On this day - Emily Davison born in Blackheath

On 11th October 1872 Emily Wilding Davison was born in Blackheath. She studied at Royal Holloway College and at Oxford University, and in 1906, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst. Three years later she began to work full-time for the suffragette movement. As a committed suffragette she took part in civil disobedience and was frequently arrested for acts ranging from causing a public disturbance to burning post boxes. On 4 June 1913, she stepped in front of King George V's horse running in the Epsom Derby, sustaining injuries that resulted in her death four days later.

There are many sources for information on her life and death including wikipedia and Spartacus schoolnet while the actual Derby event can be seen on YouTube