0:50:50 > 0:50:57.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16I am the court reporter.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22Since 1674, every trial that's been played out between these walls
0:51:22 > 0:51:26at London's Old Bailey Court, every single one,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29has been faithfully recorded by a reporter like me.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32I sat just here.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37I wrote down what was said by whom, and now you, some while later,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40can listen in.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43You can press an ear against these walls
0:51:43 > 0:51:46and hear once again these voices from the past.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Now, here's a case of politics and crime entwined,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58where respectable ladies
0:51:58 > 0:52:02are prepared to do the almost unthinkable
0:52:02 > 0:52:04and defy the law.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06GLASS SMASHES
0:52:11 > 0:52:14It's the year 1912.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17At this moment in time,
0:52:17 > 0:52:21women of this country do not have the right to vote.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25Campaigning to change this fact - the Suffragettes.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30At the head of the Suffragettes is one Emmeline Pankhurst,
0:52:30 > 0:52:33on trial here for the charge of inciting others
0:52:33 > 0:52:35to commit criminal acts.
0:52:35 > 0:52:40On trial, you could say, the bigger picture.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44How far would you go to change the world?
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Pankhurst, Emmeline.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Hereby charged with conspiring with others
0:53:01 > 0:53:03to unlawfully and maliciously damage
0:53:03 > 0:53:07and incite others to unlawfully and maliciously damage
0:53:07 > 0:53:12certain property to wit, glass windows on 54 counts,
0:53:12 > 0:53:16the property of the liege subjects of our Lord, the King.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23Right now, a critical bill is in the hands of the Government.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27It's what all the protesting has been for.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31But just as the Prime Minister was about to sign on the dotted line,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35it looks as though the whole enterprise might be derailed
0:53:35 > 0:53:39and women will be denied the right to vote.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43Denied, as they see it, their political freedom.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Gentlemen, let us be clear.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51The question of women's suffrage is not at issue here.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56Rather, we are to concern ourselves with the question of incitement
0:53:56 > 0:53:58to criminal activity.
0:53:58 > 0:54:04I will show that the defendant gave speeches at public meetings
0:54:04 > 0:54:08with the explicit intent of inciting those attending
0:54:08 > 0:54:13to partake in what was described as militancy.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16I will also show that written materials
0:54:16 > 0:54:20were published and distributed with the express intent
0:54:20 > 0:54:24of recruiting supporters to militancy in general
0:54:24 > 0:54:28and expressly to the protest on the 4th of March
0:54:28 > 0:54:31at which 54 windows were broken.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35I should like to call my first witness,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37Detective Sergeant Frederick Everest.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give
0:54:52 > 0:54:56shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58Detective Sergeant Everest,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01you attended a meeting on October the 26th.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Can you tell us what you heard?
0:55:04 > 0:55:07I took longhand notes of Mrs Pankhurst's speech
0:55:07 > 0:55:11and made a report of the speeches. One extract is as follows.
0:55:11 > 0:55:16"It is becoming clear that the Prime Minister, Mr Herbert Asquith..."
0:55:16 > 0:55:20..Wants to make the bill so all-encompassing,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24so unworkable, that many who now support it would drop it.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29Denying at the last hurdle the right to vote we have been fighting for.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31APPLAUSE
0:55:31 > 0:55:33I understood Mrs Pankhurst to say
0:55:33 > 0:55:38that militancy was not going on at that time, but she said...
0:55:38 > 0:55:42"If Mr Lloyd George, the Home Secretary..."
0:55:42 > 0:55:46..Forced his amendment, militancy would be again started.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51We are watching.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55So, October the 26th, gentlemen,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57what was said at that meeting
0:55:57 > 0:56:00was not a call to action but a "wait and see".
0:56:00 > 0:56:05I will show that by February of the following year,
0:56:05 > 0:56:09the tenor of the defendant's public words had changed.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11Detective Sergeant Everest,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13would you please read an extract
0:56:13 > 0:56:16from the speech the defendant made on February 15th?
0:56:20 > 0:56:24"Great as have been the need on previous occasions..."
0:56:24 > 0:56:27..The need now is greater still.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30APPLAUSE
0:56:30 > 0:56:34The people of China won freedom at the price of blood.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36But the women of England can win freedom
0:56:36 > 0:56:39only at the price of a few panes of glass.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41APPLAUSE
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Since we cannot win freedom by women's ways,
0:56:44 > 0:56:49then I am going out to throw my stone with the rest of you.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:56:52 > 0:56:55I ask, sir, that the whole of the speech be read aloud
0:56:55 > 0:56:58to better appreciate the context.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04"If the Home Secretary continues in his efforts to wreck the bill..."
0:57:04 > 0:57:08..Then we must commit to act by storm.
0:57:08 > 0:57:09APPLAUSE
0:57:09 > 0:57:14But if we undertake this action on a sufficiently large scale
0:57:14 > 0:57:16then victory will be ours.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:57:18 > 0:57:21The militant woman must create a crisis,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25a difficulty from which all concerned are eager to escape.
0:57:25 > 0:57:31Then, and then only, will women become politically free.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:57:39 > 0:57:42May I remind you that the allegation
0:57:42 > 0:57:44is that the accused entered into a conspiracy
0:57:44 > 0:57:48to incite certain persons to commit breaches of the law,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52but how the changes of policy of this or that minister
0:57:52 > 0:57:57has any bearing on the issue now being tried is difficult to see.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00It is part of the defence that these occurrences arose
0:58:00 > 0:58:04because of the breaches of faith of ministers.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08We say, and I believe we are entitled to say,
0:58:08 > 0:58:11the real criminals are not the persons in the dock.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13The persons who are guilty of incitement
0:58:13 > 0:58:16are the ministers of the Government.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20The question we have to answer is only whether Mrs Pankhurst
0:58:20 > 0:58:25did or did not incite others to break the law.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28I shall now show that this incitement was explicit
0:58:28 > 0:58:33in materials written and published by Mrs Pankhurst and her colleagues.
0:58:33 > 0:58:35I would like to call George Eton Hart,
0:58:35 > 0:58:37printer of Clement's Press, Portugal Street.
0:58:42 > 0:58:47Mr Hart, please tell the court your engagement with the Suffragettes.
0:58:47 > 0:58:52My firm has for some time printed the publication Votes For Women.
0:58:52 > 0:58:55About 30,000 copies of which we printed weekly.
0:58:55 > 0:59:00On March the 4th, I saw the proof of an article titled Broken Windows
0:59:00 > 0:59:03in this publication, and I declined to print it.
0:59:03 > 0:59:07And your reasons for declining to print this article?
0:59:07 > 0:59:11We declined to print the following...
0:59:11 > 0:59:15"Democracy has never been a menace to property.
0:59:15 > 0:59:19"I will tell you what has been a menace to property,
0:59:19 > 0:59:23"when power was withheld, when they had no voice in the government.
0:59:23 > 0:59:28"When they had no means of securing redress, except by violence.
0:59:28 > 0:59:33"Then property has many times been swept away."
0:59:33 > 0:59:35In that same paper, gentlemen,
0:59:35 > 0:59:40a paragraph headed, Be Prepared For Action, A Call To Arms.
0:59:40 > 0:59:42"On Tuesday next at 7.30pm,
0:59:42 > 0:59:44"the Caxton Hall will be crowded with women
0:59:44 > 0:59:49"who will assemble for the sole purpose of resolving upon such action
0:59:49 > 0:59:51"whether militant or otherwise,
0:59:51 > 0:59:55"as the Prime Minister's statement may render necessary."
0:59:55 > 0:59:59Is that not explicitly an invitation and an incitement
0:59:59 > 1:00:02to participate in militant action?
1:00:02 > 1:00:04Its intent is perfectly clear.
1:00:05 > 1:00:08So this is what happened next.
1:00:08 > 1:00:12The Prime Minister made his choice, did as was feared,
1:00:12 > 1:00:14and quashed the bill.
1:00:14 > 1:00:19All the years of marching in protest had seemed to come to nothing.
1:00:19 > 1:00:26For the Suffragettes, a line is drawn. A stark choice.
1:00:26 > 1:00:31Do nothing, or do something more extreme.
1:00:31 > 1:00:36I do not think these ladies are of a mind for backing down.
1:00:40 > 1:00:43So, thus equipped, on March the 4th,
1:00:43 > 1:00:45the Women's Social And Political Union
1:00:45 > 1:00:50gathered members at the pavilion to decide upon militant action.
1:00:50 > 1:00:54I shall call Police Constable Thomas Whitbread, who attended this meeting.
1:01:02 > 1:01:07Constable Whitbread, can you tell us what you saw at the meeting?
1:01:07 > 1:01:10There was some 900 attended the meeting.
1:01:10 > 1:01:13- ..Politically free. - APPLAUSE
1:01:15 > 1:01:20In the early evening, the women left in small groups.
1:01:20 > 1:01:23Several officers were instructed to follow.
1:01:23 > 1:01:26I followed two who went to Whitehall
1:01:26 > 1:01:30and there broke two windows at the War Office.
1:01:30 > 1:01:32GLASS SMASHES
1:01:34 > 1:01:39Mrs Pankhurst, do you have anything you wish to say to this court?
1:01:39 > 1:01:43I submit that there is a higher law.
1:01:43 > 1:01:45We stand here in this dock,
1:01:45 > 1:01:49defending ourselves against a charge which may mean
1:01:49 > 1:01:51long terms of imprisonment.
1:01:51 > 1:01:55Let them give us seven years penal servitude, if they like,
1:01:55 > 1:01:57but they shan't give it us for nothing.
1:01:57 > 1:02:03We shall do our bit, even if it is burning down a palace.
1:02:03 > 1:02:05LAUGHTER
1:02:05 > 1:02:09Then we shall go into prison and leave the others to join us.
1:02:09 > 1:02:11One by one.
1:02:11 > 1:02:14Are you, Mrs Pankhurst, calling any witnesses?
1:02:14 > 1:02:19I am not able to call the only witnesses I should desire to call.
1:02:19 > 1:02:23They are the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary.
1:02:23 > 1:02:25THEY MURMUR
1:02:25 > 1:02:31To the ministers who I say incited us to throw our stones.
1:02:31 > 1:02:34To them, I say this.
1:02:34 > 1:02:38Beware how you incite us to do worse.
1:02:41 > 1:02:46I should like to call Miss Ethel Smyth.
1:02:46 > 1:02:48I'm a doctor of music.
1:02:48 > 1:02:51I was present at the meeting and I heard your speech.
1:02:51 > 1:02:55I was not incited by what I heard to play the part I played.
1:02:55 > 1:02:56Before I heard your speech,
1:02:56 > 1:03:00I had already made up my mind to make some sort of protest.
1:03:00 > 1:03:03I wrote and said, "I am coming."
1:03:05 > 1:03:07Miss Lilian Ball.
1:03:07 > 1:03:09I'm a dressmaker from Tooting.
1:03:09 > 1:03:12Of my own accord, I took up a hammer,
1:03:12 > 1:03:17on which was written, "Better broken windows than broken promises".
1:03:17 > 1:03:19I put the hammer up my sleeve.
1:03:19 > 1:03:23I broke a window of the United Service Museum.
1:03:23 > 1:03:25Miss Henrietta Wilson.
1:03:25 > 1:03:28I did not see how any self-respecting woman
1:03:28 > 1:03:29could stay at home.
1:03:29 > 1:03:33I broke two windows at the Gardenia restaurant.
1:03:33 > 1:03:35GLASS SMASHES
1:03:35 > 1:03:38No further questions.
1:03:38 > 1:03:44Gentlemen, it now falls to you to make your decision.
1:03:44 > 1:03:46May I remind you that at issue here
1:03:46 > 1:03:49is the question of whether the defendant is guilty
1:03:49 > 1:03:52of the charge of incitement to criminal acts.
1:03:57 > 1:04:00So now they make up their minds.
1:04:00 > 1:04:0212 men to pass judgement
1:04:02 > 1:04:06on a woman who seeks to change the balance of power.
1:04:06 > 1:04:08To shake the dust off them, you might say.
1:04:08 > 1:04:13To put a cat amongst the pigeons.
1:04:13 > 1:04:15Whatever they decide,
1:04:15 > 1:04:18there's no denying that these Suffragettes
1:04:18 > 1:04:21are not about to give up their fight.
1:04:29 > 1:04:33Have you reached your verdict?
1:04:33 > 1:04:36On the charge of conspiring together with others
1:04:36 > 1:04:39to unlawfully and maliciously damage,
1:04:39 > 1:04:44and incite others to unlawfully and maliciously damage certain property,
1:04:44 > 1:04:48we find the defendant, E Pankhurst, guilty.
1:04:50 > 1:04:52Emmeline Pankhurst,
1:04:52 > 1:04:55I hereby sentence you to nine months' imprisonment.
1:05:01 > 1:05:08Well, another day, another historic trial. A window on the wider world.
1:05:08 > 1:05:12A moment captured in the tides of time.
1:05:12 > 1:05:14And all was faithfully recorded.
1:05:18 > 1:05:23I must tell you, there will be six more years of fighting
1:05:23 > 1:05:29before finally women win political freedom and the right to vote.
1:05:55 > 1:06:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd