1913 Epsom Derby with Louvois second and Great Sport third. Davison positioned herself at Tattenham Corner, the final bend before the home straight. At this point in the race, with some of the horses having passed her, she ducked under the guard rail and ran onto the course. She reached up to the reins of Anmer—King George V's horse, ridden by Herbert Jones—and was hit by the animal, which would have been travelling at around per hour, four seconds after stepping onto the course. Anmer fell in the collision and partly rolled over his jockey, who had his foot momentarily caught in the
Emily Davison and who knew Davison, described her as "a fanatic" who was prepared to die but did not mean to. Other observers, such as Purvis, and Ann Morley and Liz Stanley—Davison's biographers—agree that Davison did not mean to die. Davison was a staunch feminist and a passionate Christian whose outlook "invoked both medieval history and faith in God as part of the armor of her militancy". Her love of English literature, which she had studied at Oxford, was shown in her identification with Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale", including being nicknamed "Faire Emelye". Much of Davison's writing reflected the doctrine of