Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst (Emmeline Goulden) was born on July 15th, 1858. Emmeline passed away June 14th, 1928 at 69 years old. Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester, England.

Emmeline Pankhurst is best known as one of the most militant proponents of women’s right to vote. She led the suffragette movement in Britain for more than four decades and achieved success when British women were ultimately granted the right to vote in 1928.

In 1889, Pankhurst established the Women's Franchise League, which was all about the right to vote for women. The organization advocated for voting rights for all women, both unmarried and married.

While she found her earliest successes with Women’s Franchise League, it was with the suffragette organization Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903 that she would make her name. The organization would gain notoriety for assaulting police officers and smashing windows to get their message across.

In 1914, Emmeline Pankhurst and Christabel, her daughter, who had become an important member of the suffragette movement, became prominent figures in supporting Britain’s involvement in the First World War.

In 1917, she became the founder of a political party named the Women’s Party after disbanding the WSPU. The party was intended to promote equality for women in public life. She would use the party to stand for election but in the end, she lost by less than 1000 votes.

Pankhurst died on June 14, 1928, and was unlucky that she never got to experience the extension of the vote to all women above 21 years under the Representation Act passed in the same year.

In 1999, Emmeline was named on the list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century by Time. According to Time, Pankhurst was a woman who shaped the suffragette movement by shaking society into new patterns from which it was impossible to go back.

Emmeline published her memoir My Own Story in 1914 just at the beginning of the First World War. It is a work that brought attention to the suffragette cause, even as she defended her decision to stop all activism until the end of the war. It is a work that has some very vivid descriptions of the prison system in Britain as Pankhurst showcases her life of dedication to justice and equality.

In 1796, Emmeline Pankhurst published her most popular work The Suffragettes which is a classic that comes with a lot of information about the movement. It has everything from bills of law, letters, speeches, and articles from the time before, during, and after the fight for the right to vote for British women. The work is a first-hand account of just about everything published about women’s right to vote during the time.

Related Authors

Fans of Emmeline Pankhurst also enjoy these authors:

1. Maggie O'Farrell, author of: Hamnet.
2. Kristin Hannah, author of: The Nightingale.
3. Leo Tolstoy, author of: Anna Karenina.
4. Henry David Thoreau, author of the Henry David Thoreau Works.
5. Edward W. Said, author of: Orientalism.

Emmeline Pankhurst: F.A.Q