The Pankhursts and Militancy
Manchester is home to the suffragettes. Women had been campaigning for the vote for many years, but the Pankhursts moved their activism beyond words into deeds.
In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst set up the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in her Manchester parlour. Along with her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, she was repeatedly imprisoned for her political protests.
This powerful letter describes women prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for equality and determined not to be silenced. Pankhurst writes about the death of her younger sister, Mary Jane, who had been force-fed in Holloway Prison.
Pressing the Manchester Guardian to support the campaign, many women wrote to its editor CP Scott, a known supporter of equal rights. Their tactics and stories differed, but all were united in advancing the same cause.