Founding of Women's Social and Political Union

Date: October 10, 1903 • Location: London, United Kingdom

Emmeline Pankhurst (pictured) founded the Women's Social and Political Union, a militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win the right to vote in Great Britain and Ireland in 1918, partially due to her role in the White Feather Campaign. In 1999, Time named her as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating that "she shaped an idea of women for our time" and "shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back". She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.