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Primary sourceBook1914

My Own Story

Emmeline Pankhurst · 1914

Emmeline Pankhurst's 1914 autobiography describing her upbringing, the founding of the WSPU, and her imprisonments and hunger strikes.

Pankhurst's own autobiography, written to explain and justify her life and militant tactics in her own words.

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About this source

What it is

This is the autobiography of Emmeline Pankhurst, published in 1914 under the title My Own Story. It covers her early life, the founding of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and her repeated arrests, imprisonments, and hunger strikes.

Why it matters

Written while the militant suffrage campaign was still underway, the book is Pankhurst's own justification of her methods. It lets readers see how she wanted her own story told, as a leader willing to suffer for the cause, rather than how newspapers or opponents described her.

Look closer

  • Why might Pankhurst have chosen to write her own account instead of letting others tell her story?
  • What parts of her life does she choose to emphasise, and what might she leave out?
  • How does an autobiography differ from a biography written by someone else?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Emmeline Pankhurst on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Emmeline Pankhurst Arrested, 1914

Unknown author · 22 May 1914

Front page of the Votes for Women supplement, dated October 10, 1907, with a large banner title, editors' names, a notice box, and an illustration of a giant seated woman over London's Parliament and Big Ben.Newspaper article

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Votes for Women

Frederick Pethick-Lawrence and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence · 10 October 1907

Black-and-white photograph of a woman in a dark feathered hat and dark coat standing in an open car, gesturing with one hand, surrounded by a dense crowd of men in hats. A flag is partly visible at lower left.Photograph

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Emmeline Pankhurst Addresses a Crowd in New York City

Topical Press Agency · 1913

Oil painting of an elderly woman with short curled grey hair, wearing a dark dress with a fur-trimmed brown and orange wrap, a blue and gold enamel pendant on a dark cord, and a ring on her hand. Soft brown background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst by Georgina Brackenbury

Georgina Agnes Brackenbury · c. 1927

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