Photograph, photographic print

Suffragettes campainging during the by-election held in Stepney, east London, May 1907. In the first seven months of 1907 the Women's Social and Political Union campaigned at seven by-elections, including Stepney to urge voters to vote against the Liberal candidate. Campaigning tactics would include mass leafleting voters, organising public meetings, arranging for guest speakers from National Headquarters and renting temporary campaign office premises. Here in the photo can be seen the Suffragette leader Flora Drummond who presumably was sent by WSPU headquarters to help local Suffragettes co-ordinate the campaign. The Stepney by-election took place in May 1907 as a result of the retirement of the sitting Unionist MP due to ill-health. The new Unionist candidate succeeded in holding the constituency with the Liberal candidate as runner-up.