Tell me about Emmeline Pankhurst

A.� Daughter of Robert Goulden and Sophia Crane, she was born in Manchester in 1858, and became the greatest campaigner for women's suffrage. < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Votes for women She had unconventional parents then

A.� Yes. Her father was businessman with radical political beliefs who campaigned against slavery and the Corn Laws. Emmeline's mother was a passionate feminist and took her daughter to women's suffrage meetings in the early 1870s.

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Q.� She married

A.� Yes. At the age of 20, Emmeline met lawyer Richard Pankhurst, a committed socialist and strong advocate of women's suffrage. Richard had helped draft an amendment to the Municipal Franchise Act (1869) that resulted in unmarried women householders being allowed to vote in local elections. He was 24 years older, but they married and had four children within the first six years: Christabel (1880), Sylvia (1882), Frank (1884) and Adela (1885).

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Q.� But she kept up the good fight for suffrage

A.� Yes - and in 1889 they both helped form the pressure group, the Women's Franchise League. In 1895 she became a Poor Law Guardian. Conditions in the workhouse shocked her deeply. She became particularly worried about the way women were treated there.

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Q.� Was she affiliated to a political party

A.� Emmeline and her husband were both active members of the Independent Labour Party. Richard stood for Parliament unsuccessfully.

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Q.� But how was the campaign stepped up

A.� Richard died from a perforated ulcer in 1898. By 1903 Emmeline had founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and aimed to recruit working class women into the votes campaign. The Press was losing an interest in the suffragettes so a stronger publicity campaign was needed. It started on 13 October, 1905, when Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney heckled government minister Sir Edward Grey at a London meeting. They became involved in a fracas with police and were arrested. Fined five shillings for assault, they refused to pay and were sent to prison. The nation was shocked.

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Q.� And Mrs Pankhurst joined in

A.� Of course. She moved to London in 1907 and joined her daughters' militant struggle. For the next seven years she was imprisoned repeatedly - and her incarceration and hunger strikes inspired much admiration from women. The action went on until 4 August, 1914.

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Q.� Success

A.� No, war. The suffragettes suspended all political activity and jailed campaigners were freed. Mrs Pankhurst took a very patriotic, right-wing, stance. Slogans included: 'We Demand the Right to Serve', 'For Men Must Fight and Women Must work' and 'Let None Be Kaiser's Cat's Paws'.

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In 1917 Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women's Party and among its aims were 'a clean sweep of all officials of enemy blood or connections from government departments. Stringent peace terms to include the dismemberment of the Hapsburg Empire.' It also called for 'equal pay for equal work, equal marriage and divorce laws, the same rights over children for both parents, equality of rights and opportunities in public service, and a system of maternity benefits.'

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Q.� So mother and daughter were abandoning their socialist beliefs

A.� Yes, even to the extent of calling for the abolition of trade unions and joining the Conservative Party. This appalled the other daughter, Sylvia.

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Q.� So when did women get the vote

A.� Women over 30 could�put their X in the box in 1918. It was lowered to 21, the same as men, in 1928. Emmeline Pankhurst died the same year.

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By Steve Cunningham