Tucked away behind the multi-storey car park of Manchester Royal Infirmary lies the birth of the Suffragette movement: the Pankhurst Centre. Once the home of radical feminist pioneers, the Pankhurst family, the building is now home to the Pankhurst Trust and Manchester Women’s Aid. It would be hard to find a single person in Manchester who did not know a single thing about the Suffragettes or the Pankhurst family, but the story of what happened to the building after the family left is hardly common knowledge at all.
The Suffragette Split
The Pankhurst family were crucial to the Suffragette movement in the early 20th Century. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded in Manchester, Pankhurst’s hometown, prior to World War 1. There were six founders of the WSPU, including both Sylvia and Emmeline Pankhurst. The WSPU displayed a more militant strand of the suffrage Continue Reading