Banner of the Women's Freedom League, Peckham Branch

Shield shaped banner produced by the Peckham branch of the Women's Freedom League, c.1908. The banner is formed from three vertical panels of gold, green and white fabric - this being the colour scheme of the WFL. Sewn onto the banner are individual black letters forming the message 'Demands Votes for Women This Session Peckham Branch WFL'. Under the applied letter 'D' can be seen the remnants of a handwritten 'W' suggesting the women were originally planning to apply the message 'we demand' but realised they did not have the space to do so and change the message to 'Demands.' The V shaped lower edge of the banner has been trimmed with fabric baubles on tabs sewn to the edge at regular intervals. A cane stick is sewn into the straight top edge for carrying purposes.
The banner represents the typical activities of a local Suffragette branch that, as a priority on formation, was required by Headquarters to create a banner to be carried in processions and demonstrations. Whilst several branches chose to raise funds for a professionally designed and executed banner this banner suggests it was created by the members themselves from off-cuts of fabric sourced from curtaining, or clothing previous used at home.
The banner is likely to be associated with a key event in the Suffragette campaign, that being the Peckham by-election of March 1908 where suffragettes campaigned tirelessly to urge voters to defeat the Liberal Government candidate. The campaign that involved all leading Suffragettes, including Emmeline Pankhurst, making personal appearances in the area, proved successful when the Conservative candidate won. The tactics set a precedent for suffragette campaigning at future by-elections throughout the country. A flyer in the collection issued by the WFL specifically for the Peckham by-election and aimed at local women is headed ‘why women of all classes, creeds and convictions should join the Peckham branch of the Women’s Freedom League’. It appears that the branch was formed just before the by-election campaign. The Honorary Secretaries of the Peckham branch were Mrs Claude Bond, 142 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich and Mrs Pickering, 23 Albert Road, Peckham. It is possible that one of these was the owner of the banner and donated it to the donor's father.