Preparations for the Visit
"The Jedburgh Advertiser”: October 3rd described the plans for the visit. These included the erection of a tent, measuring 220 feet by 60 feet with seating accommodation for about 4000 people - this when the population of Earlston in the 1911 census was only 1677! How many political meetings in the Borders attract that kind of number today?
- "There is no building in Earlston big enough
for a mass meeting of any sort, and as the sudden return of summer could not be
foreseen or depended upon, provision has been made in a marquee to afford
sitting accommodation for some four thousand people."
- “Arrangement for the great Liberal demonstration to be addressed by the Prime
'Minister at Earlston on the afternoon of Saturday, 3rd October, are now well
advanced, and everything points to the
gathering being a record one………..Houses and shops are being painted and decorated and made to look their
best."
- "For the benefit those
desirous taking advantage of the special trains are asked to state that it has now been arranged that there shall be
five special trains to Earlston the afternoon bringing passengers from
Edinburgh, Berwick, Dunbar, 'Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, and other stations en
route………"
- "Every available room in Earlston is spoken for……tickets are being given: away freely, upon application, to Unionists well as to' Liberal, —in fact to any respectable person who is not likely cause any disturbance at the meeting."
-
The
report concluded with an exhortation that local residents respected the honour
that was due on the occasion:
“It
is to be hoped Success will attend Asquith’s meeting in Earlston. It is an event of no ordinary importance,. It
will be the first time in the political history Berwickshire that a Prime
Minister of Great Britain has delivered a speech at public meeting the county, and
there is a desire on the part of the inhabitants to show their appreciation, of the honour which is about to be conferred
upon them.”
“The Sheffield Daily Telegraph” presented to its readers a picture of Earlston, waxing lyrically that “the remote village was more a land of poetry and romance than politics and politicians” . The paper also questioned “Why Earlston?” The answer was the Prime Minster had never spoken in Berwickshire and his son in law Mr. Harold John Tennant was the local MP.
Threats Of Suffragette Intervention
This was a serious preoccupation for the organisers as evidenced by the press coverage, which used such terms as "the dreaded suffragettes, “pernicious feminine politicians”, “militant political women” “displaying their usual offensive manners”, and "mischievously disposed females."
Rumours abounded that suffragettes would follow in motor cars the Prime Minister’s party to Earlston, with the waving of flags and banners and shouts of their motto” Votes or Women” and the approach of the picturesque procession to the various villages and hamlets the way being heralded by the ringing of bells to herald their presence. In the event, the Prime Minister arrived by train,
Prime Minister Asquith arriving at Earlston Station
The strategy
of the organisers was to sit all ladies attending the event in a
specially designated part of the marquee;
or as “The Sheffield Daily Telegraph” said “Put the
Ladies in a Compound” – a policy
well covered by the local press and further afield by such titles as “The
Huntly Express”, “The Aberdeen Press and Journal” and “The Daily Record”.
Ladies would not be admitted to any other part of the building even if they possessed tickets for other parts. “The purpose of this arrangement is evident”. Names and addresses were also required , This precaution is specially intended to keep out any suffragettes who may attempt to be present and carry out their policy in their usual offensive manner.”
“The Daily Record” of 26th Sept 1908 noted:
“The decision that they must ail
sit together has been arrived at, is
scarcely necessary to say, because of the probability of a suffragette
disturbance. With the women in a bunch, it is believed that any
need for ejectment will be the more easier accomplished than if the ladies were
dotted all over the marquee”.
The Berwickshire News reported on 29th September that
"A few days ago, two ladies who had been inquiring where the meeting was held and when tickets were to be had. were directed to the Secretary of the local Liberal Association. In the course of a talk with him they said that they were Unionists, and admitted they were suffragettes, but not of the wild description, and they offered to pay for tickets. They were told, however, that the tickets were not for sale, and that they must apply to the local secretary of the district from which they came – A safeguard against actions contemplated these pertinacious feminine politicians.
"The Southern Reporter noted that the local motto of suffragettes was “Ask Asquith with All Your Might"
The Prime Minister’s Visit: Saturday
“The Aberdeen Press and Journal” of 10th October 1908 presented a colourful report as the village awaited the arrival of PM Asquith.
"In all its history the little
Berwickshire town of Earlston has not witnessed
such scenes on Saturday. Its High Street under normal conditions can boast of
about a dozen people on it at one time, except on Saturday evening, when
country people lend a brief spell of life to the town, it might thought that it
was only peopled by the ghostly contemporaries of Thomas the Rhymer, whose ruined tower still stands at
the southern end of the village.
On Friday night Earlstonians went to bed
unknown; Saturday they awoke to find the eyes of the British-speaking world
focussed upon their quaint little town, and in the afternoon the erstwhile
solitary street was crowded with motor cars, traps, cycles, and close on 8000
people. Earlston had, however, risen to the occasion. Within its bounds was to
speak Britain’s greatest political figure and statesman, the Prime Minister,
and the town did not hesitate to do him honour. From east to west of the long
High Street flags and streamers waved profusion; Union Jacks and other
patriotic emblems”.
It proved to be a notable occasion, disrupted by the late arrival of reporters and M.Ps on a delayed Edinburgh train which took three hours to reach Earlston; crowds spilling out of from the crowded hot marquee, and noise from the "shunt, snort and whistles" of a railway engine threatening to drown out the speakers.
A Suffragette Interruption
However Mr Asquith had only said a few words when, at his remark "My primary purpose in coming here this afternoon is........., a woman startled her neighbours by exclaiming " “Give votes to women!".
“The interrupter was a young woman of graceful figure and pleasant features, and, having borne her testimony, she smiled and waited. She had not to wait long before she was attended to. One of the stewards quickly realised the situation. Ah., ha, here you are, are you", he seemed to say, and he made his way to the fair suffragette. She was calm and unresisting, but with her sailor hat somewhat awry , and they a little excited and very energetic, but not severe. As far as one could judge the suffragette had no confederates beside her, for the ladies in whose all she stood appeared most surprised of all when the demand for their civil emancipation came from their midst, and there not a flutter among them while the furbelows that had been ruffled were re-arranged. Of course they were cruel men who shouted "Put her out". She didn't care - she had done what she could.
“The Huntly Express” referred to “the stylishly-dressed young suffragette, who within a few seconds was in the arms of a stalwart Gala steward, and was borne out amid the laughter of the audience. She appeared to be the only one of her kind who had succeeded in effecting an entrance, and the Prime Minister proceeded without further interruption”.The “Votes for Women”, publication in London not surprisingly gave a different slant on the incident:
“In spite of the most elaborate
precautions to exclude any but ardent supporters, a woman found her way into
Mr. Asquith's meeting at Earlston, and at an early stage in the proceedings
protested that he ought to give votes to qualified women. She was, of course,
ejected after considerable uproar, being followed by a large crowd, who were
evidently more interested in the Suffragettes than in the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, a man who interrupted the speaker several times was left in
undisturbed possession of his seat.”
"The Jedburgh Gazette" reporter clearly found this incident far more interesting than Mr Asquith's speech which he described as "Unimpassioned with no striking phrases."
Official photograph taken by Walter Swanston, an Earlston-born photographer
who set up a studio on Leith Walk, Edinburgh.
***********
But the Asquith incident was not the end of suffragette activity in the village.
"The Berwickshire News": 10th August 1909 printed the following report:
The women were conveyed to Jedburgh and apprehended before the Sheriff. A big crowd collected in the vicinity of the court room to catch a glimpse of the daring but mischievously disposed females."
