Emmeline Pankhurst(1858 — 1928)

Organisation founded in Manchester with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia, the WSPU became the spearhead of the radical British suffragist movement. Its motto 'Deeds not Words' marked a turning point in the history of militant feminism.

Emmeline Pankhurst coordinated years of demonstrations, arrests, hunger strikes and spectacular actions (window smashing, setting fire to letterboxes) that forced public opinion and the government to take the issue of women's suffrage seriously.

An autobiographical account published in English, in which Emmeline recounts her activist journey and justifies the use of direct action. This book is a valuable historical source on the British suffragist movement.

Emmeline Pankhurst travelled the English-speaking world to advocate for women's right to vote, raising funds and mobilising international opinion with an eloquence recognised by supporters and opponents alike.

During the First World War, Emmeline Pankhurst organised demonstrations to encourage women to enter factories and support the war effort, which helped change the government's view of their civic capacity.

Without having participated in drafting the legislation, Emmeline Pankhurst is widely credited with making the granting of voting rights to British women inevitable, achieved in 1918 for women over 30, then in 1928 for all women.

I have described myself as a woman who had a lifelong training for the revolutionary movement... We were determined to win the vote, and we meant to do so by constitutional means if we could, and by other means if we must.

We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.

The WSPU is not a debating society, but a union of women united by a common determination to obtain the Parliamentary vote as a means of furthering the interests of their sex.

We claim that the time has arrived when women, equally with men, should have the right to vote for Members of Parliament, and we call upon His Majesty's Government to grant this claim without further delay.

Votes for Women is not a party question. It is a human question — a question of justice and of common sense.

Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester in 1858 and founded the WSPU there in 1903. The working-class industrial city shaped her political and social conscience from childhood.

The main stage for suffragist demonstrations, WSPU militants regularly organised rallies there and chained themselves to the gates to demand the right to vote. A statue of Emmeline stands today in the garden adjoining Parliament.

Emmeline Pankhurst was imprisoned there on numerous occasions. She conducted hunger strikes and endured force-feeding, becoming a living symbol of female resistance in the face of injustice.

From 1906, the WSPU established its headquarters at Clement's Inn. It was from there that Emmeline coordinated national campaigns, publications, fundraising, and militant actions.

Emmeline Pankhurst delivered one of her most celebrated speeches there in 1913, 'Freedom or Death', which made a profound impact on American public opinion and helped internationalise the suffragist cause.