In addition to his activities for Women's Suffrage, and indeed, for all questions affecting the welfare of women, which have been already referred to, Dr. Pankhurst had taken an important part in many other reform movements. He had been one of the most distinguished of the students of Owen's College which paved the way for, and became incorporated with, the newer Victoria University of Manchester. Having studied at Owen's, he had taken his B.A. degree at the London University in 1858, his LL.B., with honours in Principles of Legislation in 1859, and LL.D. with the gold medal in 1863. Called to the Bar in Lincoln's Inn in 1867 he had joined the Northern Circuit and become a member of the Bar of the County Palatine and Lancaster Chancery Court. He had been Honorary Secretary to the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes from 1863 to 1876 in which years he had laboured zealously in the promotion of education, devoting much time to visiting the various Mechanics Institutes, which largely owing to his work were beginning to spring up as the forerunners of the Technical Schools and Municipal Evening Classes of to-day, teaching and addressing the students on educational questions, and enlisting public sympathy in this important work. Later, when in 1893, the subject of citizenship had, owing primarily to his influence, been made a part of the teaching of the evening continuation schools in Manchester, Dr. Pankhurst had issued a scheme of political studies in the form of an outline of political and social theory, and in 1894 he had delivered a series of addresses on the "Life and Duties of Citizenship," which were afterwards published. In 1882 he had become a member of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and was recognised to be an authority upon many commercial questions. He was one of the earliest and most active workers of the Social Science Association which did so much to educate public opinion upon many questions affecting the welfare of women and the community in general. Dr. Pankhurst had also been the author of many important papers on the Patent Laws, Local Courts and Tribunals, International Law, the study of Jurisprudence, and other subjects. He had interested himself greatly in public health and the general field of sanitation, and had been concerned in many public inquiries in regard to this matter. He had been a life member of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, and had laid before that body a scheme of international arbitration as a substitute for war, a principle for which he had for many years strenuously contended. He had three times been a candidate for Parliament, having contested Manchester in 1883, Rotherhithe in 1885, and Gorton in 1895, but because, admittedly, he was too fearlessly honest and outspoken he had on each occasion failed to secure election. Even by his bitterest political opponents he was respected, for it was a matter of common knowledge that, for the sake of his principles, he had over and over again sacrificed his own material advancement. He had begun life as an advanced Radical, having been a friend of John Stuart Mill, also of Ernest Jones, and other well-known Chartists. So long ago as 1873 he had been a pronounced Home Ruler. He had been a member of the executive of the National Reform Union, and the declaration of principles which he had issued in his candidature of 1883 has been ascribed as "a third Charter in itself." By his fearless championship of their interests, and his sympathy for them in time of trouble, he had especially endeared himself to the working people. So early as the days of George Odger and other leaders of the Labour cause, he had taken part in a movement which resulted in the recasting of the labour laws. He had acted as arbitrator for the men in many cases of trade dispute. Whilst taking an active part in the effort to secure both the later extensions of the franchise which took place in 1867 and 1884, Dr. Pankhurst had, as we have seen, done all he could to get women included under them.
Footnotes:
[4] She had no connection with the two women, and no previous knowledge that the question was to be put.
[5] See biographical note at the end of this chapter.
CHAPTER III
THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1906
After the inauguration of the militant tactics on October 13th, we determined not to let the matter rest until we had obtained a definite pledge that the incoming Liberal Government would give votes to women. On December 4th came the long-expected resignation of Mr. Balfour, and the King then called upon Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Liberal leader, to form an Administration. It was now announced that a great demonstration should be held on December 21st in the Royal Albert Hall, at which, surrounded by every member of his Cabinet, Sir Henry should make his first public utterance as Prime Minister.
The importance of raising our question at this meeting was of course apparent, and we at once endeavoured to procure tickets of admission. But, even so early in the fight as this, the Liberals did not scruple to refuse tickets to women who might be going to ask awkward questions. On one occasion just as two tickets were about to be delivered over to me, I was accused of having questioned Mr. Asquith at a meeting in the Queen's Hall, and, though I had really not been present at that meeting, I was obliged to go away empty-handed. I had been mistaken for Annie Kenney who had come to London to attend both the Queen's Hall and the Albert Hall meetings. We both of us thought the incident most absurd, for we do not in any way resemble each other. But it put us on our guard, and when on the very morning of the Albert Hall meeting, a friend sent me three tickets, we made up our minds that they should not be rendered useless by those who presented them being turned away at the doors. I had been twice interviewed in two different sets of clothes by the Liberal officials who had eventually refused me the tickets and Annie herself had been paraded before a row of stewards; it was therefore clear that if either of us went to the meeting we must go disguised. We decided at last that the three tickets should be used by Theresa Billington, who had recently joined the Union and was coming from Manchester for the meeting, by Annie herself, and by a working woman from the East End, a recent convert. Nevertheless, we intended first to give the Prime Minister a chance to answer fairly, so that no disturbance need be made. Shortly before the meeting, therefore, Annie Kenney dispatched by express messenger a letter to Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman on behalf of our Union, asking him whether the new Government would give Women the vote, and stating that she should be in the hall that night in the hope that this important question would be answered without delay. If this were not done, she added that she should feel bound to rise in her place and make a protest.