Suffragette

The centenary of the Women’s Suffrage and Political Union has brought a resurgence of interest in the suffragette movement which this volume, in the ‘My Story’ series, brings to the modern young reader. Purporting to be the diary of working-class Dollie Baxter, who has been befriended by a wealthy benefactress, it charts her growing involvement in the movement from 1909-1913. She meets the Pankhursts, distributes leaflets, is imprisoned and (graphically) force-fed, finally witnessing Emily Davison’s death in 1913. She also tries to alleviate the hardship of her sick mother’s life.

The tale echoes Marjorie Darke’s A Question of Courage (BfK No. 138) which similarly illustrates the class-inclusiveness of the sisterhood and the opportunity political involvement gave women to break down educational and economic barriers for the first time. The diary style allows for a speedy telling of the narrative, with historical detail and a bit of name-dropping in an easy-to-read form. This makes it less engaging than Darke’s book, and less of a call to arms for the present generation, though an adequate introduction to the subject.