Ethel Smyth raises women’s voices to demand the vote

lad in purple and white brocade doctoral robes, on 21 January 1911 the composer Ethel Smyth stepped onto the Royal Albert Hall stage. She li ed her conducting baton to an overwhelming roar and the applause of thousands of suffragettes who had gathered to hear the world premiere her It’s a simple tune: joyful, in a major key, the lyrics encouraging women to ‘Shout, shout, up with your became the official anthem of women’s suffrage. It was sung across the world, in homes and halls, on streets and on the steps of the United States Capitol.