In order to do Shoulder to Shoulder justice I did a little research into the suffragette's and in particular to Emmeline Pankhurst. I had always been under the impression that the movement was distinctly English, but soon discovered that I was wrong, and there are numerous websites to be found on the internet that provide much information about the fight for women's rights and suffragette organisations from around the world. If you wish to discover more I suggest you simply go to your favourite search engine and type in 'suffragette'. That will keep you busy for a good few hours! Below is the research that I confined to the British movement.

The cause for women's rights really dates back to the 18th century and one of the first publicly known feminists Mary Wollstonecraft, who in 1792 published her most famous work, 'A Vindication of the Rights of a Woman', which was a passionate protest against societies low expectations of women and their limited opportunities. Wollstonecraft died just 11 days after giving birth to her daughter, Mary Shelley, the author of 'Frankenstein'.

It wasn't until the 19th century, though, that the cause for women's rights took on any urgency and this was prompted by the Reform act of 1832, more commonly known as the 'franchise'. Previous to this the electoral system had been both chaotic and corrupt and this act gave the vote to any male householder occupying a property above a stated freehold, leasehold or rental value.

England was not the first country to grant women the right to vote, that was brought in very discreetly by the Tynwald on the Isle of Man in 1881, although it was restricted to unmarried women and widows with property qualifications only. They were followed in 1883 by New Zealand.

Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester, England, in 1858. She was the daughter of Robert Goulden and Sophia Crane. Her father was a successful businessman with radical political beliefs. Robert took part in the campaigns against slavery and the Corn Laws. Emmeline's mother was a feminist and at an early age started taking her daughter to women's suffrage meetings. With this background, it is not surprising that she would dedicate her life to obtaining equal rights for women, and become one of England's leading suffragettes.

In 1878 she met the lawyer, Richard Pankhurst who was a strong advocate of women's suffrage. Even though he was 24 years older than Emmeline, the two were immediately attracted to each other and soon married. Richard had been responsible for drafting an amendment to the Municipal Franchise Act of 1869 that resulted in unmarried women householders being allowed to vote in local elections. He was also the main person responsible for the drafting of the Women's Property Bill that was passed by the Parliament in 1870.

After Richard's death Emmeline emerged as leader of the suffragette movement in England. Under her guidance the women became more militant, chaining themselves to railings or damaging property. Emmeline went to prison many times and participated in hunger strikes to protest treatment of suffragettes. Most of the suffragettes that were arrested went on hunger strikes and were force-fed by prison officials - usually through a funnel thrust down their throats and food dumped into it. The damage to the women's health was astounding. The Government stopped the practise by introducing the Cat and Mouse Act, which allowed for the women to be released from prison on the grounds of mental health, and then re-arrested when their health recovered.

Probably the most famous protest was the incident on June 4th 1913 when 38 year old English graduate Emily Wilding Davison dived under the rails at Epsom and threw herself in front of the King's horse, Anmer, during the Derby. Davison was not killed instantly but died of her injuries 4 days later. It was the last act of a women who had been imprisoned and force-fed on numerous occasions, although it is not believed that she meant to sacrfice her life in this way, as she had a return train ticket in her pocket. Nevertheless, her funeral on June 14th was marked by a huge procession through London watched by tens of thousands of people.

With the outbreak of World War 1 the leadership of the WSPU began negotiating with the British government who released all suffragettes from prison. In return the WSPU agreed to help the war effort and announced that it was suspending all political activity until the war was over. In the changed climate after the war the cause was finally and easily won and in 1918 women over 30 were given the right to vote.

After the war Emmeline spent several years in the United States of America and Canada lecturing for the National Council for Combating Venereal Disease. When she returned to Britain in 1925, she joined the Conservative Party and continued her life's work championing for the right of women to vote. She died in June 1928. On 2 July 1928, just 3 weeks after her death, a law was passed allowing all women over the age of 21 to vote.

The last of the suffragettes, Victoria Lidiard, died in 1992 at the age of 102. She was one of 200 women jailed in 1912 after a window-smashing raid on Whitehall and the War Office.

"I for one, friends, looking round on the muddles that men had made, looking round on the sweated and decrepit members of my sex, I say men have had the control of these things long enough, and no woman with any spark of womanliness in her will consent to let this state of things go on any longer. We are tired of it. We want to be of use; we want to have this power in order that we may try to make the world a much better place for men and women than it is today...Perhaps it is difficult to rouse women; they are long-suffering and patient, but now that we are roused, we will never be quiet again." - Emmeline Pankhurst.