A Day in the War: 28th June 1914

The morning of Sunday 28th June 1914 saw local colliers making their way to the pits as usual. Those employed at Linby Colliery had their grievances, having just voted 606 – 8 to take strike action in protest at the withdrawal of free coal from sick and injured miners, but otherwise there was little to distinguish the day from any other as the men began their shift.

300 members of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) were waking in their summer camp at Chilwell Park. They later attended a church service given by the vicar of Bramcote and Attenborough, the Rev. Arthur Edgar Hughes, chaplain to the battalion. If not all the soldiers were enthused at the prospect of church parade, it probably proceeded more smoothly than the service held later in the day at St. Mary's in Nottingham's Lace Market. Part way through prayers, Canon Thomas Field was interrupted by a number of local suffragettes, as was later reported.

“The presence of a number of supporters of the Women’s Social and Political Union first became evident during the special prayer for the sick. A number of feminine voices chanted “God save Mary Richardson, Grace Roe, and Eileen Casey — (the Bradford militant arrested in Nottingham) — who are being tortured and persecuted for conscience sake,” but the sound was not sufficient to interrupt Canon Field.

“Two or three police officers quietly stationed themselves behind the women, but no sooner had Dr. Field announced his text — “I was sick and ye visited Me” — than a girl of about 20 abruptly arose towards the rear of the nave and, in an excited voice which electrified the large congregation, cried: “O God, Eileen Casey is also sick. We beseech Thee to comfort her in her solitude, and grant unto her immediate release —“ [1]

All were immediately bundled unceremoniously out of the church by members of the congregation. Eileen Casey was not granted “immediate release,” having been arrested on the day of the King and Queen's visit to Nottingham, 24th June 1914. Previously released under the 'Cat and Mouse Act', the police had followed her from her lodgings in Lenton and, after watching her make an inspection of the platform that would later host the royal party, took her into custody. A search of her possessions undertaken at the Guildhall revealed a guide to local churches together with a bag full of incendiary materials. Few would have been surprised at the find, particularly those given the job of cleaning the pillar boxes in the city centre, which had been vandalised with some corrosive substances.

That morning a postcard was received at the offices of the 'Nottingham Guardian', a local newspaper, claiming suffragettes had been responsible for the arson attack on Messrs. Alderson, Woodbridge, and Co.'s paint store on Bridlesmith-gate in the city two days previously. This was one of several similar attacks that had been carried out in the area; there had been another only the night before at the Portland Road premises of Messrs. Humphreys and Wyer, lace machine, bobbin and carriage makers but it was not known who was responsible for that.

Rumours had spread that St. James' Church in Papplewick was to be the next target and the threat was taken very seriously. Only a few weeks previously, the parish church in Breadsall in Derbyshire had been gutted by the so-called 'mad women'. The rector, the elderly and perplexed Rev. John Ayton Whitaker, received a postcard claiming responsibility with the following message:

"LET THERE BE LIGHT

THE PRICE OF LIBERTY

VOTES FOR WOMEN

THE MESSAGE WE HAVE LEFT

MUST HAVE BEEN BURNT" [2]

Accompanying the postcard was a copy of "The Suffragette" magazine. One of the stories it contained concerned the unfortunate Miss Emily Wilding Davison, the woman who died from the injuries she sustained the previous year attempting to pin suffragist colours to the King's horse at the Derby.

Away from the village, St. James' was vulnerable, isolated as it was (and is) down a narrow country lane, hidden amongst trees,. Taking no chances, parishioners from Papplewick occupied their church and spent what was probably an uncomfortable night waiting to see if any attempt was to be made there. None came. But the nearby Papplewick Hall, a Georgian mansion which had stood empty for the past ten years, did receive a visit.

The following morning, some workmen found that someone had entered the hall through a basement window. Unseen – the nearest house was 200 yards away – they unhinged a mahogany door, setting it up in the dining room, and after splashing the area with methylated spirits, set it alight. Another fire was set in the library but, fortunately, neither took hold and the damage was slight.

No-one was in any doubt who was to blame. One report stated that the “usual suffragist literature and notices were strewn about the ground.” [3]

Readers glancing through their newspapers that Monday morning would have read of another, more worrying story. It lead with the comment that, “In the hands of young fools pistols are most dangerous weapons.” [4] That referred to the wounding of a woman by a young Englishman who had refused to accompany him to a cinema. Similar thoughts probably occurred to readers of the report of another teenager wielding a pistol, Gavrilo Princip, in Sarajevo that unremarkable Sunday morning. As Henry Morley, founding editor of the 'Hucknall Dispatch', later wrote, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, “has been foully murdered with the woman whom he had married for love.” [5] But with rather more serious consequences than the actions of a frustrated teenager rejected by the object of his affections.

[1] 'Nottingham Evening Post', 29th June 1914.

[2] 'Nottingham Evening News', 6th June 1914.

[3] 'Nottingham Evening Post', 29th June 1914.

[4] Ibid.

[5] ‘Hucknall Dispatch’, 2nd July 1914.