View source for Christabel Pankhurst

1880-1958. Known for her suffrage activism in the early 20th century. Together with her mother, Emmeline Pankhurst, she founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) which fought for women's social and political rights by adapting to militant measures of demonstration.

<big>Family</big> 

Christabel was born in Manchester on 22 September 1880, into a political family. Her mother founded the Women’s Franchise League in 1889 before she then co-led the WSPU with Christabel and her father, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, who was a lawyer and known for his socialist sentiments. Furthermore her younger sister Sylvia was a known pacifist who not always agreed with her mother's and sister's militant politics. 

<big>Activism</big> 

Her disagreement with the dichotomous view on gender roles in the 19th century led to Christabel Pankhurst founding the WSPU. Additionally, Christabel was also a member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), which she left in 1907.

<big>Imprisonment</big> 

In 1905 Christabel Pankhurst was arrested after offending a police officer by spitting on him while he tried to remove her from the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.  Moments earlier Pankhurst and fellow WSPU members had tried to ask the Foreign Secretary about a change in the political franchise to give women the right to vote. She and her fellow WSPU member Annie Kenney were imprisoned for six days before they were released on 19 October 1905. Due to her radical activism this would not have been the last time in which Christabel had to worry about judicial charges. It is known that she tried to escape possible charges by staying in Paris, France in around 1914.


However, due to the success of her party (WSPU) Christabel's reputation turned out to be largely positive. She was a celebrated persona who appeared in newspaper articles or was referred to in cultural institutions such as in theatre or in art.

She died in 1958.


== Sources ==
Cowman, Krista. “'Incipient Toryism'? The Women's Social and Political Union and the Independent Labour Party, 1903-14.” ''History Workshop Journal'', no. 53, 2002, pp. 128–148. 

Laura E. Nym Mayhall. “Defining Militancy: Radical Protest, the Constitutional Idiom, and Women's Suffrage in Britain, 1908-1909.” ''Journal of British Studies'', vol. 39, no. 3, 2000, pp. 340–371. 

McIlroy, A. Louise. “Christabel Pankhurst Memorial.” ''The British Medical Journal'', vol. 2, no. 5112, 1958, pp. 1595–1596.

Purvis, June. ''Christabel Pankhurst: A Biography'', Routledge, New York, 2018.