WHY WERE THE SUFFRAGETTE COLOURS CHOSEN?
It is 100 years since women in Britain were finally granted the right to vote – as long they were over 30 and met some other criteria – but it was a decade prior that the suffragettes adopted their iconic colours. Purple, white and green became the tricolore of choice for the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), with the hope they would unite those attending a mass demonstration in London’s Hyde Park on 21 June 1908. It turned out to be a wise idea to have a semblance of uniform as some 500,000 people from all over Britain showed up. And when they went home, they took the WSPU colours with them.
Soon they were being used on all manner of items, from rosettes and sashes to flags, banners, postcards and posters. Shops got in on the act and put purple, white and green on handbags, shoes, toilet soap and underwear. Wealthier women could show their support through their jewellery, by wearing amethysts, pearls, peridots or emeralds.
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March 2018
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