The Pankhursts Book

The story of women's struggle for the vote in Britain is inextricably associated with the fortunes of one family: The Pankhursts, now the subject of a comprehensive new collective biography by Martin Pugh. Emmeline Pankhurst, together with her three daughters--the charming but fickle Christabel, the serious socialist Sylvia, and the lesser-known militant Adela--personified the suffragette movement from its revival in the 1890s through to its full triumph in 1928, when women received the vote on the same terms as men. Even the Pankhurst menfolk got involved. Pugh is the pre-eminent expert on the suffragettes. His The March of the Women (2000) is his most recent work on the subject. He brings to this family saga a sure-footed analysis of the how the suffragettes worked, the wide range of support they received from across the English-speaking world, and how the movement was both driven and riven by three powerful personalities. At times the tale assumes in Pugh's hands the rhythms of a Greek tragedy, with sexual, filial and sibling rivalries appearing to determine political strategies. But for the most part, Pugh is careful not to overplay psychobiography, and the amazing journey of this remarkable family--Emmeline ended up a Conservative, Christabel an Adventist, Sylvia and Adela left-wing activists--is told with precision, sympathy and considerable scholarship. Feminist historians may bristle at Pugh's warts-and-all reassessment of these awkward icons, but The Pankhursts will undoubtedly prove the definitive study. --Miles Taylor.Read More