The Burns Cottage plot

To mark International Women’s Day, our host Jackie Bird hears how Scotland’s leading suffragettes plotted to bomb Burns Cottage, the birthplace of the national bard.

We hear about Ethel Moorhead, the first woman to be force fed in a Scottish jail, and her co-conspirator Frances Parker, on how they led the fight for women’s votes north of the border. Professor Pederson tells how the women cycled in dead of night with home-made bombs, to the birthplace of Robert Burns.

What happened to the two women? How did their struggle win and lose support in society at the time? And how did the poetry of Robert Burns play a part in their defence?

Take a listen…