1913 On June 4th Emily attended the Epsom Derby where she ran out in front of King George V’s horse Amner and was fatally injured. Found in Emily’s effects were two suffragette flags, the return stub of her railway ticket to London, her race card, a ticket to the WSPU Summer Festival at the Empress Rooms in Kensington later that day and a diary with appointments for the following week. The policeman’s notebook, who was one of the first on to the track, is on display at Bourne Hall Museum, Ewell.
On 8th June, Emily died of her injuries at the Cottage Hospital in Epsom on 10th June, at the inquest, Davison’s half-brother, Captain Henry Davison, gave evidence about his sister, saying that she was, “a woman of very strong reasoning faculties, and passionately devoted to the women’s movement”.
The verdict of the court was that “Miss Emily Wilding Davison died of a fracture of the base of the skull, caused by being accidentally knocked down by a horse through wilfully rushing on to the racecourse on Epsom Downs during the progress of the race for the Derby: death was due to misadventure”.
