- Fighting for the Vote in England. Emmeline Pankhurst, left, (1857-1928) led in changing the tactics of the suffrage battle in Britain. With her daughters Christabel and Sylvia, and Page 10 →other political reformers, she established the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903. They used polite means for several years without results. In 1905-06, they began to give soapbox speeches, disrupt meetings, resist arrests. As their numbers grew, the media invented the term “suffragettes” for them. It was intended disparagingly but the WSPU proudly retained it. (It is still mistakenly used for all suffragists). Their demonstrations were punished by serious beatings and mass jailing, with forced feedings during attempted hunger strikes. Public opinion swung in favor of the women, and their militancy increased to bombings and open combat by 1911. World War I diverted public attention, but the heroic defense work of British women turned the tide. They were enfranchised in January 1918, more than 2 years ahead of their American sisters. WSPU leaders on face of card: Lady Constance Lytton, who was made an invalid for life by maltreatment in prison; Labor champion Annie Kenney; Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, widely considered the best public speaker of her time; and Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst. Kenney and Sylvia Pankhurst were especially involved in the problems of poverty and the working classes.
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