The Suffragette Story and the Pankhurst Family

Emmeline Pankhurst & Her Three Daughters

Siobhan Colgan

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781036116033
• Subtopic: Women in History
• Index: Social Sciences

The Pankhurst family's suffrage mission reshaped British history through persistent courage, personal sacrifice, and transformative political action.

With their founding of the suffragette movement and passionate pursuit of votes for women, Emmeline Pankhurst and her three daughters—Christabel, Sylvia and Adela—forever altered the course of British history.

This book offers a compelling exploration of their pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement while uncovering the personal stories behind these trailblazing women. What motivated this post-Victorian middle-class family to risk everything—their reputations, their livelihoods, even their very lives—for the cause of female suffrage?

Through an intimate examination of their relationships with one another, as well as with those who inspired and challenged them, this book reveals the love, resentments and ruthlessness that stirred these four women into action.

Emmeline and her daughters were far from alone in the fight for suffrage, and the contributions of many of the exceptional women and men who supported them are highlighted here.

Nevertheless, it is the Pankhurst’s extraordinary journey that lies at the heart of this story. Above all, this is a look into one remarkable family whose struggles and sacrifices ultimately left a lasting mark on history.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: An Early Awakening
• Chapter 2: Foundations of Rebellion
• Chapter 3: Drudge and Drill
• Chapter 4: Like Mother, Like Daughters
• Chapter 5: Family Frontlines
• Chapter 6: Victories and Setbacks
• Chapter 7: Building a Militant Movement
• Chapter 8: Daughters of Defiance
• Chapter 9: A Suffragette Split
• Chapter 10: The Battle Cry
• Chapter 11: Breaking Laws to Make Laws
• Chapter 12: We Cannot Always Control Our Women
• Chapter 13: America, a Truce and Two Terrible Deaths
• Chapter 14: No Vote, No Census and a ‘Torpedoed’ Bill
• Chapter 15: I Incite This Meeting to Rebellion
• Chapter 16: Cat Among the Mice
• Chapter 17: Family Fractures
• Chapter 18: The Last Days of Militancy
• Chapter 19: Patriotic Feminism
• Chapter 20: Beyond Suffrage
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plates