Christabel Pankhurst - a talk by Professor June Purvis.

Professor June Purvis explores the life of Christabel Pankhurst, the charismatic co-leader and key strategist of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the most notorious organisation of its day campaigning for the parliamentary vote for women.

A powerful orator, with her cry ‘Rise up women!’ she mobilised thousands of women to join the campaign. A co-founder of the Women’s Party in 1917, she stood unsuccessfully for election to Parliament after certain categories of women were granted the vote in 1918, and then became a successful preacher and writer, especially in the USA, of Second Adventism.

June Purvis is Emeritus Professor of Women’s and Gender History at the University of Portsmouth, specialising in the suffragette movement in Edwardian Britain. Her many publications include Emmeline Pankhurst: a biography (2002) and the newly published Christabel Pankhurst: a biography. She is the editor of the international journal Women’s History Review and Chair of the Women’s History Network. She appears frequently on TV and radio, was one of the historical advisers for the feature film Suffragette (2015) and writes for the popular history press, such as BBC History Magazine and History Today.

This talk was part of Women's History Month 2018