Ten years in the making, grounded in wide-ranging research and
primary sources, this is a new and controversial portrait of 'the
best loved and best hated woman' in Edwardian England, Emmeline
Pankhurst. Mrs Pankhurst is a figure of historical stature, heroine
of the Votes for Women Campaign and founder of the Women's Social
and Political Union. Yet assessments of her character and
achievements have hitherto rested on two partial biographies by her
warring daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, and sundry accounts of
the WSPU. While Christabel has nothing but 'awe and admiration' for
her mother, Professor Purvis claims that it is Sylvia's disaffected
criticisms that have ruined our understanding of the pioneer. Was
she really a formidable autocrat who ruled her family and the WSPU
with a rod of iron? A monster who pursued her dream over the bodies
of her children? And, in the end, nothing more than a ruthless,
middle-class opportunist? Or was there rather more to Emmeline than
has so far met the eye? The author's heroine is a positive
whirlwind of energy and a fighter whose abilities would make anyone
other than Margaret Thatcher feel inadequate. Emmeline was not only
prepared to take on all the social woes of womanhood; she was a
whiz at everything from interior decor to organizing
demonstrations. She laid her own carpets, did her own upholstery
and had five children. With the support of her husband Richard, a
barrister and political extremist, she managed to break free from
the designated child-like role of a wife. Instead, the Pankhursts
plunged into numerous social protests. Emmeline was appalled by
conditions at the Bryant and May factories where women workers
developed 'phossy jaw' from dipping matches into phosphorous. She
became associated with the Women's Franchise League not just to
obtain the vote but to try to gain equal divorce and inheritance
rights. When her husband died, she earned her own living, managing
shops, working as a registrar and lecturing. She founded the WSPU
in 1903 with Christabel as a single-sex organization based on deeds
rather than words. Emmeline saw her quest for the vote as the
fulfilment of her destiny. Leading a procession of 3,000 women to
the Commons, she gained widespread publicity. The lengthy and
almost unendurable fight for votes makes sober reading. A vicious
cycle of imprisonment, hunger strikes and forcible feeding lasted
for years. Emmeline and the WSPU are shown tenaciously and bravely
pursuing a heartbreaking trail as they found themselves tricked and
betrayed at every turn by Asquith's Liberal government. Although
the campaigns ceased during the First World War and women were
eventually granted the vote afterwards, the author points to the
failure of historians to explore Mrs Pankhurst's wider role - her
campaigning to allow women to undertake war work, her patriotic
feminism and her achievement in helping to bring about a blurring
of traditional gender roles. This is a timely, important and highly
readable study of an unjustly caricatured figure. (Kirkus UK)
Emmeline Pankhurst was perhaps the most influential woman of the twentieth century. Today her name is synonymous with the 'votes for women' campaign and she is remembered as the most brave and inspirational suffrage leader in history. In this absorbing account of her life both before and after the campaign for women's suffrage, June Purvis documents her early political work, her active role within the suffrage movement and her role as a wife and mother within her family.
This fascinating full-length biography of Emmeline Pankhurst, the first for nearly seventy years, draws upon new approaches to feminist biography to place her within the context of her family and friends. It is based upon an unrivalled range of primary sources, including personal interviews with her surviving family.
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