The campaign, led by key WSPU figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst, targeted infrastructure, government, churches and the general public, and saw the use of improvised explosive devices, arson, letter bombs, assassination attempts and other forms of direct action and violence.

[2] Other militant suffragette groups were active: the Women's Freedom League attacked ballot boxes at the 1909 Bermondsey by-election with acid, blinding the returning officer in one eye and causing severe burns to the Liberal agent's neck.

[2] A canister of gunpowder was left close to the stage and petrol and lit matches were thrown into the projection booth which contained highly combustible film reels.

[2] Earlier in the day, Mary Leigh hurled a hatchet towards Asquith, which narrowly missed him and instead cut the Irish MP John Redmond on the ear.

[15][16] On 29 November, a bystander was assaulted with a whip at Aberdeen railway station by Emily Davison, as she believed the man was politician David Lloyd George in disguise.

[19] In November 1912, a car thought to be carrying the Prime Minister Lloyd-George was attacked by a woman jumping on the running board and hitting the window with a stone.

[23] The independent press also began to publish weekly round-ups of the attacks, with some newspapers such as the Gloucester Journal and Liverpool Echo running dedicated columns on the latest "outrages".

[5] A "Franchise Bill" was proposed to the House of Commons in the winter session of 1912–13, and it was drafted to allow a series of amendments which, if passed, would have introduced women's suffrage.

[5] The subsequent campaign was directed and in some cases orchestrated by the WSPU leadership, and was specifically designed to terrorise the government and the general public to change their opinions on women's suffrage under threat of acts of violence.

[26] In the following weeks, further attacks on letters and mailboxes occurred in cities such as Coventry, London, Edinburgh, Northampton, and York,[26] and in Aberdeen, thick black ink was used to obliterate addresses in postal boxes.

[7] The explosion occurred shortly before the arrival of workmen at the house, and the crude nature of the timer – a candle – meant that the likelihood of the bomb exploding while the men were present was high.

[34] Although more sophisticated explosive devices were used by suffragettes, inspiration was taken from this campaign's tactic of targeting symbolic locations, such as the Bank of England and St Paul's Cathedral.

[39] And some politician's private gardens were vandalised with plants pulled out or grass burned with acid and slogan 'Votes for Women' left, including at the home of Aberdeen's Lord Provost, Adam Maitland.

On 3 April, a bomb exploded next to a passing train in Manchester, nearly killing the driver when flying debris grazed him and narrowly missed his head.

[55] Meanwhile, suffragette action continued to cause injury to postal workers, with three London postmen being injured after coming into contact with noxious chemicals that had been poured into pillar boxes.

On 10 May, a bomb was discovered in the waiting room at Liverpool Street Station, London, covered with iron nuts and bolts intended to maximise damage to property and cause serious injury to anyone in proximity.

[41] Four days later, another three suffragette bombs were discovered in the third-class carriage of a crowded passenger train arriving from Waterloo at Kingston, made out of nitroglycerine.

[69] In early June 1913, a series of fires purposely started in rural areas in Bradford killed at least two men, as well as several horses.

On 2 June, a suffragette bomb was discovered at the South Eastern District Post Office, London, containing enough nitroglycerine to blow up the entire building and kill the 200 people who worked there.

[22] A potentially serious event was avoided on 18 June when a suffragette bomb narrowly failed to breach the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in Yardley Wood, Birmingham.

One of the first attacks of the year took place on 7 January, when a dynamite bomb was thrown over the wall of the Harewood Army Barracks in Leeds, which was being used for police training at the time.

[31] The violence employed by suffragettes caused angry reactions amongst some members of the general public, with some actions inciting violent responses in return.

A month after the bombing attack on Lloyd George's house in February 1913, a WSPU rally was held in Hyde Park, London, but the meeting quickly degenerated into a riot as members of the public became violent towards the women.

[101] This was not an isolated event, as attacks on individuals' houses often saw angry responses, such as in Doncaster in May 1913 when a 1,000 strong mob descended upon a WSPU meeting after several residential properties were burned down in the area.

[108] These included the use of double agents, covert photo surveillance, public pleas for funding and the use of a secret bomb disposal unit on Duck Island in St James's Park, London.

[114] With the aim of gaining votes for women still unrealised by the outbreak of war in 1914, the WSPU had failed to create the kind of "national crisis" which might have forced the government into concessions.

[2] Bearman has asserted that contemporary opinion overwhelmingly was of the view that WSPU violence had shelved the question of women's suffrage until the organization "came to its senses or had disappeared from the scene".

[135] Arguing that the leadership of the WSPU emphasised that their followers were instructed not to endanger human life, she has asserted that suffragettes cannot be compared to modern-day terrorists.

[27][136] Purvis maintains that those who support the assertion that the suffragettes committed acts of terror "seek to condemn these radical women who were campaigning for their democratic right to the parliamentary vote".

[137] Unknown to many, the first terrorist bomb to explode in Northern Ireland in the twentieth century was not detonated by the IRA but by the suffragettes at Lisburn Cathedral in August 1914.