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Emmeline Pankhurst

My Own Story Kindle Edition

by Emmeline Pankhurst (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Print length

212 pages
Language

English
Publication date

30 March 2011
File size

458 KB
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"She shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back" (Time)

"She put body and soul at the service of liberty, equality and fraternity and secured a triumph for them" (Rebecca West)

"Emmeline Pankhurst fought for women's suffrage with indomitable courage" (Guardian) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

'She shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back' Time

Emmeline Pankhurst grew up all too aware of the prevailing attitude of her day: that men were considered superior to women. When she was just fourteen she attended her first suffrage meeting, and returned home a confirmed suffragist. Throughout the course of her career she endured humiliation, prison, hunger strikes and the repeated frustration of her aims by men in power, but she rose to become a guiding light of the Suffragette movement. This is the story, in Pankhurst’s own words, of her struggle for equality.

See also: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004UJ2Q0O
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 458 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 212 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B08C8XFC11

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Graham D.

God be Praised for Woman-Yeats

Reviewed in Australia on 6 December 2017

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A stunning book, beautifully written in a compelling style.
It beggars believe that for so long, against a cause so fundamentally right and just, prosecuted valiantly by Pankhurst and countless other resolute suffragists who suffered terribly, the political establishment could only respond with indifference, deceit and violence.
A glimmer of hope appears at last in the final chapter when, during a debate in the Commons, it is suggested that perhaps there may be merit in assessing the worth or otherwise of the cause for which suffragists were so intractably committed. Such patronising effrontery!
Of course, Pankhurst's closing optimistic note proved prophetic. It took the "War to end all wars" to demonstrate to a slow learning misogynistic patriarchy that women were a match, or more, for men in any context. And so votes for women came to pass.
Thank you for providing this amazing book. (I believe Santa will be bringing me daughter Sylvia's suffragette history book from Amazon.)

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taffy campbell

Hard going.

Reviewed in Australia on 6 July 2020

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You would have to be truly fascinated by the subject to finish this book.

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Peta Johnson

Three Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 14 January 2016

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Good read 😊

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Rebekah

True heroes.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 July 2014

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This is the incredible story, not only of Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, but of the Suffragettes and the women's movement. Reading this book overwhelmed me with emotion. I felt indignation, anger and frustration at the politicians that, over and over, refused to end woman suffrage. Words cannot express how grateful I am that all of these women existed, and gave me the opportunity to vote.

I learned a little about the Suffragettes in school, mainly Miss Davison, who threw herself in front of the King's horse at Epsom, and of the forcible feeding, though history lessons in school don't tell of the true horror these women experienced at the hands of prison doctors during this forced feeding.

Even so, a lot of what we learn about Suffragettes today seems to be clouded by the then government's portrayal of these women, though the truth is an utterly different story. This book contains the story from the Suffragette leader. It details everything she did, everything she ordered, everything the other women organised and carried out even without her doing.

The women, not all of whom can be documented in this book, are true heroes. I owe my rights, as a woman, to them. Because they fought for us all.

This book has made me feel empowered, and renewed my energy to continue on their fight.

80 people found this helpful

John Hopper

a story of struggle and militancy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 November 2018

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This is the autobiography of the great suffragette leader, written on the eve of the First World War when the struggle for women's right to vote was not yet won, and just at the time when she had a great falling out with her daughter Sylvia and others over some of the militant tactics of the Women's Social and Political Union. There is comparatively little about the author's early life here. She was born Emmeline Goulden, and grew up in a highly politicised family, acquiring experience of the poverty and injustice of working women's lives when became a Poor Law Guardian. She married a prominent suffrage supporter, barrister Richard Pankhurst, who drafted the first women's enfranchisement parliamentary bill in 1870. The bulk of the book recounts the increasingly bitter and militant struggles of the WPSU from around 1906 onwards, starting from rejections of the repeated petitions and requests for meetings with Campbell-Bannerman, Asquith and other Liberal government figures, suffrage bills being passed at second reading in the Commons, only to be dropped or have further progress frustrated by filibustering. This led to frustration and adoption of more militant tactics including window breaking, letter bombs and arson of (empty) buildings: "We had exhausted argument. Therefore either we had to give up our agitation altogether, as the suffragists of the eighties virtually had done, or else we must act, and go on acting, until the selfishness and the obstinacy of the Government was broken down, or the Government themselves destroyed". Pankhurst justifies these tactics by comparing them to the violence in earlier campaigns for democracy through the 19th century and earlier: "The militancy of men, through all the centuries, has drenched the world with blood, and for these deeds of horror and destruction men have been rewarded with monuments, with great songs and epics. The militancy of women has harmed no human life save the lives of those who fought the battle of righteousness". This bitter period was also marked by shocking violence of the police towards the suffragettes, the horrible force feeding of suffragettes and the hunger strikes, which provoked further acts of militancy.

Looking back from the perspective of 2018, a century after women first won the vote (albeit only those over 30 until 1928), it is easy to see Pankhurst as a great pioneer in achieving a simple and obvious measure of basic justice, for which she is rightly lauded. Yet some of the militant tactics increasingly adopted by the WSPU alienated some of the most prominent suffragettes and other supporters, and few would defend the use of such tactics by campaigning groups today. Pankhurst's philosophy was total dedication to the cause of women's suffrage, avoiding all distractions of getting involved in other social issues and causes ("No member of the W.S.P.U. divides her attention between suffrage and other social reforms. We hold that both reason and justice dictate that women shall have a share in reforming the evils that afflict society, especially those evils bearing directly on women themselves. Therefore, we demand, before any other legislation whatever, the elementary justice of votes for women". This tactic can be justified against the illiberalism on this issue of the leaders of the Liberal Party, which many early suffragettes supported ("our long alliance with the great parties, our devotion to party programmes, our faithful work at elections, never advanced the suffrage cause one step. The men accepted the services of the women, but they never offered any kind of payment".); nevertheless, it does seem to have become very narrow and Pankhurst's leadership of the organisation stifling and autocratic to the extent of her viewing it as more akin to a paramilitary organisation ("we have no annual meeting, no business sessions, no elections of officers. The W.S.P.U. is simply a suffrage army in the field. It is purely a volunteer army, and no one is obliged to remain in it. Indeed we don’t want anybody to remain in it who does not ardently believe in the policy of the army"). In some ways, despite her arguably fanatical determination, she was pessimistic about her ultimate chances of success: "Universal suffrage in a country where women are in a majority of one million is not likely to happen in the lifetime of any reader of this volume". She died in 1928 just before true universal suffrage was achieved, and women and men over 21 could both vote.

6 people found this helpful

Sue Scott

An inspirational journey to liberation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 January 2017

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I thought I knew quite a bit about the fight for women's suffrage but this first hand account made my hair stand on end. I was gripped from the beginning by the frank descriptions of meetings and demonstrations by the suffragists and the way they were treated. All of this written in a none judgemental tone leaving the reader to make up their own mind. I was horrrified, amazed and shocked, all at the same time. There were amusing sections such as the clever heckles, inspiring accounts of erstwhile opponents changing their allegiances and unbelievable events when police brutality was totally unacceptable.
I felt I was being spoken to, personally and directly, and being given a reasonable and well thought out case for a women's right to vote. Certainly my respect and gratitude to Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow suffragists has increased immensely. I am so grateful for the freedom to express my preferences and speak my mind she achieved for me and other women. This book or large extracts of it should be a vital part of all education, showing how determination and bravery can eventually change society. There are many women in this world, still in repressed and brutal societies who could benefit from reading this book!!!!

11 people found this helpful

Mrs L J

A fascinating read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2016

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A most enlightening account of the suffrage movement, all the more interesting being Emmeline Pankhurst's own words. I was surprised, considering that I enjoy history in general, how much I didn't know about this most important piece of history.
What a debt of gratitude women owe to these courageous and determined ladies, who suffered humiliation, personal violence in the streets and what can only be described as torture in prison. Many suffered permanent disability, chronic illness and some died as a result of the treatment they received.
The politicians of the day, many of whom are usually given hero status in history, ignored, lied to and threatened the suffragettes.
I was perhaps a little shocked at the degree of militancy these women used, such as arson and the use of incendiary devices, however it seems they avoided causing harm to human life.
I would mention Emmeline's husband who flying in the face of public opinion, at a time when men were expected to be dominant, totally supported her and their daughters' in the battle for votes for women.

5 people found this helpful

Cheshire Tiger

Heartfelt and Enlightening

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 February 2015

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This book is written in a clear, lucid and serious style, as befits a work a hundred years old. It is full of interest. For example, I had not realised how opposed to women's suffrage WE Gladstone was, and the lengths he went to to prevent it. But his efforts were minor league compared to that of Asquith, who comes out of this book very badly. Mrs Pankhurst herself has an interesting history. She was obviously influenced by her liberal parents and upbringing. But her work as a Poor Law Guardian made her conclude that the unfair laws and practices of the time were unlikely to change unless women got the vote.

This book was written in 1914, in part for an American readership, before the struggle for votes for women was finally won. So it largely avoids the benefits of hindsight and revisionism. It contains a lot of personal feelings. But it is also of great interest historically. There are some remarkable aspects to the struggle, such as police brutality and government obduracy, paralleled in other movements in the relatively recent past.

There is perhaps a degree of polemic about the book, but it is a heartfelt and worthy polemic and it is difficult to disagree with the points which Mrs Pankhurst makes. Also the reader might find the parliamentary and legal aspects a bit dry, lengthy and complex, but they are necessary and important. However, towards the end she spends undue time reproducing speeches, but omits to tell us the (more interesting) details of how "The Suffragette" continued to be produced when the authorities did all they could to close it down.

I was left feeling how odd it was that within a relatively short time of all this violence and oppression by the authorities, womens' suffrage was achieved and all was well. The "forces of law and order" must have felt decidedly non-plussed and there must have been a lot of egg over plenty of faces.

This is a book which needed to be written. And it ends on a note of justified optimism.

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