Adela Constantia Mary Walsh ( Pankhurst; 19 June 1885 – 23 May 1961) was a British born
suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
who worked as a political organiser for the
WSPU
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
in Scotland. In 1914 she moved to Australia where she continued her activism and was co-founder of both the
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...
and the
Australia First Movement
The Australia First Movement was a fascist movement, founded in October 1941. It grew out of the Rationalist Association of New South Wales and the Victorian Socialist Party, and was led by former Rhodes scholar Percy Stephensen and Adela ...
together with her husband,
Tom Walsh.
Early life
Pankhurst was born on 19 June 1885 in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England, into a politicised family: her father,
Richard Pankhurst
Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1834 – 5 July 1898) was an English barrister and socialist who was a strong supporter of women's rights.
Early life
Richard Pankhurst was the son of Henry Francis Pankhurst (1806–1873) and Margaret Marsden (180 ...
, was a socialist and candidate for
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, and her mother,
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...
(née Goulden), and sisters,
Sylvia and
Christabel, were leaders of the British suffragette movement. Her mother was of
Manx descent.
[Bartley, p. 16; Liddington and Norris, p. 74.] Adela attended the all-woman
Studley Horticultural College Studley may refer to:
Places Australia
* Studley Park, Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne
* Studley Park, Narellan, New South Wales
England
* Studley, Oxfordshire
** Studley Priory, Oxfordshire
* Studley, Warwickshire
** Studley Priory, Warwickshire
* Stu ...
in Warwickshire, and
Manchester High School for Girls
Manchester High School for Girls is an English independent day school for girls and a member of the Girls School Association. It is situated in Fallowfield, Manchester.
The head mistress is Helen Jeys who took up the position in September 2020 ...
.
UK
As a teenager, Adela became involved in the militant
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
founded by her mother and sisters. In November 1909 she joined a protest that interrupted a talk by
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
at his constituency in
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
. She was arrested along with
Helen Archdale
Helen Alexander Archdale (née Russel; 25 August 1876 – 8 December 1949) was a Scottish feminist, suffragette and journalist. Archdale was the Sheffield branch organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union and later its prisoners' sec ...
,
Catherine Corbett
Catherine Isobel Ida Corbett ( Vans Agnew; 1869–1950) was a British suffragette, one of those imprisoned and awarded the Hunger Strike Medal, for the cause of the Women's Social and Political Union.
Life
Catherine Corbett was born Catherin ...
and
Maud Joachim
Maud Joachim (1869 – 1947) was born in 1869 and was educated at Girton College., she was one of the groups of suffragettes that fought to grant women the right to vote in the U.K., she was jailed several times for her protests.
Activism
She ...
.
Adela had slapped a policeman who was trying to evict her from the building. Although Adela went on hunger strike there, she was not force-fed as prison governor and medical supervisor assessed her "heart's action as violent and laboured".
Eagle House near Bath in Somerset had become an important refuge for
suffragettes
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
who had been released from prison.
Mary Blathwayt
Mary Blathwayt (1 February 1879 – 25 June 1961) was a British feminist, suffragette and social reformer. She lived at Eagle House in Somerset. This house became known as the "Suffragette's Rest" and contained a memorial to the protests o ...
's parents planted trees there between April 1909 and July 1911 to commemorate the achievements of suffragettes including
Adela's mother and
sister, Christabel as well as
Annie Kenney
Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...
,
Charlotte Despard
Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the I ...
,
Millicent Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for women's suffrage by legal change and in 1897–1919 led Britain's largest women's rights associati ...
and
Lady Lytton.
The trees were known as "Annie's Arboreatum" after Annie Kenney. There was also a "Pankhurst Pond" within the grounds.
Adela was invited to Eagle House in 1909 and 1910. She planted a
Himalayan Cedar
''Cedrus deodara'', the deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar, is a species of cedar native to the Himalayas.
Description
It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching tall, exceptionally with a trunk up to in diameter. It has a conic ...
on 3 July 1910. A plaque was made and her photograph was recorded again by Colonel Linley Blathwayt.
Her mother's favourite was Christabel and the two of them took the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
as their own organisation. They fell out with many of their leading volunteers and supporters and this included
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with t ...
and Adela. Both of the latter believed in socialism whereas Emmeline and Christabel were pushing for the vote for middle-class women. Sylvia was ejected from the party and she set up her own splinter group in East London. Christabel is reported to have said to Sylvia "I would not care if you were multiplied by a hundred, but one of Adela is too many." Adela was given £20, a ticket to Australia and a letter introducing her to
Vida Goldstein
Vida Jane Mary Goldstein (pron. ) (13 April 186915 August 1949) was an Australian suffragist and social reformer. She was one of four female candidates at the 1903 federal election, the first at which women were eligible to stand.
Goldstein wa ...
.
Adela was among the first group of suffragettes to go on hunger strike when in prison. She was being targeted by the police, as a high-profile activist. Adela Pankhurst had been given a
Hunger Strike Medal
The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving th ...
'for Valour' by WSPU.
Australia
Adela emigrated to Australia in 1914 following estrangement from her family and frequent incarceration. Adela's experience of activism enabled her to be recruited during World War I as an organiser for the
Women's Peace Army
Formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1915, the Women’s Peace Army was an Australian anti-war socialist movement that sought to mobilise and unite women, regardless of political or religious beliefs, in their opposition to war. Autonomous branche ...
in Melbourne by
Vida Goldstein
Vida Jane Mary Goldstein (pron. ) (13 April 186915 August 1949) was an Australian suffragist and social reformer. She was one of four female candidates at the 1903 federal election, the first at which women were eligible to stand.
Goldstein wa ...
.
Pankhurst wrote a book called ''Put Up the Sword'', penned a number of anti-war pamphlets,
and addressed public meetings, speaking against war and conscription. In 1915, With Cecilia John from the Women's Peace Army, she toured Australia, establishing branches of the Women's Peace Army. In 1916 she traveled through New Zealand addressing large crowds, and again toured New South Wales and Queensland arguing the importance of feminist opposition to militarism. In August 1917, Pankhurst was arrested during a march against rising
food prices
Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices have an impact on producers and consumers of food.
Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing an ...
in Melbourne, which had been part of a series of sometimes violent demonstrations, unusual for the time in that they were spearheaded by women. British suffragette
Louie (Louisa) Cullen also now in Melbourne, was among the 5000+ who signed a petition to the Australian Prime Minister for her release. In September 1917, she married
Tom Walsh of the
Federated Seamen's Union of Australasia
The Seamen's Union of Australia (SUA) was the principal trade union for merchant seamen in Australia from 1876 to 1991. The SUA developed a reputation as one of the most militant trade unions in Australia and was closely associated with the ...
, with whom she had a son, Richard (born in 1918) and four daughters, Sylvia (born in 1920), Christian (born in 1921), Ursula (born in 1923) and Faith (born and died in 1926). Her husband had three daughters from his previous marriage. In 1920, Pankhurst became a founding member of the
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...
, from which she was later expelled.
She became disillusioned with communism and founded the anti-communist Australian Women's Guild of Empire in 1927.
In 1941 Pankhurst became one of the founding members of the far-right nationalistic
Australia First Movement
The Australia First Movement was a fascist movement, founded in October 1941. It grew out of the Rationalist Association of New South Wales and the Victorian Socialist Party, and was led by former Rhodes scholar Percy Stephensen and Adela ...
. She visited Japan in 1939, and was arrested and interned in March 1942 for her advocacy of peace with Japan. She was released in October.
[
Tom Walsh died in 1943; afterwards, Pankhurst withdrew from public life. In 1960, she converted to ]Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. She died on 23 May 1961, and was buried according to Catholic rites.[
]
Posthumous recognition
Her name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...
of the statue of Millicent Fawcett
The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline ...
in Parliament Square
Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...
, London, unveiled in 2018.
Pankhurst Crescent, in the Canberra suburb of Gilmore, is named in her honour.
See also
*History of feminism
The history of feminism comprises the narratives (chronological or thematic) of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending ...
*List of suffragists and suffragettes
This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the public ...
*Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom finally succeeded through acts of Parliament in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britai ...
References
Further reading
* Verna Coleman ''Adela Pankhurst: The Wayward Suffragette 1885-1961'' Melbourne University Press, 1996
* Joy Damousi
Joy Damousi, is an Australian historian and Professor and Director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at Australian Catholic University. She was Professor of History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the U ...
, "The Enthusiasms of Adela Pankhurst Walsh", ''Australian Historical Studies'', April 1993, pp. 422–436
* Anne Summers
Anne Summers AO (born 12 March 1945) is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime M ...
, "The Unwritten History of Adela Pankhurst Walsh", in Elizabeth Windschuttle (editor), ''Women, Class and History'', Fontana / Collins, 1980, pp. 388–402
* Deborah Jordan
According to the Book of Judges, Deborah ( he, דְּבוֹרָה, ''Dəḇōrā'', " bee") was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel and the only female judge mentioned in the Bible. Many scholars ...
, "Adela Pankhurst, Peace Negotiator: World War 1, Queensland", ''Outskirts'', 2018, 39, pp. 1–20
External links
*
Adela Constantia Pankhurst
at Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
*
Adela Pankhurst, Peace Negotiator: World War 1, Queensland
in ''Outskirts''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pankhurst, Adela
1885 births
1961 deaths
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Australian feminists
Australian people of Manx descent
British feminists
English emigrants to Australia
Feminism and history
Former Marxists
People educated at Manchester High School for Girls
People from Chorlton-on-Medlock
Australian anti-communists
Adela
Adela may refer to:
* ''Adela'', a 1933 Romanian novel by Garabet Ibrăileanu
* ''Adela'' (1985 film), a 1985 Romanian film directed by Mircea Veroiu
* ''Adela'' (2000 film), a 2000 Argentine thriller film directed and written by Eduardo Mign ...
Australian fascists
Eagle House suffragettes
Women's Social and Political Union
19th-century Australian women
20th-century Australian women
Hunger Strike Medal recipients
Communist Party of Australia members