1899

Churchill during his service in the South African Light Horse.

IMAGE: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Nothing in life is so exhilarating
as to be shot at without result.

WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1898

1895

Second Lieutenant Winston Churchill of the 4th Queen's Own Hussars.

IMAGE: TIME LIFE PICTURES/PICTURES INC./THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Former UK prime minister Winston Churchill left school in 1893 at the age of 19, and immediately entered the military.  Except it took him three attempts before he passed the entrance exam to the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, England.

Although Churchill was well paid as a second lieutenant in the 4th Hussars, he regularly overspent his salary, as well as a further and greater sum paid to him by his mother. In order to boost his income, Churchill began war correspondence for a range of London newspapers.

In 1895, Churchill was commissioned by London's Daily Graphic (now defunct) to write about the conflict between Spain and Cuban guerillas.  This was to be a significant incident in the young Churchill's life for more than one reason. It was the first time he came under fire (for which he would receive a Spanish medal), and it also introduced Churchill to an object which would become his lifelong companion: the Havana cigar.

1899

Churchill during his service in the South African Light Horse.

IMAGE: TIME LIFE PICTURES/PICTURES INC./THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

1897

Churchill on horseback in Bangalore, India.

IMAGE: MONDADORI COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

1900

Churchill standing at the opening of his tent as a war correspondent during the Second Boer War, in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

IMAGE: UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

1904

Churchill portrait by Russell & Sons.

c. 1910-1920

Suffragettes vs. police

The women prepared to go to prison for the vote

by Chris Wild

March 20, 1907

A "Lancashire lassie" being escorted through the palace yard, in Westminster Palace, London.

IMAGE: MUSEUM OF LONDON/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)

July 5, 1910

A woman campaigning for the vote is restrained by policemen. British women did not win full voting rights until 1928.

IMAGE: SSPL/GETTY IMAGES

The women of this smart capital are beautiful.
Their beauty is disturbing to business;
their feet are beautiful; their ankles are beautiful,
but here I must pause -
for they are not interested in the state

REP. STANLEY BOWDLE (D-OHIO) DURING ANTI-SUFFRAGE DEBATE, JAN. 12, 1915

c. 1911

British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928), being jeered by a crowd in New York.

IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

One hundred years ago today, on Jan. 12, 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reject a constitutional amendment that would have given women the right to vote.  The final vote — 204 against and 174 for — came at the end of a 10-hour debate.

It was not until five years later, in 1919, that the 19th Amendment passed, giving the vote to all American women. (Women had only previously been permitted to vote in certain states.) 

In Britain, led by Emmeline Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union, the Suffragettes (initially a term of derision created by The Daily Mail, and repurposed by women as "SuffraGETtes") utilised radical protest tactics: burning mailbox contents, shattering windows and chaining themselves to railings, particularly those surrounding Buckingham Palace.  From 1905, many British Suffragette women were arrested and imprisoned. London's police issued a set of surveillance pictures of leading Suffragettes for identification.

While some women over 30 were given the vote in Britain in 1918, it would not be for another 10 years that all British women were allowed to vote. 

1914

Police arrest suffragettes who are chaining themselves to the railings outside Buckingham Palace, London.

IMAGE: CENTRAL PRESS/GETTY IMAGES

May 21, 1914

Emmeline Pankhurst arrested by Superintendent Rolfe outside Buckingham Palace, London, in May 1914. Pankhurst was trying to present a petition to the king. 'The Suffragette' newspaper reported that as she was driven away to Holloway Gaol, she called out, "Arrested at the gates of the palace. Tell the king!" Pankhurst was jailed several times during the fight to get women the vote. Rolfe died two weeks later of heart failure.

IMAGE: MUSEUM OF LONDON/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

May 21, 1914

English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928), founder, with her daughter Christabel (1880 - 1958), of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903, is removed from a Suffragette protest by a policeman. She was frequently imprisoned and underwent hunger strikes and forcible feeding.

IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

1917

Members of an anti-suffrage mob tear a suffragette banner to bits during protests outside the White House.

IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1912

A suffragette arrested by police, location unknown.

IMAGE: UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES

1913

A suffragette in the hands of the police, location unknown.

IMAGE: UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES

May 21, 1914

A suffragette is arrested on a London street by two policemen.

IMAGE: KEYSTONE FRANCE / GETTY

1914

A police officer tries to remove a suffragette from the railings outside Buckingham Palace, during a suffragette demonstration in London.

IMAGE: CENTRAL PRESS/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 19, 1910

A tall policeman leads a short suffragette away by her arm. Many suffragettes were imprisoned and force-fed during their struggle to win the vote.

IMAGE: MUSEUM OF LONDON/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

1914

Flora Drummond, British suffragette, being arrested in Hyde Park, London.

IMAGE: UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES

1913

English suffragette Annie Kenney (1879 - 1953) is arrested during a demonstration.

IMAGE: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1912

Police arrest a militant suffragette during the campaign for women's rights, in London.

IMAGE: BOB THOMAS/POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES

1913

A suffragette who was attacked is escorted from the crowd, at a meeting given by Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd-George at Criccieth.

IMAGE: P. A. REUTER/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1910

A suffragette under arrest, in Dundee, Scotland.

IMAGE: POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES

May 21, 1914

A suffragette recovers after fainting in police custody, following a raid on Buckingham Palace.

IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

May 21, 1914

Arrested suffragettes are escorted over the bridge in St. James Park, London, after their attack on Buckingham Palace.

IMAGE: TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

Nov. 18, 1910

A suffragette struggles with a policeman on 'Black Friday,' in Westminster, London. The Conciliation Bill (which would have given the vote to women who occupied premises for which they were responsible) was shelved by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. On learning of this, the Women's Social and Political Union marched on the House of Commons. A riot followed and the women were assaulted — some severely beaten — by police and others. The newspaper "Votes for Women" reported that 115 women and four men were arrested. The WSPU quickly learned the lessons of that day, and a policy decision was made to pursue their campaign using different tactics. Large deputations were considered to be too dangerous. From this moment, the suffragettes went underground and waged "guerrilla warfare" (their phrase) against the Liberal government.

IMAGE: MUSEUM OF LONDON/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1911

Capt. Schmittberger escorts suffragettes from City Hall, in New York.

IMAGE: BAIN COLLECTION / LIBRARY OF CONGRESS>

c. 1914

A suffragette is arrested.

IMAGE: CENTRAL PRESS/GETTY IMAGES

c. 1918

American suffragettes Elizabeth Smart, Elizabeth Glass, Mrs. A. Dugan and Catherine McKeon, of the Brooklyn Woman Suffrage Association, pose with rifles and a flag.