Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst (July 14, 1858 - June 14, 1928) was one of the founders of the British suffragette movement. It is the name of "Mrs. Pankhurst", more than any other, which is associated with the struggle for votes for women in the period immediately preceding World War I.

Related Topics:
July 14 - 1858 - June 14 - 1928 - Suffragette - World War I

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She was born Emmeline Goulden in Manchester, England to abolitionist parents, and married Richard Marsden Pankhurst, a barrister, in 1879. Dr Pankhurst was already a supporter of the women's suffrage movement, and had been the author of the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882. In 1889, Mrs. Pankhurst founded the Women's Franchise League, but her campaign was interrupted by her husband's death in 1898. In 1903 she founded the better-known Women's Social and Political Union, an organization most famous for its militancy which began in 1905. Its members included the notorious Annie Kenney, the suffragette "martyr", Emily Davison, and the composer Dame Ethel Smyth. She was joined in the movement by her daughters, Christabel Pankhurst and Sylvia Pankhurst, both of whom would make a substantial contribution to the campaign in different ways.

Related Topics:
Manchester, England - Abolitionist - 1879 - 1870 - 1882 - 1889 - 1898 - 1903 - 1905 - Emily Davison - Ethel Smyth - Christabel Pankhurst - Sylvia Pankhurst

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Mrs Pankhurst's tactics for drawing attention to the movement succeeded in getting her imprisoned several times, but, because of her high profile, she did not endure the same privations as many of the imprisoned working-class suffragettes; however, she did experience force-feeding after going on hunger strike. Her approach to the campaign did not endear her to everyone, and there were splits within the movement as a result. Her autobiography, My Own Story, was published in 1914.

Related Topics:
Hunger strike - 1914

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In 1914, the First World War broke out, and she felt that nothing should interfere with her country's efforts to win. All attempts to gain votes for women were put on hold, and her efforts were instead directed to urging women to take over men's jobs, so that the men could go and fight in the war. With back up from David Lloyd George, she organised a parade of 30,000 women, costing £2,000, to encourge employers to let women take over men's jobs in industry. In 1916, this allowed the government to draft all able-bodied men into the armed services which they did by advocating the White Feather Campaign. Many suffragetes were involved in the shaming of men in the UK to fight in the First World War. This practice was later outlawed and the resulting slaughter that took place left 1,000,000 men from the UK alone dead and many more injured.

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"Characteristically, Mrs. Pankhurst threw all her energies and all her influence into the effort, which now, designated itself pro-war and pro-conscription. Although, not all of the members of the suffrage movement backed the war, Mrs. Pankhurst?s influence swayed many to follow her lead. Giving its energies wholly to the prosecution of the War, it rushed to a furious extreme, its Chauvinism unexampled amongst all the other women?s societies" (Pankhurst, Sylvia 593).

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Enlistment of the unenlisted was of the highest priority. As Sylvia Pankhurst points out in her chronicle, "The Suffragette Movement", her mother and sister rallied their followers in an effort to reroute the militant momentum which they had so successfully orchestrated in the struggle for suffrage:

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On September 8, 1914, Christabel re-appeared at the London Opera House, after her long exile, to utter a declaration, not on women?s enfranchisement, but on "The German Peril". Mrs. Pankhurst toured the country, making recruiting speeches. Her supporters handed the white feather to every young man they encountered wearing civilian dress, and bobbed up at Hyde Park meetings with placards: "Intern Them All".

Related Topics:
September 8 - 1914

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She died (at age 69) ten years after seeing her most ardently pursued goal come to fruition: the right to vote for women in the United Kingdom.

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