Photograph

Processional float taking part on the Women's Right to Serve March, 17th July 1915. The image depicts three women dressed in historic costume beside a banner bearing a large portrait of Earl Kitchener, Secretary of State for War framed by a laurel wreath. This 'great procession of women' was organised by the Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst at the request of Lloyd George, Minister of Munitions to inspire and encourage women to register for 'war work'. The procession, that included land girls and munitions workers carrying patriotic banners formed up on the Victoria Embankment and marched, via Piccadilly, Oxford Street and Regent Street to the Ministry of Munitions in Whitehall Gardens where the women were addressed by Lloyd George who outlined future plans for female war work. The march was preceded by a ' Pageant of the Allies' comprising women dressed in the national costume of Russia, Poland, France, Belgium and Italy accompanied by representatives of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the colonies. Along the route were 50 tables where women could register for war-work. Despite the heavy rain the procession attracted mass crowds of spectators and up to 50,000 participants.