Author: Anon

Publication: The Premier

Published: 30 June 1908

Place of publication: Aberdeen, Scotland

Publication type: Newspaper/Periodical

Featured individuals:
Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928)

A full copy of this poem is available.

Archive/Library: Aberdeen Central Library
Classmark(s): LC 050 AB3
Pages(s): 3-4

This poem appears in The Premier, a journal which campaigned to install Prime Minister Asquith as the Rector of Aberdeen University.  By 1908, the suffragettes had mounted a strong anti-Asquith campaign, as they believed he had betrayed their cause, and it was forceful in Aberdeen.  In this pooem, Asquith is asleep and he is visited by a suffragette spirit, 'with "Votes for Women" on her breast'.  The suffragette spirit tells him to give votes to women so they can clear up the mess that he has made.  Asquith responds to the spirit, 'as to a child', and tells it to leave.  The suffragette then heads 'Bcack to the Granite City's streets / To work its deadly havoc there'.