Emmeline Pankhurst

[Che1990]

Just wondered how many people had heard of Emmeline Pankhurst. She was a big campainer in getting women the vote in the early 1900's. I don't know much about her. Has anyone heard of her/got more info on her?

[Socialistpenguin]

yeah, I did a lot about women's right to vote, for a coursework project in History. She was part of the Suffragette movement, no? Also, memory fails me, but was she the one who threw herself in front of a moving horse?

[Roses in the Hospital]

Also, memory fails me, but was she the one who threw herself in front of a moving horse?

No, that was Emily Davison.

[Che1990]

Did Pankhurst chain herself to the railings outside the houses of parliament?

[Roses in the Hospital]

Did Pankhurst chain herself to the railings outside the houses of parliament?

I don't know if Pankhurst specifiacally did that, but it was one of the techniques used by the suffragettes, along with things like hunger strikes when they were arrested.
It's a popular misconception that the suffraggeettes were responsible for getting women the vote, arguably they could be seen to have damaged the chances of enfranchisment as they were seen by some as a public nusance. A more prominatant reason for women getting the vote was the role they played on the home front during WW1, but the real reason is that so many were killed in the trenches that there were not enough people with the francise to be able to legally return a government unless women were included...

[monkeydust]

Emmeline Pankhurst was the founder and main leader of the Womens' Social and Political Union, more commonly known as the suffragettes.

They were a group that campaigned for womens' right to vote through confrontational and often violent means - chaining themselves to railings, breaking into parliament, fire-bombing the Prime Minister's private estate and so on.