A project to commemorate Surrey’s role in the fight for women’s right to vote, including Emily Davison’s infamous protest at the Epsom Derby, has won a National Lottery grant of nearly £100,000.

The county witnessed key moments in the long-running campaign, with Emily Davison stepping out in front of the King’s horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby, and then dying of her injuries four days later on June 8.

From yesterday: Voters go to polls 104 years after Blackheath-born Suffragette Emily Davison died for women’s right to vote after Epsom Derby protest

That same year, the suffragettes also bombed a house in Walton-on-the-Hill being built for then Chancellor David Lloyd George.

The story of Surrey’s role will be told at Surrey County Council’s History Centre through contemporary letters, photos, books and newspaper cuttings which will be brought together online for the first time.

Surrey Comet:
Emily Davison stepped out in front of King George V’s horse, Anmer, at the 1913 Epsom Derby

There will also be travelling exhibitions, school workshops and other events around the county. Volunteers will be able to learn archive conversion skills to help make the records accessible to the public.

The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a £99,300 grant the county council the grant to help it explore and chronicle Surrey people’s contributions to women’s suffrage.

The project –The March of the Women: Surrey’s Road to the Vote – will culminate next year on the centenary of the 1918 Act of Parliament which gave them the vote.

From November 2015: Campaign begins to honour suffragette Emily Davison's Blackheath history

Dennis Turner-Stewart, Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for communities, said: “Surrey played a crucial and dramatic role in the historic hard-fought battle for women’s voting rights and we’re delighted the Heritage Lottery Fund is making it possible for us to tell the full story and bring it to a wide audience in Surrey and beyond.

With women’s voting rights now taken for granted, this news is a timely reminder amid a general election of everything that led up to those rights being won. This project will create a lasting record of Surrey’s contributions for generations to come.”

From April 2013: Epsom Derby suffragette martyr Emily Davison remembered at plaque unveiling​

From November 2016: The Old Cottage Hospital in Epsom opens Emily Davison Unit in honour of martyr for women's suffrage

Women were explicitly banned from voting in the 1832 Reform Act, but after the suffragettes’ campaign and women filling many roles during World War One previously done by men, the franchise was extended to them.

The Representation of the People Act 1918 enfranchised all men and all women over 30 who met minimum property requirements. The franchise was extended further to all women over 21 – on equal terms with men – in the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928.