1-192-470 - © London Museum/Heritage-Images

Two suffragettes outside No 10 attempt to speak to the Prime Minister, 23rd January 1909. 'Human Letters to Downing Street'; Daisy Soloman is on the left and Elspeth McLelland stands next to her. They were posted as human letters and addressed to the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. They were led by a telegraph boy to Downing Street, but were refused entry. Asquith's butler said You must be returned: you are dead letters. Soloman's mother was a leading figure in the WSPU, and was badly injured on a deputation to the House of Commons at a later date. McLelland had been the only woman among 600 male students at the Polytechnic Architectural School in London, and became the first woman to practice as an architect.