Anthems
Anthems of the suffrage movement
Shoulder to Shoulder.
(to the tune of ‘Men of Harlech’)
From the daughters of the nation
Bursts a cry of indignation
Breathes a sigh of consecration
In a sacred cause.
They who share their country’s burden
Win no rights, receive no guerdon,
Only bear the heavy burden
Of unrighteous laws.
Women young and older
Shoulder put to shoulder
In the might of sacred right
Bolder still and bolder.
Let no ancient custom bind you
Let one bond of suffering bind you
Leave unrighteous laws behind you,
Soon you shall be free!
The Women’s Battle Song
Tune: Onward Christian Soldiers
Forward sister women!
Onward ever more,
Bondage is behind you,
Freedom is before,
Raise the standard boldly,
In the morning sun;
‘Gainst a great injustice,
See the fight begun!
Forward, forward sisters!
Onward ever more!
Bonage is behing you,
Freedom is before.
Theodora Mills
The March of the Women
Shout, shout, up with your song!
Cry with the wind for the dawn is breaking.
March, march, swing you along,
Wide blows our banner and hope is waking.
Song with its story, dreams with their glory,
Lo! They call and glad is their word.
Forward! Hark how it swells
Thunder of freedom, the voice of the Lord.
Long, long, we in the past,
Cower’d in dread from the light of Heaven;
Strong, strong, stand we at last;
Fearless in faith and with sight new given.
Strength with its beauty, life with its duty
(Hear the voice, oh, hear and obey).
These, these beckon us on,
Open your eyes to the blaze of day!
Comrades, ye who have dared,
First in the battle to strive and sorrow;
Scorned, spurned, naught ye have cared,
Raising your eyes to a wider morrow,
Ways that are weary, days that are dreay,
Toil and pain by faith ye have borne.
Hail, hail, victors ye stand,
Wearing the wreath that the brave have worn!
Life, strife, these two are one!
Naught can ye win but by faith and daring;
On, on that ye have done,
But for the work of today preparing.
Firm in reliance, laugh a defiance
(Laugh in hope for sure is the end)
March, march, many as one,
Shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend!
Music by Ethel Smyth: Words by Cicely Hamilton
Image: Ethel Smyth doc
Rise Up Women!
Tune: John Brown’s Body
Rise up, women, for the fight is hard and long;
Rise up in thousands singing loud a battle song.
Right is might, and in strength we shall be strong
And the cause goes marching on
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! The cause goes marching on.
Theodora Mills
The Women’s Marseillaise
Arise! ye daughters of a land
That vaunts its liberty!
May restless rulers understand
That women must be free
That women will be free.
Hark! hark! the trumpet’s calling!
Who’d be a laggard in the fight?
With vict’ry even now in sight
And stubborn foemen backward falling
To Freedom’s cause till death
We swear our fealty.
March on! March on! Face to the dawn
The dawn of liberty.
March on! March on! Face to the dawn
The dawn of liberty.
Arise! Tho’ pain or loss betide
Grudge naught of freedom’s toll
For what they loved the martyrs died;
Are we of meaner soul?
Are we of meaner soul?
Our comrades greatly daring.
Thro’ prison bars have led the way:
Who would not follow to the fray,
Their glorious struggle proudly sharing?
To Freedom’s cause till death
We swear our fealty.
March on! March on! Face to the dawn
The dawn of liberty.
March on! March on! Face to the dawn
The dawn of liberty
Words: Miss F.E.M. Macaulay
Sister Suffragette
Melbourne anthem with link
From Female Pipings in Eden
‘March of the Women’
In those early days of my association with the W.S.P.U. occurred an event which, in her pride, the writer must recount ere the pace becomes such that a personal reference would be unthinkable, namely the formal introduction to the Suffragettes of ‘The March of the Women’, to which Cicely Hamilton fitted the words after the tune had been written – not an easy undertaking. A suffragette choir had been sternly drilled, and I remember Edith Craig plaintively commenting on the difficulty of hitting a certain E flat. But it was maintained that the interval is a peculiarly English one (which is true) and must be coped with. We had the organ, and I think a cornet to blast forth the tune (a system much to be recommended on such occasions), and it was wonderful processing up the centre aisle of the Albert Hall in Mus. Doc. robes at Mrs Pankhurst’s side, and being presented with a beautiful baton, encircled by a golden collar with the date , 23rd March 1911.
Ethel Smyth