On 22 November 1997 we had a very interesting and enlightening talk on the Pankhurst family and the suffrage movement by Ursula Fisher, which proved to be a popular subject judging by the large attendance. The following article is a transcript of the talk delivered on that evening.
One of the leading suffragettes was Anne Kenney. Born in 1879, she was a Lancashire mill girl who started work at the Woodend Mill, Oldham, at the age of ten, in the cardroom. The work was hard and dangerous involving placing big bobbins covered with soft raw cotton, and piecing these same fleecy strands when they broke (as they did so often) while they were being spun out thinner and thinner. On one occasion, as Annie Kenney seized the broken thread in her tiny fingers, one of them was caught and torn off by the whirling bobbins. There was also of course the added threat of being poisoned by the inhalation of cotton fluff, resulting in 'cardroom asthma'. The cardroom women workers earned only 20 shillings a week and were the lowest paid in the mill workers hierarchy. The monotonous work, poor conditions and low pay made Annie Kenney an enthusiastic convert to the suffrage movement.
Her first introduction to the Pankhurst family was when Christabel Pankhurst addressed a meeting of The Oldham Trades Council. Annie Kenney and her sisters attended this meeting, and this was the start of a long friendship between the young mill girl and the Pankhurst family.
Annie embraced the suffrage movement with zeal and enthusiasm. She became an experienced speaker at open air meetings, visiting the various cotton towns to publicise the cause. She was an impressive figure with long fair hair and expressive blue eyes. Her command of words and her sense of humour were Ear more effective than many of the middleclass suffragettes. But the astute Christabel Pankhurst realised that to make a real impact it would be necessary to attract the attention of the Government. She therefore booked two scats for herself and Annie Kenney at a Liberal Party meeting in the Free Trade Hall, to be addressed by Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey. At the end of the meeting Annie Kenney jumped up and shouted out "Will the Liberal Government give votes to women?" In the resulting mayhem the two women were flung out of the meeting, and as a result of the shackled Christabel spitting on a policeman, they were arrested and imprisoned. Annie Kenney spent three days in Strangeways Prison.
Annie Kenney's close support of Christabel Pankhurst in her campaign resulted in Annie leaving the cotton mill and moving in with the Pankhurst's in Nelson Street, London. Throughout the following years Annie Kenney was a leading crusader of the suffrage movement, speaking at meetings, enduring imprisonment many times and suffering subsequent hardship due to her hunger and thirst strikes.
In 1912 Christabel Pankhurst was 'tipped off' regarding her imminent arrest in the wake of the recent window smashing campaign, and fled to Paris. Annie Kenney became her deputy paying frequent visits to Paris to liaise with her mentor. Here 'appointment' was not an easy role. She had been told to 'think for herself' and not to be 'just a blotter for Christabel'. This became a joke with Annie Kenney taking to sign her letters 'The Blotter'.
In 1914, at the onset of the Great War, the women's suffrage campaign stopped more or less completely. Out of unswerving patriotism the suffragettes pledged their support to the Government, offering their propaganda and recruiting skills.
The first act to give votes to women in Britain became law in February 1918. Under this act women over the age of 30 got the vote if they were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 and graduates of British universities or women who were qualified but not graduates. In 1928 all women over 21 were granted the vote. Mrs. Pankhurst died just before it became law in July 1928. In 1930 a statue of Mrs. Pankhurst - a speaking likeness - was erected in the Victoria Town Gardens and unveiled by Mr. Baldwin.
At the end of the war, many of the leading campaigners went off in different directions. Some gave up their work in politics, whilst others became involved in different struggles. Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney became extremely religious, the latter devoting herself to the then popular cult of theosophy. She married a James Taylor (Chief Instructor at the Government Training Centre), had a son Warwick who was an officer in the navy and decorated during the war and who also worked at the Khryn & Lahy. She ended her days in Letchworth, living a quiet life.
On a personal note, I remember her well as a charming lady of eccentric appearance with a cultured voice. She lived five doors away from my family home in High Avenue, and on my wedding day in 1952, she walked down to our house to give me a kiss and her good wishes for my future happiness. She died a year later - and so ended an eventful and colourful life.
One of the leading suffragettes was Anne Kenney. Born in 1879, she was a Lancashire mill girl who started work at the Woodend Mill, Oldham, at the age of ten, in the cardroom. The work was hard and dangerous involving placing big bobbins covered with soft raw cotton, and piecing these same fleecy strands when they broke (as they did so often) while they were being spun out thinner and thinner. On one occasion, as Annie Kenney seized the broken thread in her tiny fingers, one of them was caught and torn off by the whirling bobbins. There was also of course the added threat of being poisoned by the inhalation of cotton fluff, resulting in 'cardroom asthma'. The cardroom women workers earned only 20 shillings a week and were the lowest paid in the mill workers hierarchy. The monotonous work, poor conditions and low pay made Annie Kenney an enthusiastic convert to the suffrage movement.
Her first introduction to the Pankhurst family was when Christabel Pankhurst addressed a meeting of The Oldham Trades Council. Annie Kenney and her sisters attended this meeting, and this was the start of a long friendship between the young mill girl and the Pankhurst family.
Annie embraced the suffrage movement with zeal and enthusiasm. She became an experienced speaker at open air meetings, visiting the various cotton towns to publicise the cause. She was an impressive figure with long fair hair and expressive blue eyes. Her command of words and her sense of humour were Ear more effective than many of the middleclass suffragettes. But the astute Christabel Pankhurst realised that to make a real impact it would be necessary to attract the attention of the Government. She therefore booked two scats for herself and Annie Kenney at a Liberal Party meeting in the Free Trade Hall, to be addressed by Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey. At the end of the meeting Annie Kenney jumped up and shouted out "Will the Liberal Government give votes to women?" In the resulting mayhem the two women were flung out of the meeting, and as a result of the shackled Christabel spitting on a policeman, they were arrested and imprisoned. Annie Kenney spent three days in Strangeways Prison.
Annie Kenney's close support of Christabel Pankhurst in her campaign resulted in Annie leaving the cotton mill and moving in with the Pankhurst's in Nelson Street, London. Throughout the following years Annie Kenney was a leading crusader of the suffrage movement, speaking at meetings, enduring imprisonment many times and suffering subsequent hardship due to her hunger and thirst strikes.
In 1912 Christabel Pankhurst was 'tipped off' regarding her imminent arrest in the wake of the recent window smashing campaign, and fled to Paris. Annie Kenney became her deputy paying frequent visits to Paris to liaise with her mentor. Here 'appointment' was not an easy role. She had been told to 'think for herself' and not to be 'just a blotter for Christabel'. This became a joke with Annie Kenney taking to sign her letters 'The Blotter'.
In 1914, at the onset of the Great War, the women's suffrage campaign stopped more or less completely. Out of unswerving patriotism the suffragettes pledged their support to the Government, offering their propaganda and recruiting skills.
The first act to give votes to women in Britain became law in February 1918. Under this act women over the age of 30 got the vote if they were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 and graduates of British universities or women who were qualified but not graduates. In 1928 all women over 21 were granted the vote. Mrs. Pankhurst died just before it became law in July 1928. In 1930 a statue of Mrs. Pankhurst - a speaking likeness - was erected in the Victoria Town Gardens and unveiled by Mr. Baldwin.
At the end of the war, many of the leading campaigners went off in different directions. Some gave up their work in politics, whilst others became involved in different struggles. Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney became extremely religious, the latter devoting herself to the then popular cult of theosophy. She married a James Taylor (Chief Instructor at the Government Training Centre), had a son Warwick who was an officer in the navy and decorated during the war and who also worked at the Khryn & Lahy. She ended her days in Letchworth, living a quiet life.
On a personal note, I remember her well as a charming lady of eccentric appearance with a cultured voice. She lived five doors away from my family home in High Avenue, and on my wedding day in 1952, she walked down to our house to give me a kiss and her good wishes for my future happiness. She died a year later - and so ended an eventful and colourful life.