Kara Sears
Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading British suffragette who played a militant role in fighting to gain women the right to vote. She was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved, including once for striking a police officer twice in the face to ensure she would be arrested. Pankhurst defended her militant tactics, saying: The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do.
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What You'll Learn
Striking a police officer
Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading British suffragette who played a militant role in fighting to gain women the right to vote. She was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved.
One of the most notable instances of Pankhurst breaking the law was when she struck a police officer twice in the face in June 1909. She did this to ensure she would be arrested, as she saw imprisonment as a means to publicise the urgency of women's suffrage. During her trial on 21 October 1908, she told the court: "We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers."
Pankhurst defended the use of militant tactics, saying: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do". She also spoke out against the conditions of her confinement, including vermin, meagre food, and the "civilised torture of solitary confinement and absolute silence".
Pankhurst's 40-year campaign achieved complete success in the year of her death, 1928, when British women obtained full equality in voting rights.
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Imprisonment
Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved. She saw imprisonment as a means to publicise the urgency of women's suffrage. In June 1909, she struck a police officer twice in the face to ensure she would be arrested. During her trial on 21 October 1908, she told the court: "We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers." She spoke out against the conditions of her confinement, including vermin, meagre food, and the "civilised torture of solitary confinement and absolute silence" to which she and others were ordered.
Pankhurst defended the militant tactics on the grounds that: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do". She was arrested outside Buckingham Palace in May 1914 while trying to present a petition to King George V.
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Militant tactics
Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading British suffragette who played a militant role in fighting to gain women the right to vote. She was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved. She saw imprisonment as a means to publicise the urgency of women's suffrage; in June 1909 she struck a police officer twice in the face to ensure she would be arrested. She was also arrested outside Buckingham Palace in May 1914 while trying to present a petition to King George V.
Pankhurst defended the use of militant tactics, saying: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do". She also said: "We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers. I would rather be a rebel than a slave!"
Pankhurst's 40-year campaign achieved complete success in the year of her death, 1928, when British women obtained full equality in voting rights.
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Suffragette movement
Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading British suffragette who played a militant role in fighting to gain women the right to vote. She was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved. In June 1909, she struck a police officer twice in the face to ensure she would be arrested. During her trial on 21 October 1908, she told the court: "We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers."
Pankhurst saw imprisonment as a means to publicise the urgency of women's suffrage. She defended the militant tactics on the grounds that: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do."
Her 40-year campaign achieved complete success in the year of her death, 1928, when British women obtained full equality in the voting rights.
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Votes for women
Emmeline Pankhurst was a leading British suffragette who played a militant role in fighting to gain women the right to vote. She was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved.
Pankhurst saw imprisonment as a means to publicise the urgency of women's suffrage. In June 1909, she struck a police officer twice in the face to ensure she would be arrested. During her trial on 21 October 1908, she told the court: "We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers. I would rather be a rebel than a slave!"
The exclusive focus of the WSPU on votes for women was another hallmark of its militancy. Pankhurst defended the militant tactics on the grounds that: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do."
One of the most defining moments of the women's suffrage movement came in 1913, when WSPU member Emily Davison died after throwing herself under the king's horse at the Derby as a protest at the government's continued failure to grant women the right to vote.
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Frequently asked questions
Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested seven times before women's suffrage was approved. She was arrested for striking a police officer in the face, and for trying to present a petition to King George V. She defended her militant tactics, saying: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do".
Emmeline Pankhurst famously said: "We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers".
Emmeline Pankhurst saw imprisonment as a means to publicise the urgency of women's suffrage. She spoke out against the conditions of her confinement, including vermin, meagre food, and "civilised torture of solitary confinement and absolute silence".
Yes, Emmeline Pankhurst defended her militant tactics, saying: "The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do".
