On this day, 18 July 1912, four suffragettes – Mary Leigh, Gladys Evans, Lizzie Baker and Mabel Capper – attempted to set fire to the Theatre Royal in Dublin during a packed lunchtime meeting due to be addressed by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.
They left a canister of gunpowder close to the stage and hurled petrol and lit matches into the projection booth, which contained highly combustible film reels.
The previous day, Mary Leigh had hurled a hatchet (around which a text reading “This symbol of the extinction of the Liberal Party for evermore” was wrapped) into the carriage containing Asquith, which narrowly missed him and instead cut the Irish Nationalist MP John Redmond on the ear. Redmond’s focus on the campaign for Home Rule had led to his refusal to insert a clause giving women the vote, assuring his status as a target.
All four were remanded in prison during the trial and on August 7, Mary Leigh and Gladys Evans were sentenced to 5 years penal servitude, Jennie Baines (under the nom de guerre Lizzie Baker) was given seven months hard labour, and the charges against Mabel Capper were dropped.
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