Manuscript anonymous contemporary ribald spoof titled 'Mrs. Pankhursts Address to the Suffragettes'. [With two small photographs (one of Emmeline Pankhurst and the other of Sylvia Pankhurst?).]

Author: 
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), British political activist and leader of the suffragette movement [female suffrage; Victorian humour; sexuality; social history]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [England, 1890s?]
£250.00
SKU: 14491

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on aged and worn paper, folded twice. Written in a late Victorian or Edwardian hand. The 'Address' is an interesting survival: the sort of ribald saloon-bar joke through which male opponents of the movement sought to tame it through ridicule. Similar examples survive, attributed to Lady Astor speaking in parliament, but this version clearly predates these. Here is a transcript of what is a concentrated dose of double-entendre: 'Mrs. Pankhursts Address to the Suffragettes | Ladies | We have met tonight to pass the following resolutions: - | I That we mean to have all that the men have got. | II That we are willing to take it gently & smoothly. | III That if they want friction they can have it | IV We shall not take it lying down but standing up with our backs to the wall. | V If we cannot get it through our organisations we will have it through our combinations | VI We do not want to be poked up in the strangers gallery, but we want to be down on the floor of the house with the members. | Loud cheers.' Included with the item are two small contemporary black and white photographs of Victorian or Edwardian women, both around the size of a passport photograph (3cm square). The older woman bears a resemblance to Emmeline Pankhurst and the younger to her daughter Sylvia Pankhurst.