ABSTRACT
Emmeline Pankhurst believed in leading by example. In 1911, on a secluded part of Hook Heath in Surrey, in the south-east of England, she had her first lesson in window breaking. As she practised throwing stones at a large fir tree, the ‘first stone flew backwards out of her hand’, narrowly missing Ethel Smyth's dog. 1 Only on her third attempt did she manage to hit her target, so it is not surprising to learn that, when she later tried to break the windows of 10 Downing Street, she missed. Emmeline may have coined the phrase, and gained her reputation for, ‘Deeds not Words’ yet, even at the height of militancy, she continued to advocate and practise peaceful methods alongside violent. In 1910 Votes for Women outlined three main categories of work: educational (i.e. holding meetings and publishing newspapers and other literature), organisational (i.e. organising a network of regional and metropolitan groups) and militant action. 2 Nonetheless, as time went on, militancy took on an increasingly aggressive and physically destructive form and gradually superseded the other two categories.
