WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Souvenir napkin for the "From Prison to Citizenship" procession, 18 June 1910. Commemorative napkin printed with the programme for the WSPU and WFL's procession, one of the earliest marches organized by the suffrage movement. Nearly 15,000 women walked the two-mile route through London in support of the Conciliation Bill, which was being debated in Parliament at the time.Souvenir napkins or "handkerchiefs" were common mementos for large public occasions; "the most spectacular napkins were the souvenir issues of Mrs Burgess of London, who created items for various historical and period events" (Florey, p. 108). Known as "Auntie" in the trade, Sarah Burgess operated from premises in Bishopsgate and, later, off the Strand (as here), advertising herself as a "manufacturer of paper switches, cut tissues, lace paper and shelf trimmings & confetti, and stationer, wholesale and export" (Crawford). The napkin squares were imported from Japan, pre-printed with a decorative border. They were sold for about one penny by street traders lining the route of the event.Other suffrage events that Burgess produced souvenir napkins for include the march to the House of Commons on 29 June 1909, the Suffrage Coronation Demonstration on 17 June 1911, and Emily Wilding Davison's interment in Morpeth on 14 June 1913. However, "the WSPU had mixed feelings about [Burgess's] efforts. Disturbed by her producing an 'unauthorized official programme' for the June 29 event, they nevertheless pointed it out a

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