My own story

Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit, University of
Toronto Libraries and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net






MRS. PANKHURST'S OWN STORY

[Illustration: E. Pankhurst]


MY OWN STORY

BY
EMMELINE PANKHURST

[Illustration: Logo]

ILLUSTRATED

LONDON
EVELEIGH NASH

1914


Copyright, 1914, by

HEARSTS'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO., INC.

_All rights reserved, including the translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian._




CONTENTS


BOOK I


THE MAKING OF A MILITANT

CHAPTER                     PAGE
      I                        1

     II                       18

    III                       37

     IV                       57


BOOK II


FOUR YEARS OF PEACEFUL MILITANCY

CHAPTER                     PAGE
      I                       81

     II                       97

    III                      116

     IV                      131

      V                      149

     VI                      160

    VII                      166

   VIII                      185


BOOK III


THE WOMEN'S REVOLUTION

CHAPTER                     PAGE

      I                      205

     II                      221

    III                      249

     IV                      270

      V                      285

     VI                      303

    VII                      323

   VIII                      339

     IX                      350




ILLUSTRATIONS


Portrait of Mrs. Pankhurst                       _Frontispiece_

                                                         FACING
                                                           PAGE

Mrs. Pankhurst addressing a by-election crowd                74

Mrs. Pankhurst and Christabel hiding from the police
on the roof garden at Clements Inn, October, 1908           120

Christabel, Mrs. Drummond and Mrs. Pankhurst in the
dock, First Conspiracy Trial, October, 1908                 126

Mrs. Pankhurst and Miss Christabel Pankhurst in prison
dress                                                       132

Inspector Wells conducting Mrs. Pankhurst to the
House of Commons, June, 1908                                140

Over 1,000 women had been in prison--Broad arrows in
the 1910 parade                                             170

The head of the deputation on Black Friday, November,
1910                                                        178

For hours scenes like this were enacted on Black Friday,
November, 1910                                              180

Riot scenes on Black Friday, November, 1910                 186

In this manner thousands of women throughout the
Kingdom slept in unoccupied houses over census night        194

The argument of the broken window pane                      218

A suffragette throwing a bag of flour at Mr. Asquith
in Chester                                                  260

Re-Arrest of Mrs. Pankhurst at Woking, May 26,
1913                                                        312

Mrs. Pankhurst and Christabel in the garden of
Christabel's home in Paris                                  324

"Arrested at the King's gate!" May, 1914                    348




ACKNOWLEDGMENT


The author wishes to express her deep obligation to Rheta Childe Dorr
for invaluable editorial services performed in the preparation of this
volume, especially the American edition.




FOREWORD


The closing paragraphs of this book were written in the late summer of
1914, when the armies of every great power in Europe were being
mobilised for savage, unsparing, barbarous warfare--against one another,
against small and unaggressive nations, against helpless women and
children, against civilisation itself. How mild, by comparison with the
despatches in the daily newspapers, will seem this chronicle of women's
militant struggle against political and social injustice in one small
corner of Europe. Yet let it stand as it was written, with
peace--so-called, and civilisation, and orderly government as the
background for heroism such as the world has seldom witnessed. 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. Time alone will reveal what reward will be
allotted to the women.

This we know, that in the black hour that has just struck in Europe, the
men are turning to their women and calling on them to take up the work
of keeping civilisation alive. Through all the harvest fields, in
orchards and vineyards, women are garnering food for the men who fight,
as well as for the children left fatherless by war. In the cities the
women are