The work of the suffragettes
Timeline for votes for women
|
1870
|
1918 |
1928
|
|
The
Education Act allows women ratepayers to stand for, and vote in, elections
for local school boards |
Women over
the age of 30 given the vote |
Women over
the age of 21 given the vote |
Here we take
a look at the life of Christabel Harriette Pankhurst
Christabel was born in Manchester on 22nd September
1880.
She went on to be classed as a pioneer for the cause, an educated women who knew
what she believed in.
Christabel was
the daughter of Dr. Richard Pankhurst and
Emmeline Pankhurst, and a sister of Sylvia. In
1905, Christabel interrupted a
Liberal Party meeting by shouting and asking
when women would gain the right to vote. She was arrested and along with fellow
suffragette Annie Kenney went to prison rather
than pay a fine as punishment for their outburst. Their case gained a lot of
media interest and the membership of the
Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) grew
following their trial. Emmeline began to take
more militant action for the suffragette cause
after her daughter's arrest and was herself imprisoned on many occasions for her
principles.
In 1906,
Christabel Pankhurst obtained a law degree from the
University of Manchester. Between 1912 and 1913 she lived in
Paris, France to escape imprisonment under the
terms of the Prisons (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act. After the end of
World War I, she ran as a Coalition candidate
for Parliament but was defeated. Christabel left England and moved to America
where she eventually became an evangelist an
interesting change of heart as
many
suffragettes had destroyed
churches in
the United Kingdom, as the Church of England had been against votes for women.
She was made a
Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1936.
Christabel
Pankhurst died on 13th February 1958 in Los Angeles,
California and is buried in the Woodlawn
Memorial Cemetery in California.
