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Suffrage and the Pankhursts - Part 1

© Katie Anne Gustafsson

Born in Manchester, England in 1858, Emmeline (Emily) Goulden was a daughter of parents of radical beliefs. Her mother, one of the earlier suffrage supporters, in particular would influence the path that Emily would walk as an adult by taking her young daughter to suffrage meetings.

After a time at a Paris finishing school (as unconventional as her parents were, Emily's formal education followed a traditional path), Emily returned to Manchester in 1878 where she met socialist Richard Pankhurst, a strong femininist supporter. Two years later, they were married. During the early years of her marriage, Emily gave birth to four children. The eldest two, Christabel and Sylvia, would become strong supporters of the suffrage movement in their own right as they became older. In 1898, after less than 20 happy years of marriage, Richard died from a perforated ulcer.

In 1895, Emily became a Poor Law Guardian, and in the course of her duties visited a local poor house. Here she witnessed first hand the way that the system dealt with women and children. It was her experience in this respect, together with the beliefs that had been taught to her at home, that started her on a road that would inevitably end in her personal health deteriorating through constant imprisonment all in her mission to protect women from the laws that were made and enforced by men who had little idea about the women they were condemning. One of her first major roles was as the founder of the Women's Social and Political Union where she endeavoured to recruit working class women to fight for their right to vote.

At first the tactics were low key, interrupting public speeches by prominent politicians by members of the WSPU shouting out the question of whether or not the politician would give votes to women if elected. The women who did this were instantly removed from the hall and throw out of the building, despite the fact that men shouted out their questions in a similar manner. In 1905, Emily's eldest daughter Christabel was arrested, along with another prominent suffrage supporter Annie Kennedy, when they attended a London meeting and shouted out "Will the Liberal Government give votes to women?" When they refused to be evicted, and lashed out at the policeman trying to remove them from the hall, they were arrested and charged with assault. Refusing to pay the 5 shilling fine, the women were sent to prison. The face and mood of suffrage was changing. For the first time in British history, women had used violence in their endeavours to change the political stance on the right of women to vote.