Blue Plaque for Suffragette Leaders Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst

Eveline Bennett, adopted daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, and June Purvis, biographer of Emmeline, at the unveiling of the Blue Plaque Founders of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) and her daughter Dame Christabel Pankhurst (1880-1958), were commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque on 24 February at 50 Clarendon Road, Holland Park, London W11.

Emmeline Goulden was born in Manchester in 1858 and attended her first women's suffrage meeting with her mother at the age of 14. In 1879, she married Richard Pankhurst, a Manchester barrister and radical who authored the first women's suffrage bill in Britain. Emmeline and Richard worked tirelessly for the cause and their homes in Manchester and London became regular meeting points for fellow social reformers. The Pankhursts had five children, of which their two eldest, Christabel and Sylvia (1882-1960), were to follow in their mother's footsteps and become leading figures in the fight for women's suffrage.

In 1889, Emmeline helped to found the Women's Franchise League which fought to allow married women the right to vote in local elections. The death of her husband in 1898 was a major blow to the family but served only to strengthen their commitment to the cause. Emmeline and Christabel founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in Manchester in 1903. The WSPU was far more militant than the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, led by Millicent Garrett Fawcett, and its members became known as the "suffragettes". WSPU members employed increasingly violent tactics in the years before the First World War, as successive governments failed to reform voting laws. "Deeds not words" was the motto which they put into practice.

After obtaining a degree in Law in 1906, Christabel moved to the WSPU headquarters in London and was appointed its organising secretary. She was joined in London by Emmeline, who had adopted sensational new methods of propaganda including staging processions to the House of Commons, speeches and rallies. In 1913, these activities culminated in Emmeline being sentenced to three years' imprisonment. She refused to eat, sleep or drink and was consequently released, only to be re-arrested again and again, serving 30 days in all. These hardships took their toll and Emmeline was never again to be so actively militant, but the harsh manner in which imprisoned suffragettes were treated contributed to a growing public sympathy for their cause.

Where Emmeline was notable for her militancy, Christabel was known for her remarkable abilities as an organiser and was the force behind numerous of the WSPU's plots and ruses. So valuable was this aspect of her work that she was not able to run the risk of taking part in militant demonstrations for fear of imprisonment. She did, however, become widely known as a powerful orator and writer and, where necessary, served as her own legal representative. In 1912, following a raid on the WSPU headquarters, Christabel escaped to Paris to continue her work for the cause.

The Blue Plaque for the Pankhursts The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 led to a political truce in the suffrage movement and an end to the period of militancy. Emmeline turned her skills to supporting the war effort and in 1915 she adopted four "war babies", children born out of wedlock as a result of the social upheaval. In 1916 she rented and furnished a new home at Clarendon Road, Holland Park, where she lived with the children, one of whom Christabel later adopted. In 1917, Emmeline opened a nursery and adoption home for female orphans in Aubrey Road, close to her home in Clarendon Road.

In 1919 Emmeline moved to Canada, where she spoke about social hygiene and child welfare. Returning to England in 1926, she was hailed as a leader of the women's rights movement and stood as a prospective conservative candidate for Whitechapel and St George's, Stepney, London. Emmeline died before she could be elected, yet lived long enough to see an equal franchise bill passed only weeks before her death in 1928, giving the parliamentary vote to women on equal terms with men.

Christabel returned to England on the outbreak of the First World War, but was never again to live for any lengthy time in her home country. Once the right to vote had been gained in 1918, she stood as a candidate for both Smethwick and Westminster. She was appointed DBE in 1936 and during the Second World War she settled permanently in the United States, dying in Los Angeles in 1958.

Number 50 Clarendon Road is remarkable for its association with both Emmeline and Christabel and their adopted "war babies". This mid-19 th-century semi-detached house was Emmeline's home from 1916 until autumn 1919, when she left for Canada. Christabel stayed here with her mother for periods between 1917 and 1919.

The combined achievements of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst have become legendary and their bravery and devotion to women's rights continues to inspire people around the world today.