Cicely Hamilton's warriors: dramatic reinventions of militancy in the British women's suffrage movement

The campaigns for women's enfranchisement in Britain have been associated with public spectacle, metropolitan activity and sensational acts of militant law-breaking. The circumstances of the development, adaptation and performance of Cicely Hamilton's play, A Pageant of Great Women, provide an insight into the dynamics of local suffrage activism. This forgotten play reached several thousand spectators at a time all over Britain, promoting the activity of women's history-making as much as women's suffrage. It normalised the idea of women's achievements, and the cross-dressing warriors especially, drawn from several countries, unsettled a dominant anglocentric perspective, normalising militancy as national heroism.