Sunday, February 6, 2011

West Ham WSPU banner

Hat tip to Col Roi for this picture of the banner of West Ham "Women's Social and Political Union" WSPU.

Does anyone have any further information about this branch?

I have found this link to a West Ham Branch of the East London Federation of the Suffragettes (ELFS).  Which split from the WSPU in 1914.

I found this fascinating quote here about East London in the First World War. "The worst outbursts of anti German feeling came after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. West Ham alone suffered £100,000 of damage after rioting. Suspected Germans were beaten up and their premises looted. The ELFS centres were used as refuges by those caught in the violence".