09/27/2025
In 1960, a big state funeral took place in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The Emperor Haile Selassie himself attended, along with all his government ministers and officials. Full honours were given as the coffin was taken to the cathedral, where the Emperor spoke kind words in praise of the deceased. But this state funeral was not for an African prince or freedom fighter. It was for a Lancashire lass who grew up in Manchester...
Sylvia Pankhurst was born in Old Trafford in 1882. She was the second daughter of Emmeline & Richard. She went to Manchester High School for Girls where she excelled at art. She studied at the Manchester School of Art and then the Royal College of Art in London.
Like her sisters, from a very young age, she was drawn into the suffragette campaign led by her mum. Sylvia had always dreamed of becoming an artist, but it was whilst painting the portraits of working-class women, and coming across so many poor mothers with malnourished children. that she decided not to pursue an artistic career, but to devote herself entirely to fighting for these women. After leaving art college, Sylvia worked full-time for the suffragette cause.
She helped to set up the women’s movement in Leicester and East London. She wrote articles for the campaign newspaper. She put her artistic skills to use, designing suffragette posters, banners, jewellery and decorating the meeting halls. She was active in taking the campaign to the streets and was arrested 15 times (more times than her mum and two sisters put together). She spent time in prison, where she often went on hunger-strike and was repeatedly force-fed.
Unlike her mum, Sylvia had close ties to the Labour Party. She felt that the suffragette movement was in danger of becoming too middle-class. Her mum at one point even considered a compromise solution whereby only middle-class women got the vote. For Sylvia, this would have been a betrayal and she quarrelled with her mum. Relations between mother and daughter became so bad, that her sister Christabel decided to throw Sylvia out of the suffragette organisation altogether.
So Sylvia set up her own group. She campaigned not just for the vote for women, but for all workers’ rights and help for the poor.
When the 1st World War broke out, Emmeline and Christabel gave up the suffragette campaign and they gave their full support to the war effort. Sylvia, on the other hand, spoke out against the war, which she said was a senseless waste of lives. She set up food kitchens for the poor in East London and started a toy factory which took on unemployed women. She also set up legal advice centres for women to help them get decent allowances whilst their husbands were away fighting. She helped to support and hide conscientious objectors.
Sylvia was one of the very few voices calling for peace. After the Russian Revolution, she visited Russia and encouraged them to pull out of the war. Back in Britain, she joined the Communist Party, but as she refused to be controlled and criticised Lenin, they threw her out.
Sylvia continued to be the black sheep of the family in her private life too. Whilst still unmarried, she moved in with a man (an Italian anarchist). She didn’t care what “polite society” thought, or what the newspapers were saying about her for "living in sin". But Emmeline felt hugely embarrassed and was infuriated with her daughter. In 1927, at the age of 45, Sylvia gave birth to a son, Richard, and she refused to tell anyone who the father was. The newspapers were scandalised once again. For Emmeline, this was the last straw. She never spoke to Sylvia again and refused to even see the baby. This rift was never mended; Emmeline was in poor health and died the following year.
In the 1930s, Sylvia was active in speaking out against both the European empires and against the rising tide of Fascism. When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, she campaigned in support of the Ethiopian leader, Haile Selassie.
After the 2nd World War, which was fought in the name of freedom, Sylvia said it was hypocritical of Britain to continue holding on to its colonial empire. She called on all European powers to give independence to their colonies. The British secret service was asked to look into ways of "muzzling the tiresome Miss Pankhurst".
Sylvia had always felt an affinity with Africa. At the age of 74, she moved with her son to Ethiopia. There she wrote about African art and culture. She set up a newspaper and raised money for Ethiopia’s first teaching hospital. She became a friend of Emperor Haile Selassie. She remained a champion of human rights and feminism right to the end.
Sylvia died, aged 78, on 27th September, 1960. After being given a full state funeral, she was laid to rest in front of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, the only foreigner to be buried in the section reserved for patriots.
(Sylvia's son, Richard, stayed in Ethiopia. He became a professor and writer. He received an OBE in 2004. When he died in 2017, he was described as "one of Ethiopia's greatest friends".).
