.W. Davison. A third label which had become detached from the chalk was also found in the room on which was the following to Mr Asquith, be wise in time, women will not be trifled with, signed E.W. Davison. Finally, a short transcript of a letter from Chief Inspector Scantlebury to Sir David Erskine, the Sergeant at Arms, on the 23rd of June. Sir, that suffragette found in the air shaft some time ago has broke some windows in the crown office old palace yard and has been taken to Cannon Row to be charged. I would like to hand over to the new Sergeant at Arms, the current, the 21st century. Well thank you very much indeed Scantlebury, Chief Inspector of Police. If I can just say to start with that it's an absolute honour, a privilege to be here 100 years on. Still wearing the same uniform, I don't know where the slide's gone of my predecessor, but also just to note that my predecessor, Jules Pay, was a Sergeant at Arms and was a woman. So progress indeed, I hope, and is a woman. My good man, thank you very much indeed. So this is the transcript of a letter from Speaker Lelther to me Sir David Erskine. Dear Erskine, a lady who breaks the windows of the crown office and gets into our ventilating shaft is evidently not a desirable personage to have hanging about St Stephen's Hall. So her name had better go on the index Experjaceous. Your sincerely James W. Lelther. Right, I'd better script a letter to Scantlebury. So dear Chief Inspector of Police, 24th June 1910, Miss Emily Davidson is not to be admitted in future within the precincts of the House of Commons, Sergeant at Arms. What a proud record. That was brilliant. Thank you Andy and Lawrence for those readings, which really did convey the richness of the parliamentary archives resources on this subject and do speak to the archivists who are here tonight. If you want to find out more about their holdings, I just found out that there's three million items in the parliamentary archives, which I didn't know. There is currently a display of original parliamentary archives documents relating to Emily in the Royal Gallery, which is in the House of Lords, including the letter from the Speaker. The exhibition is available to visitors taking public tours. Next, I am very pleased to introduce Elizabeth Crawford. Elizabeth is a suffrage historian known, I'm sure, to many of you. Her latest research has been on the life of a suffragist, Kate Parry Frye, who was also interestingly the daughter of a member of parliament. Kate Parry Frye left extensive diaries and Elizabeth has recently published an edited volume of her diaries relating to her suffrage work. This includes an account of Kate's preparation and attendance of Emily Wild in Davidson's funeral procession through London, which Elizabeth is going to read for us now. Elizabeth, she's there. Yes, Kate Frye's father was elected as MP for North Kensington. He was a radical liberal in 1892 and was admitted at the same time as Keir Hardie. He wasn't perhaps quite as radical as Keir Hardie, but Kate was brought up in a household which was very interested in liberal politics. She was always interested in suffrage from, just as people were from about 1906, when the WSPU came to London, although she had known about the suffragist societies, it was when the suffragettes came everybody got interested. She joined a suffragist society and did a lot of volunteering and organising bulls and fundraising and selling newspapers outside Chansey Lane tube station, all that kind of thing, but then by 1999-1910 her father had lost all his money and she was very pleased to take up paid employment as an organiser for a new small constitutional society about which very little is known called the new constitutional society for women's suffrage, and in her diary, and I've brought the one that's on the table there, a great thick volume that she kept on teen of these volumes and she writes extensively daily. She describes what it was like being an organiser around the country, knocking on doors, trying to get chairman for meetings, putting up with rowdy boys and fireworks, being thrown at all the usual things, but she was very, very keen on the big spectacle. She was outside here standing in Parliament Square on the night of Black Friday as it was called in November 1910, after which Emily Davison threw stones through windows inside the house of Commons, and when she heard that Emily Davison had died, her first thought was to buy a black hat. She was working in Norfolk at the time in Fakernham, so she bought a black hat in Fakernham, got her mother to send her black coat and skirt up to London, rented a room there, and then on Saturday the 14th of June she describes her with her fiance, we got to Victoria, the procession had just started, we saw it splendidly at the start until we were driven away from our position and then couldn't see for the crowds, and then we walked right down Buckingham Palace Road and joined in the procession at the end. It really was most wonderful, the really organised part, groups of women in black with white lilies in white and in purple, and lots of clergymen and special sort of pool bearers each side of the coffin. She gave her life publicly to make known to the public the demand of votes for women, it was only fitting she should be honoured publicly by the comrades, it must have been most imposing. The crowds were thinner in Piccadilly, but the windows were filled, but the people had all tramp north and later on the crowds were tremendous, and oh what a quality filled the windows and pavements in Bloomsbury. The ladies in the kimonos were a nightmare to me, I'll give you a little pause for thought about that. The people who stood watching were mostly reverent and well behaved, we were with the rag tag and bobtail element, but they were very earnest people, it was tiring, sometimes we had long wait, sometimes the pace was tremendous, most of the time we could hear a band playing the funeral march. Near King's Cross the procession lost all semblance of a procession, one crowded process, everyone was moving, we lost our banner, we all got separated and our idea was to get away from the huge crowd of unwashed unhealthy creatures pressing on on all sides. We went down the tubeway, but I didn't feel like a tube and went through to the other side finding ourselves in King's Cross station. Saying we wanted tea, we went on to the platform and there was a train, a special train for the coffin, and finding a seat sank down and we didn't move until the train left. Lots of the processionists were on the train which was taking the body to Northumberland for interment, and another huge procession tomorrow. To think that she had to give her life because men will not listen to the claims of reason and of justice. I was so tired, I felt completely done. We found our way to the refreshment room and there were several of the pool bearers there having tea. So as I say Kate was always there on the big occasion. I think that really explains to us just how powerful and important event her funeral was. It's amazing to think how much people were moved at that time. So thank you Elizabeth for that reading. Ladies and gentlemen, that's there on the end of the formal part of the evening. Please do feel free to look around at all the displays and resources around this room. If there is anybody who hasn't yet signed up for a suffragette tour, there are a few places left so do sign up now. There are tours at 7pm, 7.15pm and 7.30pm, and they last for approximately 20 minutes. Alternatively, in this very excellent leaflet there is a map inside it so you're very welcome to go and investigate the sites yourself. Although I would say as somebody who's spent a lot of time getting lost around Parliament, I would go for the tour. The permanent display on Parliament and Votes for Women, which includes a number of historic items acquired by the works of our committee including two new acquisitions, a WSPU flag and an NUSS badge can be seen on the way to the visitors gallery which is just behind number nine on the booklet map. And of course, please do take the opportunity to go to the visitors gallery and watch the debates in the Chamber as the House of Commons is still sitting and will be for a good while yet so do pop up there. It's fascinating. It is. Finally, I must just say a massive thank you to all those involved this evening. But I really want to say as well that as a member of the works of our committee, I'm sure our brilliant chair, Frank, will bear me out that we have tried very hard to improve the representation of women and also particularly this important issue and it's of great pride to me and I think I can speak for the committee to say that it's a great pride for us to host this evening's event and I sincerely thank you all for coming and making it such a success. But I do want to thank especially our speakers, Lawrence, Andy and Elizabeth, they did brilliantly, I'm sure you'd agree. The Parliament Week team, Parliamentary Outreach, Parliamentary Education Service, the House of Commons Library and Pali Agenda who promote gender inequality in Parliament. Finally, the Parliamentary Archives and the Curator's Office and Mary, Takanya, Yanagi and Melanie Unwin particularly for organising this event, they have done an absolutely phenomenal and brilliant job and would you please help me in thanking them all in the usual way.