Pankhurst

by Jad Adams

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was a leading suffragette and founder in 1903 of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was incensed by the refusal of the Independent Labour Party to admit women. In reaction she founded the all-female WSPU. Both Emmeline and her daughter Christabel were imprisoned many times for the political stance and militancy, with which they fought for the women’s right to vote. Her battle-cry, ‘remove the political disability of sex’, is as relevant today as it was explosive then.

Genres: Feminism, Politics, History

186 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Jad Adams is a historian working as an author and an independent television producer. He has specialized in work on radical characters from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and 'the decadence' of the 1890s.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy to read introduction to the life, times, and role of Emmeline Pankhurst in the women's suffrage movement. A woman, both ahead of her times, and yet, very much of her times.

The book is a reminder of just how fiercely the battle for 'votes for women' was fought, but also of how long the 'battle' had been going, and that Emmeline's 'Women's Social and Political Union' was just one element of the push for women's suffrage at a time when universal suffrage itself was still being fought for.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

In just over 150 pages, 'Pankhurst' provides a concise biography of Emmeline Pankhurst, her daughters, and the suffrage movement that became the controversial pressure group in Britain in the early years of the twentieth century that campaigned for votes for women.
The Women's Social and Political Union, born in Manchester, was founded and driven by Emmeline. The suffragette movement also involved husband Richard and daughters Christabel, Adela and Sylvia.
These middle class ladies initiated and directed the fight for 'Votes for Women', begun in 1903, which resulted in civil actions that rocked the political establishment of the day, women chaining themselves to railings, sabotage of Historic houses and churches, smashing windows, setting fire to letter boxes, imprisonment, hunger strikes, damage to paintings and telegraph poles along with the famous death of Emily Davidson at the Epson Derby. Girls not to be messed with!
The Pankhurst girls were primarily responsible for obtaining votes for some women in 1918. In Europe, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and the Soviet Union gave women the vote before Britain. The gold medal was won by New Zealand.