Abstract

For the 100th anniversary of the Suffrage Movement, a compelling history of the women (and two men) who made the biggest change ever in British democracy: votes for 50% of the population When Emmeline Pankhurst gathered a small group of women in Manchester 10 October1903, the mood was defiant. For the Suffragette movement, founded that day, sprang not merely from a simple desire to change the law but also from a deep-seated anger over sexism within the Labour movement. The fiery nature of its conception and birth was to characterise the Women's Social and Political Union, as it was formally known, throughout the 12 turbulent years of its life. In fact, what distinguished it from the more staid women's franchise campaigns which went before was its militancy - and, of course, its sheer bloody-minded determination.This is the remarkable (and often heroic story) of the Suffragettes, told through 12 portraits of their leaders, of ordinary members, of radicals and waverers.