Organized by Emmeline Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union, the march took place four days after Black Friday, a suffragette protest outside the House of Commons that saw the women violently attacked by police.

[1] Taking place in the context of the debate over the Conciliation Bill 1910 (giving a limited number of women the vote according to property and marital status), the march was a direct response to a statement by the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith that: "The Government will, if they are still in power, give facilities in the next Parliament for effectively proceeding with a Bill which is framed so as to admit of free amendment", which suggested that the bill would have no chance of being passed.

"[3] Around 200 women marched on Downing Street, smashing windows at the Colonial Office and Home Office, and on Asquith's car;[4] Emmeline Pankhurst and her sister, Mary Clarke, were arrested, along with another 157 women and three men.

[5] About 20 women approached 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence, from the back and swarmed around Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland.

[6] Birrell did not seek a prosecution; he wrote to the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, on 21 February 1911: "[L]et the matter drop but keep your eye on the hags in question.