Pankhurst, Emmeline
Pankhurst, Emmeline (1858–1928). suffragette leader. A superb platform speaker with a fine physical presence, Emmeline Pankhurst came to symbolize the women's struggle for the parliamentary vote. Her personal experience of hunger strikes and forcible feeding in prison inspired many women to support the women's cause.
Emmeline acquired radical views from her father Robert Goulden, a Manchester cotton-manufacturer. In 1874 she married the Liberal lawyer Dr Richard Pankhurst and followed him into the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party. She won election as a Poor Law guardian in 1894 and as a school board member in 1900. Following Richard's death in 1898 Emmeline fell under the influence of her eldest daughter Christabel, who became increasingly impatient with the failure of the ILP to give priority to women's suffrage. As a result they established the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903, moved to London, and adopted militant tactics. She received her first term of imprisonment in February 1908 for entering the lobby of the House of Commons. Subsequently she decided to vary her methods by attacking property: ‘the argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics.’ After a spate of window-breaking in the West End in March 1912 she was charged with conspiracy to commit damage and awarded a nine-month sentence. In February 1913 she accepted responsibility for a bomb which exploded at Lloyd George's house at Walton Heath and was sentenced to three years' penal servitude. Under the terms of the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ she was rearrested twelve times.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Emmeline abandoned militancy to devote herself to assisting recruitment. After 1918, when women finally received the vote, she supported herself by means of lecturing tours in the USA and Canada. She returned to Britain in 1926 and became the Conservative candidate for Whitechapel.
Emmeline acquired radical views from her father Robert Goulden, a Manchester cotton-manufacturer. In 1874 she married the Liberal lawyer Dr Richard Pankhurst and followed him into the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party. She won election as a Poor Law guardian in 1894 and as a school board member in 1900. Following Richard's death in 1898 Emmeline fell under the influence of her eldest daughter Christabel, who became increasingly impatient with the failure of the ILP to give priority to women's suffrage. As a result they established the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903, moved to London, and adopted militant tactics. She received her first term of imprisonment in February 1908 for entering the lobby of the House of Commons. Subsequently she decided to vary her methods by attacking property: ‘the argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics.’ After a spate of window-breaking in the West End in March 1912 she was charged with conspiracy to commit damage and awarded a nine-month sentence. In February 1913 she accepted responsibility for a bomb which exploded at Lloyd George's house at Walton Heath and was sentenced to three years' penal servitude. Under the terms of the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ she was rearrested twelve times.
On the outbreak of the First World War, Emmeline abandoned militancy to devote herself to assisting recruitment. After 1918, when women finally received the vote, she supported herself by means of lecturing tours in the USA and Canada. She returned to Britain in 1926 and became the Conservative candidate for Whitechapel.
Martin Pugh
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Pankhurst, Emmeline