Annie Kenney

Annie Kenney

Annie Kenney (September 13, 1879July 9, 1953) was an English working-class suffragette who is credited with sparking off suffragette militancy when she heckled Winston Churchill.

During a Liberal rally at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, in October, 1905, she and Christabel Pankhurst interrupted a political meeting to ask Churchill and Sir Edward Grey if they believed women should have the right to vote.

Neither man replied. The two women got out a banner declaring "Votes for Women", and shouted at the two politicians to answer their questions. Kenney and Pankhurst were thrown out of the meeting and arrested for causing an obstruction and a technical assault on a police officer. Annie Kenney was imprisoned for three days for her part in the protest, and 13 times in total.

Emmeline Pankhurst later wrote in her autobiography that "this was the beginning of a campaign the like of which was never known in England, or for that matter in any other country ...we interrupted a great many meetings... and we were violently thrown out and insulted. Often we were painfully bruised and hurt." Born in Springhead, in Saddleworth, on the 13 september 1879, the daughter of Nelson Horatio Kenney and Anne Wood, Annie Kenney studied the great thinkers at an early age and joined the Pankhursts in the women's movement after she spent time working in a cotton mill. She was the only working-class woman to become part of the senior hierarchy of the Women's Social and Political Union, becoming deputy in 1912, unusual in such a middle-class organisation.

She took her message as far afield as France and America, but eventually married and settled in Letchworth, Herts, after women won the vote in 1918.

She died on 9 July 1953.

In 1999, Oldham put up a blue plaque in her honour at Leesbrook Mill where she started work in 1892.

External links

* [http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/cgi-bin/deadsearch.cgi?serverid=VSPOKES-ead-uea&bool=AND&numreq=1&fieldcont1=111&format=full&fieldidx1=docid&scanposition=middle&firstrec=1 The Kenney Papers]
* [http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/frames.shtml?http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/MOLsite/piclib/pages/bigpicture.asp?id=982 Museum of London]
* [http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/Regionhistory/suffrage.htm Suffragette photographs]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wkenney.htm Spartacus Schoolnet]
* [http://century.guardian.co.uk/1899-1909/Story/0,,126368,00.html Manchester Guardian reports the 1905 court case]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Kenney — can refer to:People* Annie Kenney, suffragette * Ben Kenney, musician * Bill Kenney, American football player * Charles Lamb Kenney, writer * Douglas Kenney, co founder of National Lampoon * Ed Kenney, actor * Edward Aloysius Kenney, politician * …   Wikipedia

  • Annie and Clarabel — Thomas and Friends character First appearance Thomas the Tank Engine (The Railway Series) Thomas and the Breakdown Train (Thomas and Friends) …   Wikipedia

  • Этаж наследия — «Этаж наследия» (англ. Heritage Floor)  композиция, составляющая единый объект с инсталляцией «Званый ужин» Джуди Чикаго, отдающей дань уважения достижениям и тяготам женского труда и имеющей форму треугольного банкетного стола на 39… …   Википедия

  • History of feminism — The history of feminism is the history of feminist movements and their efforts to overturn injustices of gender inequality. Feminist scholars have divided feminism s history into three waves . Humm, Maggie. 1995. The Dictionary of Feminist Theory …   Wikipedia

  • Lees, Greater Manchester — infobox UK place country = England latitude= 53.5389 longitude= 2.0696 official name= Lees population= 10,132 (2001 Census) metropolitan borough= Oldham metropolitan county= Greater Manchester region= North West England constituency westminster=… …   Wikipedia

  • Oldham — ██████████40  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Dinner Party — For other works with this title, see Dinner Party The Dinner Party is an installation artwork by feminist artist Judy Chicago depicting place settings for 39 mythical and historical famous women. It was produced from 1974 to 1979 as a… …   Wikipedia

  • List of suffragists and suffragettes — This is a list of suffragists and suffragettes who were campaigners for women s suffrage. Suffragists and suffragettes were often members of different societies which had the same aim, but used differing tactics: for example, suffragettes in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Constance Lytton — Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer Lytton Born 12 January 1869(1869 01 12) Vienna Austria Died 2 May 1923 …   Wikipedia

  • 1953 — This article is about the year 1953. Millennium: 2nd millennium Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century Decades: 1920s  1930s  1940s  – 1950s –  1960s   …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”