Sylvia Pankhurst, British suffragette and socialist

By Lindsey German:

One hundred years ago this week, Sylvia Pankhurst found herself in prison for the first time.

The crime of the 24 year old? Campaigning for votes for women.

This was a cause Sylvia was to devote herself to for more than a decade.

But the course of her political development was very different from the two more famous Pankhursts – her mother Emmeline and her older sister Christabel – and the political conclusions she drew led her towards socialist organisation.

Sylvia was born into a political family in Manchester. Her father, Richard Pankhurst, was a well known lawyer, a campaigner and a leading member of the Independent Labour Party.

After his death, his widow Emmeline began her campaign for votes for women, forming the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903.

This organisation rapidly became known by the nickname given to it by the Daily Mail – the Suffragettes.