15 July 1858 - 14 June 1928
FEMINIST, SUFFRAGETTE, & ACTIVIST
Emmeline Pankhurst campaigned for women to have the right to vote. This was nothing new; women had been demanding the right to vote for over 40 years. In 1918, British Parliament allowed women over the age of 30 to vote.
Pankhurst was born in Manchester, England to political active parents. Her parents were against slavery and believed women should have the right to vote. Her mother took her to a suffrage meeting when she was aged 14.
Pankhurst had no desire to get married, however, her boyfriend Richard Pankhurst persuaded her to in 1879, he also supported the rights for women to vote. The couple moved to London and had five children. The couple ran out of money and moved to Manchester where Pankhurst helped the poor. In 1898, Richard died and Pankhurst was left alone to support her family. She moved somewhere cheaper and formed a women’s group. In 1907, Pankhurst was living out of a suitcase and would stay at a hotel or with friends. This gave her the freedom to travel and speak at various rallies in England. In 1909, she toured America and in 1913 she gave a speech to a crowd of half a million people in Hyde Park, London.
During World War I, the Suffragettes were prominent in the White Feather movement. They worked as nurses on the battlefield as well as doing men’s work at home. The Suffragettes opened a home for children of unmarried mothers; Pankhurst adopted four of these children. When women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote, Pankhurst fought for the rights of women over the age of 21 to vote.
Pankhurst died in 1928, aged 69, weeks after women over the age of 21 were given the right to vote. In 1969, the voting age was dropped to 18 for both genders.