Police cordon at Downing street

Police cordon at Downing street, Thursday 18th February 1909. The Police seen in the image were preparing to prevent a delegation from the Women's Freedom League entering Downing Street. The cordon was one of several mounted in Whitehall on the morning of Thursday 18th February 1909 to prevent members of the WFL from attempting to present the case of female Suffrage to the Prime Minister in person. Both mounted and unmounted police cordons blocked the procesion of women as they attempted to enter Whitehall from Victoria Street following an early morning meeting at Caxton Hall. Refusing to move on after an order from the police, 21 women were arrested. This image also appeared in Votes for Women on February 26th 1909.

The date handwritten on the front of the photograph is, therefore, incorrect.