textsfromsolarpunk

This reminds me of a while back, when I learned that Mary Molony, an Irish Suffragette, went to a speech by Winston Churchill and rang a bell every time he tried to talk, leading to the cancelling of the event. The place I read it didn't give sources, so I went digging for verification before I shared it.

It took a while, because variants of this story have been shared for a while, and something that became apparent was how hated Suffragettes were in their time; people were pissed at Mary Molony for spoiling their opportunity to hear a great orator like Churchill speak.

The ambient level of vitriol surprised me because whilst I knew the Suffragettes were unpopular because they were trying to change the system, I had grown up hearing names like Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison in a positive manner from my mum (who wasn't well educated). Realising this drastically reshaped how I viewed the purpose of protest; before, I might have been more likely to argue along the "winning hearts and minds" angle, but now I'm on board with what the OP says.

(Some original sauce for the Mary Molony thing, because it's great and to not include it when I've mentioned it would be rude)

Photo of the newspaper headline

Newspaper text found beneath the photograph

A SPEECH SPOILED: MISS MOLONY’S SUCCESSFUL INTERRUPTION OF THE LIBERAL CANDIDATE.

On Monday, when Mr. Churchill was addressing a meeting of workmen during dinner-time at a large factory, Miss Molony, an Irish Suffragist, appeared on the scene in a carriage, and began to drown the speaker’s voice with a hand-bell. She declared that the Liberal candidate should not address an open-air meeting in Dundee until he had apologised for some recent remarks about women politicians. For some time Mr. Churchill struggled good-humouredly against the bell, but at last he gave up the effort in despair, saying, “If she thinks that is a reasonable argument she may use it. I don’t care. I bid you good afternoon.”