Suffragette Procession

It is likely this group image featuring Constance Lytton, depicts the procession organised jointly by the WSPU and Women's Freedom League that took place on 23rd July 1910 in support of the Conciliation Bill being debated in Parliament that summer. If passed the Bill would have given a limited number of women the vote. As a former prisoner it is likely Constance Lytton marched in the Prisoner's Pageant section of the procession.
The procession was organised by the Women's Social and Political Union to take place on the anniversary of the day in 1867 when men demonstrating for their inclusion in the Reform Bill pulled down the railings in Hyde Park. Two processions, one from the west and one from the east converged on Hyde Park where 150 speakers addressed at crowd of up to 20,000 from 40 platforms.
The Prisoners' Pageant formed the most dramatic section of all Suffragette processions from 1910 and usually included leading members of the Women's Social and Political Union. For this procession on 23rd July the women carried, for the first time, smaller banners with the words 'Honour', 'truth' and 'justice' as well as pennants painted with the slogan 'Deeds not words' and the prisoners arrow. Always positioned in a prominent position of the processions, the Prisoner's Pageant comprised over 600 Suffragettes, dressed in white.