Revolutionary Legacy

Changing the world for good with deeds not words.

On July 14th, we commemorate Emmeline Pankhurst Day, honouring the indomitable  activist who led the suffragette movement and secured women's right to vote. The date itself is fittingly revolutionary, though her birth certificate records July 15th, Pankhurst insisted she was born on the 14th, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. An ardent Francophile, she relished the connection to this symbol of defiance against tyranny.

In 1903, frustrated by decades of polite petitioning, Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) with the motto "Deeds, not words". The organisation adopted confrontational tactics, civil disobedience, window-smashing, and hunger strikes, that cost Pankhurst and her followers their freedom repeatedly. The term "suffragette," originally coined as a slur by the Daily Mail, was proudly reclaimed by the movement.

The campaign's persistence paid off. The Representation of the People Act of 1918 granted property-owning women over 30 the vote, and full equality followed in 1928, weeks before Pankhurst's death at age 69.

Today, we honour this legacy by wearing the suffragette colours purple, white, and green, visiting memorials, and educating others about the struggle for gender equality. Perhaps the most fitting tribute is exercising the democratic right she fought so fiercely to secure.