Charlotte Marsh, Colour Bearer

The image depicts Charlotte Marsh, a key member of the Women's Social and Political Union posing for the photographer Christina Broom. She stand self-confidently before a male crowd assembled in Hyde Park. The event depicted was the rally of 18th June 1910 organised by the WSPU to encourage Members of Parliament to vote in favour of the Conciliation Bill being debated in Parliament. The bill, if passed, would have given a small number of women the right to vote in general elections. Charlotte Marsh formerly appointed Colour Bearer for the event marched at the head of the procession carrying 'the great silk standard of the WSPU.' On her chest she bears her hunger-strike medal recently issued after she had endured three months forcible feeding in prison.

The Suffragette Organiser Charlotte Marsh, (1887-1961) joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1907. She did not, however, become active in the movement until 1908 when she finished her training as a sanitary inspector. During her first WSPU deputation to Parliament Square in June 1908 Charlotte was arrested for obstruction and imprisoned in Holloway prison for one month. The following year she was appointed a salaried WSPU Organiser in Yorkshire. Whilst in prison in 1909 for heckling Asquith Charlotte became one of the first hunger-striking suffragettes to be forcibly fed. In 1910 Charlotte became a salaried WSPU Organiser in Oxford and subsequently Portsmouth and Nottingham. As well as working as a full time paid regional organiser Charlotte also continued to undertake miiltant acts. For smashing nine windows in the Strand in March 1912 she ws sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. During World War I Charlotte worked as a motor mechanic, chauffeur to Lloyd George and as a land girl whilst continuing her committments to the suffrage cause as honorary secretary of the Independent WSPU.

Suffragette rallies and demonstrations attracted a mixed crowd comprising both male and female supporters, spectators, the curious and those who just happened to be passing by. Lone female suffragettes living in a male-dominated society often placed themselves in vulnerable positions. Their courage and determination is even more striking when viewed, as here, against the backdrop of large crowds of men, not always sympathetic to the cause.

The photographer Christina Broom was present at a number of Votes for Women rallies and processions between 1908 and 1910. She photographed events organised by both the militant WSPU and non-militant NUWSS. A number of the Broom images depict campaigners posing for the camera suggesting compliance and acceptance amongst the women of her photography of their highly choreographed public events. Broom printed her negatives as postcards, the sale of which likely financially benefited both herself and the suffrage organisations.