Funeral of Miss E.W. Davison, the coffin at Victoria

Suffragettes standing guard over the coffin of the Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison at Victoria Station, 14th June 1913. Dressed in white, two of the Suffragettes carry white lilies, the other a flag in the purple, white and green tricolour. It is likely these Suffragettes were Emily's closest comrades in the WSPU.
The issue of a set of commercial postcards to commemorate the funeral of Emily represent the huge public interest in her death.
On 4th June 1913 the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison ran onto the Derby race course in an attempt to stop the King's horse. Seriously injured, she never regained consciousness, and died four days later. Emily's spectacular funeral procession through the streets of London organised by the suffragette leaders was intended to raise Emily to the status of martyr. The procession began at Victoria Station where Emily's body had arrived from Epsom and travelled via Piccadilly to a memorial service at St George's Bloomsbury and then onwards to Kings Cross Station. From here here Emily's coffin travelled by train to Morpeth in Northumberland, Emily's family home and a private funeral.
Suffragettes taking part in the procession were required to wear either white, purple, scarlet or black according to their role and position in the procession. As white succeeded purple and scarlet black the the resulting spectacular effect resembled, as noted the Manchester Guardian, 'the long unfurling of a military banner'.