On the 1st of March 1912 about 150 women simultaneously smashed the windows of shops in London's West End. This was the first day of the Suffragette's protest of Deeds Not Words. The Suffragette's wanted to show people that the government cared more about broken windows than they did about women and their lives. 'The argument of the broken pane of glass’, Mrs Pankhurst told members of the WSPU, ‘is the most valuable argument in modern politics.’ If property was the government’s responsibility then property was a target.
126 women were bought to trial for smashing windows and for many of the women it was their first offence. The prison sentences ranged from 14 days to 6 months and 76 of the women were given hard labour for their crime.
I have included this picture of the aftermath at Swan and Edgar as is is possible my great grandfather was working there at the time as I know he was definitely working there in 1914. I wonder what he would have thought about the Suffragette's protest? He married a strong independent woman, so hopefully he would have been supportive!
Now, this block was very fiddly. Each of the triangles was cut from a 4.83cm square which made the final triangle squares only 3.33cm wide and high!
The fussy cut block in the centre was much easier and I am very please with how this centre square looks.
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