Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Unshackled The Story Of How We Won The Vote by Christabel Miss Christabel Harriette Pankhurst. Other sources: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4769024 https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/m01__cj Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Movement: A Reference Guide 1866?1928 (1999); June Purvis, ' and the Women's Social and Political Union', in Joannou and Purvis, The Women's Suffrage Movement: New Feminist Perspectives (1998); Christabel Pankhurst, Unshackled: The Story of How we Won the Vote (1959) Family information: Eldest child of Richard and , WSPU founder. Sister to Christabel and Pankhurst. Additional Information: Christabel joined the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage after meeting its leading lights Esther Roper and Eva Gore-Booth at a series of meetings in 1902?3. She began raising the issue of the vote among textile workers in Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire. Christabel gradually became involved with the WSPU once her mother Emmeline founded it in 1903, when she felt that the (ILP) ? to whom the Pankhurst family had strong ties ? were not fighting hard enough for votes for women. In an early 1904 pamphlet, Christabel wrote that 'working men show little desire to give women the rights which they possess. it is only when all men and all women stand on an equal footing that their interests become the same.' This foreshadowed Christabel and her mother's later break from the and the ILP and, some have argued, from the interests of working class women. This contrasted with the beliefs of her sisters Adela and Sylvia. Christabel really set the women's suffrage movement aflame when she and interrupted a Liberal Party meeting in by shouting out loud the question, 'Will the Liberal goverment give votes to women?' They were promised that the question would be answered at the end of the meeting, and when it was not, they resumed their heckling. The women were roughly thrown out of the hall, with Christabel allegedly 'spitting' at a policeman (which she later denied). This was new, bold behaviour ? at least for a middle class woman ? and it captured the attention of the national press. Christabel spent seven days in prison. When the WSPU moved from its base in Manchester to in 1906, Christabel became its chief organiser. At this time, she began to go after support from wealthier, middle class women, whom she saw as better serving the financial and political interests of the WSPU's fight to get the vote ? rather than the working class women it had relied upon to start with (see Minnie Baldock). Christabel was arrested again in 1907, leading a deputation to the House of Commons, and was sentenced to two weeks in prison and, in 1908, for ten weeks for inciting a 'rush' on the House of Commons. She cleverly used her time in court as a platform to criticise the goverment. Christabel also evaded the government's census survey in 1911 as part of a wider suffrage boycott. When some were released early after hunger striking, Christabel encouraged all imprisoned suffragettes to do the same so that the government could not keep them in prison. The goverment eventually responded by brutally force-feeding suffragettes instead. As part of the leadership of the WSPU, Christabel was under constant threat of arrest and so, in 1912, she fled to . She believed that she could conduct WSPU actions from there better than if she were captured and imprisoned in England. From Paris, Christabel issued orders for a fiercer style of militancy, involving attacks on public and private property. This caused a split in the WSPU, with central figures Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence forced to leave the WSPU because they disagreed with this plan. The policy of more violent militancy was considered a poor one by many, and Christabel was accused of being out of touch with what was going on in England. Overall, Christabel had been a brilliant strategist. She had raised the profile and popularity of the WSPU and of the votes for women cause, but did she now go too far? Christabel has also been criticised for encouraging others to continue the policy (even when forcible feeding was introduced), which was damaging to women's health, while she was living safely in Paris. Was this unfair? When war broke out in 1914, Christabel and the WSPU ceased to campaign for votes for women and turned to helping the goverment with the war effort instead. There is a memorial to her at the base of her mother Emmeline Pankhurst's statue near the House of Commons. Christabel's autobiography, Unshackled, was published after her death in 1959. Other Suffrage Activities: During the First World War, Christabel oversaw the WSPU's production, through its new newspaper Britannia, of anti- German propaganda, and relaunched the WSPU as the Women's Party. She stood for election in in the West Midlands in 1918 but was narrowly defeated. Afterwards, she emigrated to America. The top 10 books about the suffragettes. I t was my dad who first told me about the suffragettes. Aged 12 I was asked at school to prepare a talk on someone important in history. “Why don’t you do Emily Pankhurst?” he suggested. “She’s the one who threw herself under the King’s horse for women’s votes.” Looking back, I greatly appreciate his efforts to steer me in the direction of . But in confusing Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (the suffragettes), with Emily Wilding Davison, whose protest at the 1913 Derby caused her tragic death, he’d accidentally exposed a huge void in popular awareness when it comes to 20th-century women’s history. Years later when I began researching my novel, The Hourglass Factory, I discovered a wealth of books out there on suffragettes. An era of turbulence, back-stabbing, bravery and brilliance, I knew I wanted it to form the basis for a conspiracy thread in the story. Here are my favourite books on the subject. 1. The Movement: An Intimate Account of Persons and Ideals by E (1931) Sylvia Pankhurst’s book is a comprehensive first-hand account of the suffragette movement. Part memoir, part historical narrative, she takes us from her humble childhood to her friendship with Independent Labour Party founding member , to her split from the main WSPU to form the East London Federation of Suffragettes. The allegations of torture in Perth prison are chilling, as is the passage in which Pankhurst reports the return of suffragettes from an Albert Hall meeting: “They came in ones and twos, bruised and disheveled …” 2. Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote by Christabel Pankhurst (1959) Christabel Pankhurst’s history of the WSPU starts with the meeting of her parents and ends with votes being won on equal terms to men - which in a cruel twist of fate coincided with the death of her mother. It’s dense in political history and the minutiae of parliament’s many dodging dances, used to avoid debating the subject of votes for women. But there are also accounts of the creative militant activities of both women and men, including an incident where a member of the Men’s Political Union shimmied up a pillar at a Limehouse meeting to unveil a suffragette banner ‘over the heads of two bewildered Cabinet Ministers.’ 3. The Militant Suffragettes by Antonia Raeburn (1974) This was the first book I picked up on suffragettes and as an introduction to the violent and imaginative activities of the WSPU it’s brilliant. Anecdotes include that of Isabel Kelley - a daredevil who concealed herself on the roof of Dundee’s Kinnaird Hall for 17 hours before breaking in via scaffolding and a skylight - and the creation of an armed guard, wielding wooden clubs for protection of high-level WSPU speakers. 4. Votes for Women by Elizabeth Robins (1907) This 1907 play was written by the American actress and writer, and follows Vida Levering, a New Woman radicalised by her turbulent past and trying to use her experience to carve a better life for other women. It is thought to have sparked the foundation of the Actresses Franchise League and a spate of copycat suffrage plays. But I love it for its caustic lines. ‘”Mad,” “Unsexed”’ spits Levering. “These are the words today. In the Middle Ages men cried out ‘Witch!’ and burnt her.” 5. Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier (2001) Chevalier’s 2001 novel introduces the work of the suffragettes as part of a wider exploration of the changing role of women at the turn of the 20th century. As the Victorian era segues into the Edwardian, isolated and unhappy Kitty Coleman, mother of Maude, is introduced to the WSPU. There is no romanticising of suffragette activities here. The book deals head-on with the the choice then facing women between dedicating their time to a noble cause and their conventional role as mothers. The result is heartbreaking. Emmeline Pankhurst, being arrested at a Suffragette protest in May 1914. Photograph: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images. Votes for Women: The Virago Book of Suffragettes, edited by Joyce Marlow (2001) This huge collection of documents, speeches, journals, extracts from books and letters relating to the women’s movement is invaluable for history detectives. Highlights include a stiffly worded letter from a gentleman complaining to the about the lack of sanitary towels for suffragettes in Holloway (while avoiding using the phrase “sanitary towels”) and a Daily Express article about Miss Muriel Matters who took to a dirigible to drop paper bills on parliament in return for their “dropping” of the women’s suffrage bills. Also illuminating is the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage Manifesto, a reminder of how many women were against the suffrage cause. 7. Vindication! A Postcard History of the Women’s Movement by Ian McDonald (1989) In the early days of the 20th century, postcards were the equivalent of today’s internet memes: a sharp snapshot with a pithy quote or poignant subtitle. McDonald’s book narrates the history of 19th and 20th-century feminism but it’s his chosen images that tell the real story. Pictures of pit workers show women at work in traditionally male domains, while commemorative postcards of the main players in the suffragette movement demonstrate their celebrity status. He also shows how cartoons formed the backbone of the anti-suffrage movement, caricaturing suffragettes as monstrous spinsters. 8. Sally Heathcote, Suffragette by Mary M Talbot, Kate Charlesworth and Bryan Talbot (2014) This inspired book turns the women’s suffrage battle into a graphic novel. Sally Heathcote starts out as maid to Mrs Pankhurst but quickly joins the ranks of the WSPU on arriving in London. The narrative is brought to life with sharp-angled pictures that flash colour into the bleeding wounds, and triumphant green, white and violet suffragette banners. Through Sally’s eyes the day-to-day life of a working-class Edwardian woman feels fresh and vital. Crucially, the authors don’t shy away from criticising branches of the movement. 9. The Suffragettes in Pictures by Diane Atkinson (2010) “Deeds not Words” was the WSPU motto, but when it comes to piecing together their history, former London Museum curator Diane Atkinson knows the value of pictures. Documenting the work that went on in and outside suffragette HQ, the book (one of many Atkinson has written on suffragettes) contains photographs of press-room activities, packed marches and welcoming parties for newly-released prisoners, as well as brutal accounts of the abuse of women on what came to be known as . 10. No Surrender by Constance Maud (1911) Constance Maud’s 1911 novel is a tapestry of the conflicting contemporary opinions on women’s suffrage. Mill girl Jenny Clegg becomes a leading light in the WSPU with the encouragement of wealthy, forward-thinking Mary O’Neil. Their adversaries include prison guards, cabinet ministers and male and female “antis”. The final scene is a devastating reminder of the book’s publication date, where Maud concludes: “And now surely the hour of dawn was nearing … The Conciliation Committee had been formed, and the claims of the women would never more be allowed to be pushed aside," blithely unaware that it would be another 17 years until equal franchise was granted. The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester is published by Simon & Schuster, priced £7.99. Buy it from the Guardian bookshop for £6.39. PANKHURST, Christabel (Harriette) 1880-1958. Born September 22, 1880, in Manchester, England; died February 13, 1958, in , CA; daughter of Richard Marsden (an attorney) and Emmeline (a suffragist) Pankhurst; children: Betty (adopted). Education: Manchester University, LL.B. (first class honors), 1906; also studied law at Victoria University. CAREER: Political and social activist and author. Founder and editor, The Suffragette. MEMBER: Women's Social Political Union (co-founder with mother, Emmeline Pankhurst). AWARDS, HONORS: International law prize, 1905; named dame, Order of the , 1936. WRITINGS: The Parliamentary Vote for Women, A. Heywood (Manchester, England), c. 1896. The Commons Debate on Women Suffrage with a Reply, Women's Press (London, England), 1908. The Militant Methods of the NWSPU, Women's Press (London, England), c. 1908. The Great Scourge and How to End It, Women's Press (London, England), 1913. Plain Facts about a Great Evil, D. Nutt (London, England), 1913. America and the War (speech), Women's Social and Political Union (London, England), c. 1914. The War (speech), National Woman Suffrage (New York, NY), 1914. International Militancy (speech), Women's Social and Political Union (London, England), 1915. Pressing Problems of the Closing Age, Morgan & Scott (London, England), 1924. Some Modern Problems in the Light of Bible Prophecy, F. H. Revell (New York, NY), 1924. The World's Unrest: Visions of the Dawn, Morgan & Scott (London, England), 1926. Seeing the Future, Harper & Bros. (New York, NY), 1929. The Uncurtained Future, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1940. Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote (autobiography), edited by Lord Pethic-Lawrence, Hutchinson (London, England), 1959. Also author of The Lord Commeth! Author of series of articles "The Confessions of Christabel," for Weekly Dispatch. Pankhurst's manuscripts are housed at the National Library of Wales, Manchester University, and Trinity College Library, Cambridge University. SIDELIGHTS: The firstborn daughter of renowned British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst became just as well known as her mother for her tireless efforts to win women the right to vote in England. With her mother, she cofounded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which became a militant force in the movement. Later in life, after women's suffrage had become law, she became a Second Adventist and was a popular speaker on religious issues. Pankhurst was raised by parents who adored her and in an environment that encouraged liberal thinking. After her father died in 1898, she returned to England from , where she had been studying French, to help her mother with the other children, as well as to work at her mother's store. She disliked this work, however, and decided to take some courses as Manchester University, where she met two women's rights advocates, Eva Gore Booth (sister of the first woman elected to Parliament) and Esther Roper, who were working to revive the women's movement. Pankhurst was quickly drawn into the meetings and activities of the Manchester branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and began a political apprenticeship among the working women of the north. "Here, then, was an aim in life for me—the liberation of politically fettered womanhood," she would later write in her autobiography, Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote . Always very close to her mother, in 1903 they founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) together. Pankhurst agreed with her mother that men would never do anything positive for women. Her anti-male tendencies have been interpreted by some historians as an indication of lesbianism, although in her Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst, preferred to view them as part of Christabel's suffrage strategy, which evolved into an open sex war endorsing "Votes for Women, Chastity for Men." Men, Pankhurst argued, were responsible for women's sexual and economic subordination; by their insistence on denying women's suffrage, which women would undoubtedly use to purify both the male race and society, she was also able to hold men responsible for all kinds of social evils, including venereal disease and prostitution. In May of 1905 a private member's bill supporting women's suffrage had been "talked out" in parliament; this suggested to the Pankhursts that the tactics of the constitutional suffragists—which consisted of repeated petitions and deputations—were not getting anywhere. More was needed. The younger Pankhurst, along with friend and fellow working-class suffragette Annie Kenney, decided to disrupt a speech that Prime Minister was giving at Manchester's during the build-up to a general election. During the assembly, they asked whether the Liberal Party, if it came to power, would support women's suffrage. When no answer was given, Pankhurst unfurled a banner on which "Votes for Women" was emblazoned. The two women were ejected from the meeting and were promptly arrested outside the Free Trade Hall when Christabel attempted to make a pro-suffrage speech. Such militant tactics intensified from 1908 onwards. When they escalated to attacks on property and arson the government decided, in 1912, to arrest the leaders of the WSPU on charges of conspiracy. Christabel escaped arrest by fleeing to Paris, where she continued to direct the WSPU campaign and edited The Suffrage for the next two years. With the outbreak of war in 1914 the WSPU ceased its militancy and directed all of its energies towards supporting the war cause. The Union's open support of the war widened a gulf between Pankhurst and her sister Sylvia, however. Pankhurst's The Suffragette became the pro-war Britannia; Sylvia, on the other hand, cofounded the Women's Peace Army with , attended the International Congress of Women for Peace at the Hague, and eventually became a communist. Pankhurst returned to England, believing that women would soon be given the right to vote. She was partially right when in 1918 Parliament granted women over the age of thirty the right to vote. Men could vote at the age of twenty-five, but this disparity was corrected with new legislation in 1928 that made the same for both sexes. With the battle for women's suffrage won, Pankhurst turned to politics as a candidate. She ran for Parliament twice, but was defeated both times. After unsuccessfully seeking employment in an area that would interest her, she became interested in Second Adventism while visiting her mother in Canada. This led to her becoming a convert, and she set about giving sermons about the Second Coming of Christ, as well as writing books such as The World's Unrest: Visions of the Dawn, which reflects her belief that the world was coming to an end and that Judgment Day was nigh. After adopting a daughter, Betty, in 1930 she worked to support Conservative Party candidates while continuing to preach in England for several years about the Second Coming. Pankhurst spent the final years of her life in , where her daughter had moved, and lived long enough to complete her autobiography, which was published a year after her death in 1958. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES: BOOKS. Castle, Barbara, Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst, Penguin (Harmondsworth, England), 1987. Mitchell, David, The Fighting Pankhursts: A Study in Tenacity, Cape (London, England), 1967. Mitchell, David, Queen Christabel: A Biography of Christabel Pankhurst, Macdonald & Jane (London, England), 1977. Noble, Iris, Emmeline and Her Daughters: The Pankhurst Suffragettes, Messner (New York, NY), 1971. Pankhurst, Christabel, Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote, edited by Lord Pethic-Lawrence, Hutchinson (London, England), 1959.* Unshackled by Christabel Pankhurst. About this Item: Paper Back. Condition: New. Lang: -English , Pages 330 , Reprinted in (2016) with the help of original edition published long back (1919). This book is Printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life with Matt laminated multi-Colour SOFTCOVER , Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. Print on Demand.; Seller Inventory # PB1111004325990. Unshackled (1919)[HARDCOVER] Dame Christabel Pankhurst. About this Item: Hard Cover. Condition: New. Lang: -English , Pages 330 , Reprinted in (2016) with the help of original edition published long back (1919). This book is Printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life with Matt laminated multi-Colour HARDCOVER , Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. Print on Demand.; Seller Inventory # 1111004325990. Unshackled: the story of how we won the vote. PANKHURST, Christabel. Published by Cresset Library (1987) From: Cotswold Internet Books (Cheltenham, United Kingdom) About this Item: Condition: Used - Very Good. VG paperback. New edition. Cresset Women's Voices series, with a new introduction by Rita Pankhurst. Very faint crease in spine, otherwise a very nice copy. Seller Inventory # BOOKS273135I. Unshackled: Story of How We Won the Vote (Women's Voices S.) Pankhurst, Christabel. Published by Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group) (1987) From: WorldofBooks (Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom) About this Item: Paperback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR001932757. Unshackled: Story of How We Won the Vote (Women's Voices S.) Pankhurst, Christabel. Published by Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group) (1987) From: WorldofBooks (Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom) About this Item: Paperback. Condition: Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Seller Inventory # GOR002021041. Unshackled: The Story Of How We Won The Vote. Pankhurst, Christabel (Rita Pankhurst intro) Published by Cresset Women's Voices, London 1987 (1987) From: THE CROSS Art + Books (Sydney, NSW, Australia) About this Item: 21.5 x 13.5cms, 312pp, b/w illusts, very good paperback illusts This book begins with Pankhurst's family history and years of preparation. It traces the 1905 militancy and ends with 1914 as the last year of militancy and the years of women's armistice. Seller Inventory # 176688. Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote. Christabel Pankhurst. Published by Hutchinson (1959) From: WeBuyBooks (Rossendale, LANCS, United Kingdom) About this Item: Hardcover. Condition: Good. A good condition ex library copy with the usual markings. Rebound into original covers incorporating dust jacket. Light wear, darkened with age. Good condition is defined as: a copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # mon0017621610. Unshackled. Christabel Pankhurst. Published by Cresset Women's Voices, London (1987) From: Turn The Page Books (Sydney, NSW, Australia) About this Item: Softcover. Condition: Good. Age toning to page edges. Creasing to corners of card cover. Moderate age and reading wear. 312 pages. No internal inscriptions. No torn or missing pages. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Category: Politics & Government; Women & Feminism. ISBN: 0091728851. ISBN/EAN: 9780091728854. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 55946. Seller Inventory # 55946. Unshackled 1919 [Leather Bound] Dame Christabel Pankhurst. About this Item: Leather Bound. Condition: New. 330 Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine. Reprinted in 2016 with the help of original edition published long back [1919]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. Lang: - English, Pages 330, Print on Demand. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. Language: English. Seller Inventory # LB1111004325990. UNSHACKLED : The Story of How We Won the Vote. Pankhurst, Dame Christabel. Published by Hutchinson of London, London (1959) From: Diversity Books, IOBA (Korumburra, VIC, Australia) About this Item: Hardcover (Original Cloth). Condition: Good +. First Edition. 312pp., b/white frontispiece, and unpaginated plates throughout (all called-for plates extant and attached) Book clean and square. Patinated title over mildly bumped spine. Red cloth boards mildly splash-stained on rear board, else minimally colour-flecked. No dustjacket. Textblock edges flecked, else unmarked. The manuscript for this book was found among Christobel Pankhurst's stored possessions, by her executrix Miss , after her death in California in 1958. The suffragette tells of the struggles she and her 'fellow' suffragettes suffered in their battle for the right to vote . . . Contents include: Prelims., Preface by the Editor, 18 chapters, Postscript by the Editor, Index. Book weight approx. 495g. Size: 8vo - over 7�" - 9�" Tall. Seller Inventory # 013029. Unshackled: Story of How We Won the Vote (Women's Voices) Pankhurst, Christabel. Published by Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group) (1987) About this Item: Condition: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Seller Inventory # 18334369-20. Unshackled 1919 [FULL LEATHER BOUND] Dame Christabel Pankhurst. About this Item: Full Leather Bound. Condition: New. 330 Antique look with Golden Leaf Printing and embossing with round Spine completely handmade binding. Reprinted in 2016 with the help of original edition published long back [1919]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure in old look so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. Lang: - English, Pages 330, Print on Demand. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED. Language: English. Seller Inventory # SD1111004325990. Christabel Pankhurst, Suffragette icon. This year, we remember the struggle for female suffrage, and the women who fought for it. June Purvis, author of Christabel Pankhurst: A Biography, spoke to us about this iconic campaigner and her role in securing Votes for Women. Dr. June Purvis. Author, Christabel Pankhurst:A Biography. Watercolour portrait of Christabel Pankhurst. Who was Christabel Pankhurst? Christabel Pankhurst (1880-1958) was a very influential figure in the suffragette movement in Edwardian Britain since she was the co-leader, with her mother Emmeline, of the Suffragettes of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). The WSPU had been founded in October 1903 by Emmeline, Christabel and some local socialist women, at the Pankhurst home at 62 Nelson Street, Manchester. Christabel became the Chief Organiser and key strategist of the WSPU. In later life, Christabel converted to Second Adventism and in 1940 moved to the USA where she became a successful preacher and wrote about the Second Coming of Christ. However, it is for her suffrage work that she is remembered. Christabel was leaving for the USA on a speaking tour. What inspired you to write a biography of Christabel? Christabel has been very much maligned by historians, especially by her younger sister Sylvia, whose influential 1931 book The Suffragette Movement has become the dominant narrative of the campaign and Pankhurst family life. Sylvia was a socialist feminist who want to ally the WSPU to the socialist movement while Christabel, who resigned her membership of the Independent Labour Party, wanted to keep the WSPU free from affiliation to any of the men’s political parties of the day. In her book, Sylvia presents a hostile picture of Christabel, their mother’s favourite child. Writing as a rejected daughter, a jealous sister and an angry socialist she presents Christabel as right wing, elitist, ruthless and autocratic. I had read enough in the primary sources to question this portrayal, which has been accepted unquestioningly by most commentators. Further, the late Jill Craigie gave me exclusive access to the Suffragette papers she held, particularly papers belonging to Christabel. So all these factors inspired me to research further, and write a biography of this eldest Pankhurst daughter. Photograph of Annie Kenney in the dress of a working woman with a shawl covering her head. How different were the tactics of the Suffragette movement compared to previous campaigners for votes for women? We must not forget that women had been campaigning for the parliament vote for women from at least 1865, using constitutional, peaceful methods such as writing to MPs, presenting an annual petition to parliament. This had brought no success. Christabel decided that women had been too submissive and had to become more assertive about their democratic rights, which she called a ‘militant’ strategy. Thus, together with Annie Kenney a working-class recruit to the WSPU, she initiated in 1905 the tactic of heckling MPs and a willingness to go to prison for the cause. Photographed by Christina Broom. As she was being carried past a group of reporters Emmeline called out 'Arrested at the gates of the Palace. Tell the King'. Christabel and Emmeline had tensions over tactics with the other Pankhursts: why was that? In October 1912, when the vote had still not been granted, Christabel and Emmeline decided to escalate the scale of militancy, which would include damage to property. This was a reaction to the violence the suffragettes had encountered on 18 when, on a peaceful demonstration, they were treated with exceptional brutality by the police as they tried to push them back from reaching . Many of the assaults on the women, on ‘Black Friday’ as it became known, were of a sexual nature. The injured women said to Emmeline Pankhurst – what was the point of suffering damage to their bodies when protesting peacefully if the smashing of a window brought about a quicker arrest without physical assault. Thus window smashing was engaged in, as well as attacks on pillar boxes and setting fire to empty buildings, as a way to force the Liberal Government of the day to give women the vote. Throughout this campaign, both Emmeline and Christabel emphasised that there should be no danger to human life. However, both Sylvia and Adela, the youngest Pankhurst daughter, disagreed with this escalation in vandalism. Since Sylvia allied her East London Federation of the Suffragettes to the socialist movement, contrary to WSPU rules, she was expelled from the WSPU in 1914. Emmeline also thought, erroneously, that the unhappy Adela was planning to establish a rival organisation to the WSPU and so suggested to her that she start a new life in Australia. Adela welcomed the proposal as a way to get out of a difficult situation. So the WSPU’s policy caused rifts in the Pankhurst family. No exceptions could be made for relatives. The same rules that applied to the membership applied to sisters and daughters.