I wonder whether you have any information to help me research a screenplay. I know Winston Churchill had entrenched reactionary views about women and obviously incurred the wrath of feminists in 1910, for they threatened to kidnap his baby daughter, who was for a while assigned a private detective wherever she went. I'd like to know how the confrontation came about - had he publicly expressed his views about women not needing the vote? Thank you, Jenny

Not knowing much about the conflict between Churchill and the suffragettes, I went immediately to my most reliable source on British feminism: Sheila Rowbotham and her numerous books on the women's rights movement in England and around the world. I couldn't find an origin for the conflict between Churchill and the suffragettes, but I did find one clue. Around 1906 he left the Conservative party, finding it too conservative and then chose to align himself with the liberals. Perhaps his interactions with feminists made his conservative roots all the more apparent and thus, his liberalism was a front that the suffragettes were exposing.

Everything else I read only referenced his vehemence toward feminists/suffragettes - he really seemed to have gone to extremes to discredit them. However, there was also a reference to a 1917 march when the government conceded to pay for a suffragists march - a moment of good grace. Read more in Rowbotham and perhaps you will find your answer. Good luck.

—Amy