ABSTRACT
Since both Balfour and Asquith had asked for proof that there was widespread demand from women for the vote, Christabel announced at the beginning of the New Year ‘a comprehensive campaign’ that would prove that very point. Although large meetings that enlisted the support of the public were to be a key feature of Women’s Social and Political Union activity in 1908, the year began for Christabel with the usual round of much smaller local meetings, including speaking twice to Jewish associations in Manchester. Meanwhile, Christabel found that her brother Harry had suddenly arrived in London. The building firm where he worked was in financial difficulties and so he had travelled to the metropolis, to stay with Sylvia. A decision about his future was delayed until their mother returned to London. At a Caxton Hall meeting later that day, a defiant Christabel announced that she could find twelve women or more, even a hundred, to test this Act.
