1st Edition

Emmeline Pankhurst A Biography

By June Purvis Copyright 2002
    480 Pages
    by Routledge

    480 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    1. Childhood and Young Womanhood 2. Marriage and entry in to Political life 3. Political Hostess 4. Social and public Representative 5. Widowhood and Employment 6. Foundation and early years of WSPU 7. To London 8. Autocrat of the WSPU? 9. Emmeline and Christabel 10. 'A New and More Heroic Plane.' 11. Personal Sorrow and Fortitude 12. The Truce Renewed 13. The Women's Revolution 14. Break with the Pethick Lawrences 15. Honorary Treasurer of the WSPU and Agitator 16. Prisoner of the Cat and Mouse Act 17. Ousting of Sylvia and a Fresh Start for Adela 18. Fugitive 19. War work and a second Family 20. War Emissary to Russia: Emmeline versus the Bolsheviks 21. Leader of the Women's Party 22. Lecturer in North America and Defender of the British Empire 23. Last Years: Conservative Parliamentary candidate. 24. Niche in History.

    Biography

    June Purvis

    'What Purvis does for Emmeline Pankhurst in her new biography is to provide a detailed, scrupulous, excellently researched retelling of the story, and thus offer a vindication of the woman.' - Michael Foot, The Guardian

    'The product of careful and thorough research, offering in many respects an important corrective to established views ... Purvis has tracked down surviving letters in many scattered collections, as well as patiently trawling through newspaper reports of Emmeline's speeches, and gaining exclusive access to the late Jill Craigie's collection of suffrage material' - Mark Bostridge, Times Literary Supplement