Protest in the 20th century

In 1913 one of the most prominent suffragist actions occurred: a five-week, nationwide Women’s Suffrage Pilgrimage. This was instigated by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), non-militant suffrage campaigners.

The Pilgrimage began on 18 June with six main marching routes to London, from Carlisle and Newcastle to Lands’ End and Portsmouth. Along the way, campaigners held local meetings to promote the cause.

The Pilgrimage concluded on 26 July 1913, when 50,000 suffragists converged on Hyde Park for a rally calling for votes for women. It succeeded in persuading Prime Minister Herbert Asquith to receive a women’s suffrage deputation. However, no immediate change in government policy followed.

Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, was a passionate advocate for women’s rights, a socialist and an anti-fascist campaigner. She was arrested multiple times for her suffrage activism.

By 1909, suffragettes were using hunger strikes as a political tactic. In 1913 Sylvia was imprisoned for malicious damage and went on hunger strike. In this petition to the Home Office, she described the symptoms she faced from the subsequent force feeding, from extreme insomnia to nervous symptoms.

Over time Sylvia started to disagree with her mothers’ authoritarian and militant methods in the Women’s Social and Political Union. Sylvia set up her own organisation, the East London Federation of Suffragettes, to mobilise working class women in the East End.

By 1914 frustrations had peaked in the suffrage movement, as the government refused to progress the issue of votes for women. Militant action increased, from the smashing of windows to arson attacks.

Surveillance photographs were taken during suffragettes’ prison stays to keep a watch on those suspected of future militant activities. These were then circulated to prominent attractions, likely in response to the suffragette attack on the National Gallery’s ‘Rokeby Venus’.

This selection of photographs was sent to the Wallace Collection. Amongst those depicted is Olive Hockin, who was believed to have been involved in arson attacks on both Roehampton Golf Club and Walton Heath, where (then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and future Prime Minister) David Lloyd George owned a house.

The League of Coloured Peoples was one of the most active British organisations to focus on race relations in the interwar period. Founded by Jamaican-born Dr Harold Moody in 1931, they fought against the colour prejudice and discrimination that was commonplace at the time.

One of the central issues the League campaigned against was the colour bar, a social system in which Black people were denied the same rights as white people, affecting many aspects of their lives, including job and accommodation opportunities.

The organisation was moderate in approach, often working with, not against, the Colonial Office. Our collection contains many instances of the League writing into government and advocating for Black people in Britain or across the colonies. This letter is one such example written by Dr Moody, and concerns the welfare of the children of white women and Black American servicemen.

In 1957 the Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (known as the Wolfenden Report) was published. It recommended decriminalising consensual homosexual acts between two men over the age of 21 in private. This galvanised campaigns for LGBTQ+ equality.

Between 1957 and 1967, various organisations put pressure on the government to effect changes in the law, including The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and the Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS).

In this letter to the Home Office the HLRS argue that four years had passed since the Wolfenden Report’s recommendations, but that the law had not changed, and ‘demoralisation and cynicism’ were growing among gay men.

The Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS) was founded to campaign for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It was particularly active between 1965 and 1967, when the Sexual Offences Bill was passing through the Houses of Parliament.

The HLRS relied strongly on heterosexual allies to help change the law. It was very different from activist groups after 1967: while the law essentially criminalised homosexuality it was difficult for individuals to be ‘out’ and campaigning. This HLRS petition was signed by 500 people representing many areas of society, from the church to university professionals.

The Sexual Offences Act finally received royal assent on 27 July 1967, after an intense late-night debate. While this reform was limited, it was a huge step towards LGBTQ+ equality.

The Grunwick strike was a powerful moment in history that saw the labour movement, women and migrant workers unite. At the heart of the strike was a dispute about trade union recognition and unfair working conditions at Grunwick Film Processing Laboratory in Willesden.

The striking staff were led by Jayaben Desai and dubbed the ‘strikers in saris’ by the press. This ultimately led to a two-year strike between 1976 and 1978, capturing mass public attention. At times thousands of people joined the picket lines.

The National Archives hold many related records including some strike bulletins written by the campaigners themselves, updating workers and allies on their protests and calling them to action.

The Mangrove Nine – as they were called by the press – were a group of Black activists who were arrested and put on trial after protesting against police discrimination. The name comes from The Mangrove, a Trinidadian Restaurant in Notting Hill that was repeatedly raided by the police between 1969 and 1970.

During their three-month trial, the defendants and their supporters used the courtroom, media attention and pamphlets such as this as a platform to critique the racism of the police. All nine activists were eventually acquitted of the most serious charges.

Described as the ‘Brixton riots’ by some, and ‘Brixton uprisings’ by others, these events were a series of clashes between the metropolitan police and multiracial groups of mainly young people in Brixton, South London, between 10 and 12 April, 1981.

This photograph was included in what was popularly known as ‘The Scarman Report’, the government-commissioned report into the disturbances.

The Bradford 12 were a group of Asian anti-racist campaigners who were arrested in 1981.

At the time the number of racist attacks was rising, and there had been a rumour of a march by British fascists in Bradford. The men went to meet the march to defend their community, taking with them homemade petrol bombs. In the end the fascist march never happened, and the petrol bombs went unused.

The Bradford 12 were arrested, and the trial that followed centred around the premise of self-defence. Our collections contain a campaign leaflet seized by the Home Office, who were concerned about an associated protest outside Leeds Crown Court.

In a landmark trial, the Bradford 12 were eventually acquitted.