Who was Emmeline Pankhurst?
Leader of the Suffragette Movement.
Date and Place of Birth:
14th July 1868, Manchester, England.
Family Background:
Daughter of Robert Goulden a radical businessman
and Sophia Crane a passionate feminist and attendee at Women’s Suffrage
meetings.
Education:
Manchester School. Finishing school in Paris
at the age of 15.
Chronology/Bioraphy of Emmeline Pankhurst:
1870: Richard Marsden
Pankhurst a lawyer, later to become Emmeline's husband, drafts the
first Married Women’s Property Act.
1880: Daughter Christabel
Harriette is born.
1882: Daughter Sylvia
is born.
1889: Becomes a
founder member of the Women’s Franchise League. Her husband Richard
dies of a perforated ulcer.
1894: The League
wins the right for Women to vote in local elections but not for
the national parliament.
1895: Becomes a
Poor Law Guardian which meant regular visits to the Work House and
was particularly shocked at the way women were treated.
1901: Daughter Christabel
meets Eva Gore-Booth who was trying to encourage working women in
Manchester to join the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
and is so impressed with her work that she joins the movement also,
closely followed by Emmeline and her sister Slyvia.
1903: Founds the
Women’s Social and Political Union in Manchester.
1905: (October)
Two of the Union members, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney
are eventually jailed after being thrown out for disturbing a Liberal
Party meeting and “assaulting” police officers. They refused to
pay their fines.
1906: Emmeline now
organises the WSPU activities from London. Many marches and rallies
are held and the Liberal Candidates are targeted during the elections.
The women disturb Cabinet Meetings. The Daily Mail newspaper sneeringly
described them as Suffragettes but the movement adopted the title
with pride.
1908: Emmeline is
jailed herself three times.
1910: (18th November)
Pankhurst and her followers try to get into the House of Commons
to see the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith to protest against the
dropping of the Conciliation Bill, which would have given votes
to women. Pankhurst is refused entry by the police. The meeting
breaks out into a riot as the women charge police lines and over
100 are arrested.
1912: The WPSU becomes
increasingly more militant under the influence of Christabel who
has fled to Paris to avoid arrest and arson attacks, window smashing
and vandalising works of art take place. Emmeline is arrested twelve
times during the year and serves a total of 30 days in jail.
1913: The so called
“Cat and Mouse Act is brought in. The Prisoners (Temporary) Discharge
for Ill-Health Act which means that hunger-striking prisoners can
be released until they are well enough to serve the rest of their
sentences.
1914: At the beginning
of the First World War Emmeline and Christabel call off their Campaign
to support the War effort and all suffragettes are released from
prison. She tours the United States, Canada and Russia to encourage
the mobilisation of women.
1915: The WPSU changes
the name of its newspaper from "The Suffragette" to "Britannia".
1917: The WSPU changes
its name to the Women’s Party.
1918: The representation
of the People Act gives the vote to Women over 30. Pankhurst tours
the U.S. and Canada for several years.
1926: Emmeline returns
to England and is chosen as the Conservative Candidate for a seat
in East London but her health takes a turn for the worse before
she can be elected.
1928: The amended
Representation of the People Act is passed a few weeks after her
death which gives the same voting rights to women as to men.
Marriage:
1878 to Richard Pankhurst a lawyer 24 years her
senior.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Womens Library, Old Castle Street, E1 7NT.
MANCHESTER:
Pankhurst Centre, 60-62 Nelson Street, Manchester,
M13 9WP.
Date and Place of Death:
14th June 1928, Dr Chetham Strode's Nursing Home,
London, England.
Age at Death:
60.
Site of Grave:
Brompton Cemetery, West Brompton, London, England.
