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| Emmeline Pankhurst |
‘We are not here because we are
law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.’
Emmeline Pankhurst
was a political activist and leader of the Suffragettes. She was born in Manchester where she worked
as a Poor Law Guardian, finding the conditions she encountered in the
workhouses to be shocking.
In 1903, Emmeline founded the Women’s
Social and Political Union (WSPU), their motto was ‘Deeds, Not Words.’ It was their aim to promote equal rights for
women. They fought long and hard to gain
women the right to vote, as well as equality in terms of divorce and
inheritance. The WSPU were a non-violent
group making speeches, organising rallies and petitions, as well as publishing
a newsletter entitled ‘Votes for Women.’
There was however, a more radical side of the group who opted for a more
physical approach, smashing windows and assaulting police officers.
Members of the WSPU were often
arrested and imprisoned for acts of vandalism, including Emmeline Pankhurst
herself, where it soon became part of their protest mission to go on hunger strike. The effects of the constant force-feeding
would affect her health later in life.
Emmeline was joined in her quest by
her daughters: Christabel, Adela and Sylvia, who followed in their mothers’
passion for women’s rights. This was to
change in 1913, when arson became part of the WSPU’s agenda. Several prominent members left the group,
including Adela and Sylvia. The family
rift that was created was never to be healed.
When war broke out in 1914, Emmeline
called a halt to all WSPU action. She urged
the women instead to help the war effort by maintaining the industries and
helping out on the farms. The suffragettes
could not be pacifists at any price. Emmeline
encouraged the men to volunteer for the front lines. She and Christabel were also leading figures
in the White Feather Movement, handing out white feathers to any men who were
able to fight but refused.
One of her more controversial
moments of the war came when she opened an adoption centre at Campden Hill, for
‘War Babies.’ She came under criticism for
offering relief to parents of children born out of wedlock. For Emmeline, it was the welfare of the
children themselves that was her main concern, having had first-hand experience
of their suffering during the time she had spent as a Poor Law Guardian. The home was later turned over to Princess
Alice due to a lack of funds. Emmeline did
however adopt four children of her own, despite not having a steady source of
income and only regretting that she did not adopt more.
In 1918, the hard work of the WSPU
finally paid off when under the Representation of the People Act, all women
over the age of thirty were given the right to vote.
After the war ended, Emmeline
travelled around England and North America, rallying support for the British
Empire and warning people of the dangers of Bolshevism. When a bill was passed allowing women to run
for the House of Commons, Emmeline became very politically active in trying to
get Christabel elected, but she was narrowly defeated. The Women’s Party withered out soon
afterwards. During her later years,
Emmeline became a member of the Conservative Party, a move that shocked and
surprised many people. Although it may
have been a tactical, move in order for her to obtain her goal of equal votes
for women.
In 1928, the Representation of the
People Act extended the voting age for women to twenty-one, making them equal
with the men. Unfortunately, Emmeline
Pankhurst was unable to see the outcome of her life’s work, as she had died
several weeks earlier in a nursing home in Hampstead. She was buried in Brompton Cemetery, London. Two years later, a statue of her was unveiled
in Victoria Tower Gardens.
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