‘Where the Church had refused to perform its duty the women themselves came forward’: the Prayer Campaign of the Women’s Social and Political Union 1913-1914

Abstract

This article represents the first detailed examination of the Women’s Social and Political Union’s prayer campaign against and within the Church of England. It seeks to highlight the extent of the campaign, consider its representation, explain its purpose and establish its significance. In defining these interventions as acts of militancy, this article highlights the ongoing significance of non-violent forms of direct action even into the final months before the outbreak of war. It underscores the fact that much militancy in this period was not actually aimed at achieving the vote but offered both a way for women to reaffirm their commitment to one another and a means to challenge what they saw as social degradation and corruption within the Church and in wider society. The article also argues that the prayer campaign demonstrates a particular shared mindset–of divinely inspired righteousness and certainty–which also helps to account for the extreme use of force at this time. Suffragettes used Christ’s example to justify and legitimate their efforts. As such, this article responds to a recent call for the need to take prayer and other religious acts seriously as political practices, considering their value as a form of militancy.