Moray Golf Course and the day suffragettes attacked Prime Minister Herbert Asquith

The two women physically attacked the Prime Minister just as he was lining up his putt.

It was August in 1913 and the scene was the 17th hole at the Moray Golf Course in Lossiemouth. The Prime Minister in question was Herbert Asquith who, up until that very moment, had been enjoying a relaxing Scottish vacation, far away from the stresses and strains of Westminster.

Earlier that same month The Northern Scot had informed its readers that the premier was holidaying in the region and had “abandoned himself to the delights of golf”, adding that “naturally the people are proud to have such a distinguished visitor”.

Asquith was in charge of a Liberal government which had introduced such progressive measures as old age pensions. However he was also a vocal opponent of giving the vote to women – and this was the reason for what happened next.

Under the wonderful headline of ‘Mr Asquith’s hat knocked off’, The Northern Scot reported: “The sensation of the week, not only in Elgin and district, but throughout the whole country, has been the violent attack by two suffragettes on Mr Asquith while he was enjoying a pleasant game of golf over the course of the Moray Golf Club at Lossiemouth.

“For almost a fortnight Mr Asquith had enjoyed his holiday in peace since his arrival at Hopeman Lodge on August 15th. Delightful weather summer has prevailed and almost every day Mr Asquith has motored across country to Lossiemouth, about five or six miles away, and spent a pleasant hour or two on the course.

“His devotion to the game has been remarkable. Evidently the fine qualities of the course, the beautiful marine scenery of the district, and the invigorating atmosphere have appealed to him. On Thursday evening about 5.30 this pleasant state of things was rudely interrupted.”

The newspaper continued: “The people who happened to be in the vicinity had the unique sensation of witnessing a scene which will probably never be vouchsafed to them again. They saw the undignified spectacle of the white-haired Prime Minister of Great Britain engaged in an unseemingly scuffle with two females.”

One of the many witnesses told the Northern Scot: “As Mr Asquith and his daughter were approaching, two young women were sitting on the green. One of them was very good-looking and both were fashionably dressed.

“I had no suspicion at all that they were militant suffragettes. I thought at first that they were friends of the Premier and they were going to talk to him.

“While the Prime Minister was putting I was greatly surprised when both girls rushed to attack him. One of them attempted to get a hold of him but Miss Asquith was equal to the occasion and warded her off.

“The other girl, seizing him by the collar of his coat, or his throat, knocked off his hat and got a hold of his club.

“The caddies – only mites they were – stood by bewildered and amazed.”

After initially trying to resist arrest, the two suffragettes were forcibly conveyed to the clubhouse.

The Northern Scot reported: “The large crowd which has assembled there hissed them repeatedly, and many very indignant expressions could be heard. Some of the fiercer spirits were in favour of ducking the militants.”

However the pair were instead escorted to Elgin police station by Chief Inspector J.B Mair, a former Captain of Moray Golf Club from 1902-1904, and by Detective Inspector Clarkson from Scotland Yard.

The next day in court they gave what were thought to be fictitious names of Winnie Wallace of Dundee and Flora Helen Smith of Edinburgh.

Some onlookers suspected one of them to be Christabel Pankhurst, the daughter of Emmeline, the leader of the suffragettes, who unlike their fellow campaigners, the suffragists, were in favour of violence to further the cause of voting rights.

The Northern Scot stated: “The two women were brought before Sheriff J W Dunlop but declined to nominate anyone to act as their agent.

“On being asked to stand up to hear the charge read, one of them addressed the Sheriff, saying they could hear it quite well sitting.

“On being asked if they were guilty or not, they both replied in an emphatic voice, ‘Not guilty’. After some consultation the trial was fixed for Friday, September 5 at 10.30.”

The pair were incarcerated overnight in Inverness prison.

“In the morning,” the newspaper continued, “one of them declined to take food of any kind. As she did not appear to be unwell this was evidently an early attempt at ‘hunger striking’.

“The women, it may be said, are both fairly young, with one computed at 24 or 25, the other about 30. They were well dressed but, as one who saw them remarked, ‘they are not ladies’.”

The two suffragettes were released later that day after an unnamed supporter paid bail of £5 for each.

They then promptly returned to Moray and caused a further sensation by attending Duffus Parish Church where Mr Asquith had gone to worship.

Inside the church they sat where they could stare at the Prime Minister throughout the service. Afterwards they then hurried out and shouted “hypocrite’” as he got in to his waiting car.

Excitement mounted in the days leading up to their trial in Elgin.

David West, a famous artist as well as a member of the golf club, had been out with a boating party on the Moray Firth on the Thursday night of the attack and had spotted a suspicious vessel resting off the coast. This revelation led to some fevered speculation that it might have been somehow connected to an attempt to kidnap the Prime Minister.

But then, just as suddenly as the whole affair had begun, it “fizzled out”, according to The Northern Scot.

On the day of the trial the charges were withdrawn by the prosecution.

The newspaper concluded: “It has evidently been considered that it would be a greater punishment to the suffragettes to be deprived of the advertisement of a public trial than to have them fined of sent to prison.

“It is also possible that Mr Asquith and his friends did not wish to be disturbed on their holiday by having to appear as witnesses in the Sheriff Court.”

Meanwhile, the golf club was staging the Moray Open, its most important competition of the year.

Violet Asquith, the prime minister’s daughter and, incidentally, the grandmother of the actress Helena Bonham Carter, agreed to hand over the prizes.

The Elgin Courant, a rival publication to The Northern Scot, was at the golf course to record her words which were met with appreciative laughter by a watching crowd.

The premier’s daughter proclaimed that “she would like to say how much she and her father and other members of the family enjoyed the links at Lossiemouth.

“They derived a great deal of good from being there and their enjoyment was in no wise clouded by any hazard appearing at the seventeenth green.”

In the following year, 1914, Europe was plunged into chaos with the outbreak of the First World War.

Halfway through the conflict the Moray Golf Club would be in the news again when it expelled Ramsay MacDonald, Moray’s sitting MP, as a member.

Lossiemouth-born, and from a far humber background, MacDonald would nevertheless eventually follow Asquith by becoming a Prime Minister.

However, in August 1916, a resolution declared that the MP’s anti-war activities "had endangered the character and interests of the club" and he had forfeited his right to membership.

For their part, at the start of the hostilities, both the Suffragettes and the Suffragists had agreed to suspend their campaigns and support the war effort.

With millions of men fighting at the front, large numbers of women joined such organisations as the Women’s Land Army, Munitionettes, Voluntary Aid Detachment and the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps.

In 1918, just before the war ended, the government finally passed a law giving some women the right to vote for the first time. This was followed by further legislation in 1928 which extend that right to all men and women aged over 21.

Many thanks to Moray Golf Club and to John Ellwood for their help in compiling this article.