Inspiring People

Emmeline Pankhurst

Some of the qualities of Emmeline Pankhurst were that she demonstrated great courage, honesty and unselfishness.

Emmeline Pankhurst, was born in Manchester the daughter of Dr. Richard Pankhurst and Emmeline Pankhurst, members of the Independent Labour Party and much concerned with women's rights. She and her sisters attended the Manchester High School for Girls. Her sister, Christabel, would also become an activist.

In 1906 she started to work full-time with the Women's Social and Political Union with her sister and her mother. In 1914 she broke with the WSPU over the group's support for the First World War. She then set up the East London Federation of Suffragettes (ELFS), which over the years changed its name to Women's Suffrage Federation and then to the Workers' Socialist Federation. She founded the newspaper of the WSF, Women's Dreadnought, which became the Workers Dreadnought. It organized against the war.

In 1895 Emmeline became a Poor Law Guardian. This involved regular visits to the local workhouse and she was deeply shocked by the misery and suffering of the inmates. She became particularly concerned about the way women were treated and it reinforced her belief that women's suffrage was the only way these problems would be solved.

On 13th October 1905, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney attended a meeting in London to hear Sir Edward Grey, a minister in the British government. When Grey was talking, the two women constantly shouted out, "Will the Liberal Government give votes to women?" When the women refused to stop shouting the police were called to evict them from the meeting. Pankhurst and Kenney refused to leave and during the struggle a policeman claimed the two women kicked and spat at him. Pankhurst and Kenney were arrested and charged with assault.

Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney were found guilty of assault and fined five shillings each. When the women refused to pay the fine they were sent to prison. The case shocked the nation. For the first time in Britain women had used violence in an attempt to win the vote. In 1907 Emmeline moved to London and joined her two daughters in the militant struggle for the vote. For the next seven years she was imprisoned repeatedly. Now in her fifties, Emmeline's actions inspired many other women to follow her example of committing acts of civil disobedience. In one eighteen month period, she endured ten hunger-strikes.

She died in 1960, and was given a full state funeral at which Haile Selassie named her 'an honorary Ethiopian'. She is the only foreigner buried in front of Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, in the area reserved for patriots of the Italian war.