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Summary
- Early Life and Education
- Role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement
- Exile in France
- World War I Contributions
- Later Life and Death
Key Facts And Information
Let’s find out more about Christabel Pankhurst!
Christabel Pankhurst was a key figure in the movement for women's voting rights in Britain. She helped run the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and supported bold, sometimes aggressive protests to demand change. She was arrested several times and later moved to France to avoid prison.
During World War I, she focused on helping Britain’s war effort, believing it would lead to voting rights for women. After the war, she ran for office but later moved to the United States, where she became a religious speaker and writer. Even though she left activism, her work helped women in Britain win the right to vote.
Christabel Pankhurst
Early Life and Education of Christabel Pankhurst
- Christabel Pankhurst was born on 22 September 1880, in Manchester, England. She was the eldest daughter of Emmeline and Richard Pankhurst who were both political activists.
- Her father was a lawyer who fought for women's voting rights and her mother led the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Pankhurst had two younger sisters, Sylvia and Adela, who also worked for women’s rights, although they later disagreed on how the fight should be carried out.
- Even though the family often struggled with money, they always put their beliefs first. Pankhurst frequently assisted her mother, who served as the Registrar of Births and Deaths in Manchester. This job helped her understand the legal and social problems that women faced.
- People who knew Pankhurst said she was smart, confident, and charming. Her father named her after the poem “Christabel” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, showing how much he loved and admired her. She was a quick learner and taught herself to read before she even started school.
- She and her sisters attended Manchester High School for Girls, a school that encouraged young women to do well in their studies. Inspired by her father’s work as a lawyer and her mother’s activism, she decided to study law at the University of Manchester. She was a hardworking student and graduated with honours. However, because she was a woman, she was not allowed to work as a lawyer in England.
- After finishing school, she moved to Geneva for a short time to live with a family friend. But in 1898, when her father died, she returned home to help her mother take care of her younger siblings. Her mother later died in 1928.
Role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement
- Pankhurst was a leader in the fight for women's voting rights in Britain. She helped make the WSPU a strong group that took action. Unlike others, the WSPU used protests to demand change, following the motto "actions, not words."
- In 1905, Pankhurst and Annie Kenney went to a Liberal Party meeting and demanded voting rights for women. When they refused to be silent, they were arrested for causing trouble. Instead of paying a fine, they went to jail to make a statement. Their arrest caught the attention of newspapers, and more women joined the WSPU.
- After this, Pankhurst became one of the WSPU’s main leaders. She moved to London in 1906 and became the organising secretary of the group. She helped plan protests and public speeches. People even called her “Queen of the Mob” because of her ability to lead large crowds of protesters.
- Pankhurst was arrested several more times. In 1907, she was jailed for protesting in Parliament Square, and in 1909, she was imprisoned again after a major trial.
Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst
Exile in France
- As the WSPU's protests grew stronger, the British government made stricter laws. In 1913, they passed the “Cat and Mouse Act,” letting weak, hunger-striking suffragettes leave prison but arresting them again once they got better. To avoid being put in jail under this law, Pankhurst moved to Paris.
- Even though she was far from Britain, she remained in charge of the WSPU. She wrote articles for The Suffragette newspaper and gave instructions to her followers. Activists like Kenney and Ida Wylie travelled to France to bring back her messages. Some of her closest supporters, including Irene Dallas, Hilda Dallas, Blanche Edwards, and Alice Morgan Wright, even visited her in Paris for Christmas in 1912, showing their loyalty to her leadership.
- While Pankhurst was in France, the WSPU continued its protests in Britain. Members smashed windows and set fire to mailboxes to pressure the government into giving women the right to vote. But everything changed in 1914 when World War I started.
World War I Contributions of Christabel Pankhurst
- When war broke out, Pankhurst returned to England on 8 September 1914. She spoke at London’s Royal Opera House, warning about “The German Peril” which was a campaign led by Norah Dacre Fox that called for stronger action against Germany. The WSPU now supported Britain’s war effort, working with nationalist groups like the British Empire Union and the National Party.
- Pankhurst and Fox travelled around the country, giving speeches to encourage men to join the army. Some of their supporters even handed out white feathers (a symbol of cowardice) to young men who were not in uniform, pressuring them to enlist.
- The WSPU’s newspaper, The Suffragette, was restarted in 1915 but changed its name to Britannia later that year. Through this newspaper, Pankhurst made strong demands, including:
- Forcing men to join the military
- Requiring women to work in factories and other jobs to help the war effort
- Arresting and imprisoning all enemy foreigners in Britain, no matter their age or gender
- Cutting off trade with enemy countries to weaken them
- At public meetings in Hyde Park WSPU supporters held signs reading “Intern Them All,” calling for the imprisonment of foreign nationals in Britain. Pankhurst also wanted government officials like Sir Edward Grey and General William Robertson removed from their positions, as she believed they were not doing enough to win the war.
- Her extreme views made Britannia a controversial newspaper. The police often raided its offices, and it became harder to publish. Eventually, Christabel and her supporters had to set up their own printing press to keep it running.
- Aside from politics, Pankhurst and her mother also worked to help women and children affected by the war. One of their projects was to create WSPU-run homes for “war babies” or children born to unmarried mothers during wartime. However, their efforts were not very successful, and only five children were adopted.
- Pankhurst also changed her opinion of some politicians. Before the war, she had seen David Lloyd George as an enemy of women’s rights. But during the war, she and her mother began to trust him and believed he was the right person to lead Britain.
- Pankhurst supported the war, believing it would prove women's value and help them gain voting rights. In 1918, the government passed the Representation of the People Act which allowed some women over 30 to vote if they owned property. It wasn’t full equality, but it was progress. In 1928, women finally got the same voting rights as men.
- Her choice to back the war instead of continuing protests led to disagreements. Her sister Sylvia felt she had abandoned working-class women. Despite this, Pankhurst believed helping Britain in the war was the best way to win voting rights for women.
Later Life and Death
- After women won partial voting rights in 1918, Pankhurst decided to enter politics. She first planned to run for election in Westbury, Wiltshire, but later chose to run in Smethwick as a Women’s Party candidate. The Women’s Party came from the WSPU and supported strong national defence, equal rights for women, and rebuilding Britain after World War I.
- Her campaign called for a "Victorious Peace," saying Germany should pay for war damages. She also used the slogan "Britain for the British" to promote national pride. Although she supported Prime Minister David Lloyd George, she didn’t get official backing from his government. The election was close, but she lost to Labour’s John Davison by 775 votes. Disappointed, she never ran for office again.
- In 1921, Pankhurst moved to the U.S. and turned to religion. She joined the Second Adventist movement, which believed in Jesus Christ’s return. She stopped being involved in politics and instead spent her time being a preacher and writing about religion. She wrote several books on Christian beliefs and the Second Coming of Jesus.
- Even though she was no longer fighting for women’s rights, Pankhurst remained a public figure. In the 1950s, she appeared on television and was invited to give speeches. People saw her as an interesting mix of a former activist, a passionate religious believer, and a proper “English lady.”
- During her time in California, she adopted a daughter named Betty. After many years of sadness over losing her mother, she finally had a family of her own.
- In the 1930s, Pankhurst returned to Britain and was honoured for her work in women’s rights. In 1936, she was made a Dame for her service to the public. This was very different from her past when she was arrested for protesting. Now, the British government saw her as an important figure in history.
- During World War II, Pankhurst moved back to Los Angeles, where she spent her later years focused on religion and writing. On 13 February 1958, she died of a heart attack at age 77 while sitting in a chair. She was buried at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, California.
Frequently Asked Questions About Christabel Pankhurst
- Who was Christabel Pankhurst?
Christabel Pankhurst was a British suffragette, co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), and a key leader in the fight for women’s voting rights in the UK.
- What role did she play in the suffrage movement?
She was a strategist and leader of the WSPU, advocating militant tactics such as protests, hunger strikes, and civil disobedience to demand women’s suffrage.
- Why did Christabel Pankhurst go into exile?
In 1912, she fled to France to avoid arrest for her militant activism. She continued directing the suffrage movement from abroad until returning in 1914.