42. You see before you two home-made bombs that were discovered in the City of London during 1913. The evidence points towards them being made by Suffragettes. Suffragettes were members of women's organisations in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, which campaigned for the right for women to vote in public elections. At first the campaigning techniques were passive, such as issuing leaflets, organising meetings and presenting petitions. These tactics had little effect, and in the early 20th century Emmeline Pankhurst’s new organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union, used more radical and militant actions. Suffragettes became famous for protest, chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to post boxes, smashing windows and detonating bombs. From 1912 to 1914, a series of arson attacks and bomb explosions happened across the country. Hundreds of letter boxes were set alight across the City of London by tipping in burning acids and liquids. Shop windows were smashed, telephone lines were cut and graffiti and posters were placed on any free space. The mustard tin you see in the display is a home-made bomb left under the Bishop’s seat in St Paul’s Cathedral, the year before the Westminster Abbey bomb. The other bomb, known as the Milk Can Bomb, was found by the Bank of England. The Milk Can Bomb The bomb on your left is known as the Milk Can Bomb and was placed outside the Bank of England on the Bartholomew Lance entrance (which is now the Bank of England Museum), on 14th April 1913. The oval shaped tin contained gunpowder with an electrical firing system. The Bank of England and the surrounding area was a strategic location, it was busy with people and represented the financial centre of the United Kingdom. If the bomb had gone off, it could well have caused much injury and deaths. A City of London Police Officer, PC Ralph, discovered the bomb on his beat. He dealt with the bomb himself, some reports saying he ran with it to a nearby fountain in front of the Royal Exchange, others that he took it to Cloak Lane Police station where it was rendered harmless. It was concluded that it was made by the suffragettes. The bomb was of a sophisticated design, so must have been designed by a person who was serious about it going off. It only failed because of a single flaw in its design. It was of a similar design to a bomb that had exploded a few days previously at Oxted Railway Station, also believed to have been made by suffragettes. The final indicator was that the device contained two women’s hat pins and gunpowder, which was the main charge that the suffragettes used. The following month, the second bomb, the Mustard Tin Bomb, on the right was discovered. On 8th May 1913, this device was found near the Bishop’s Throne in the chancel of St Paul’s Cathedral. It was wrapped in brown paper and pages from The Suffragette, the militant newspaper of the women’s campaign for votes. The bomb was found by a Mr Harrison who, when cleaning the area, became aware of a quiet ticking sound. On investigation, he found the brown paper parcel which he took to the Dean’s Verger. It was placed in a bucket of water and taken to one of the City of London Police officers stationed outside the Cathedral. The device was transported to the City Police’s Bridewell Police Station where it was later examined by Major Cooper-Key of HM Inspectorate of Explosives. He stated that the device had been timed to explode the previous midnight, but failed probably due to a poor contact. Had the bomb exploded as planned it would have caused extensive damage and possibly started a significant fire. Inside the Keen’s Genuine Imperial Mustard tin was another tin that contained the explosive filling, the key constituent of which was potassium nitrate. A simple on-off switch on top of the tin was the arming system. In June 1914, the following year, a suffragette bomb exploded in Westminster Abbey. It was placed under the 700-year-old Coronation Chair, which survived, but was slightly damaged.