Annie Kenney
Annie Kenney (1879-1953) was an Oldham mill worker who became a prominent figure in the suffragette movement and well respected by the Pankhurst family. Annie grew up in a family of working-class socialists with sisters who also joined the Women’s Social and Political Union to fight for women's suffrage.
Annie Kenney and The Pankhursts
Annie became involved with the Pankhursts and the WSPU when she and her sister Jessie heard Teresa Billington-Greig and Christabel Pankhurst speak at the Oldham Clarion Vocal Club in 1905. She was invited to meet Emmeline Pankhurst a week later. Recognising a strong ally, the Pankhurst family recruited Annie into the WSPU and on her weekly half days off they trained her in public speaking, probably at 62 Nelson Street. Annie and her sister Jessie handed out women’s suffrage leaflets to women working in the mills in Oldham.
In October 1905, during a Liberal party rally at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in Manchester (now the Radisson Edwardian hotel) Christabel Pankhurst and Annie interrupted a meeting presided over by then local Manchester MP Winston Churchill to shout, “Will the Liberal government give votes to women?” When they were repeatedly ignored, they unfurled a banner with the now famous slogan ‘Votes for Women’ emblazoned across it. They were thrown out of the meeting and arrested for obstruction, becoming the first women to be arrested for campaigning in this way for women’s enfranchisement. Given the choice of a fine or a prison sentence, both took the prison sentence despite local MP Winston Churchill offering to pay the fine on their behalf. Annie received 3 days in prison for her involvement, Christabel was imprisoned for 5 days as she allegedly spat at a policeman. Annie told her sister in a letter that 2,000 people protested her imprisonment in Stevenson Square, Manchester.
Annie at 62 Nelson Street
After being released from Strangeways Prison, Annie lived with the Pankhurst family at 62 Nelson Street for about 9 months. In her memoirs she paints a picture of Christmas 1905 in Manchester with the WSPU.
“On my return to Manchester the one topic was how we could raise money to enable us to take part in the forthcoming General Election. An idea struck me. Why not go out carol-singing as we used to do when I attended Sunday School? This suggestion was welcomed. About seven of us practised the day before, but the drawback was that none of us could remember all the verses of the Christmas carols!
Fortunately, Christmas Eve was dry and fine. So off we set when we thought that everybody would have retired for the night. We did our best, and a few people must have felt sorry for us, for they threw pennies from their bedroom windows. Then we thought of two friends of the Cause, who lived in Victoria Park, so we tramped Manchester again. And though feeling tired and sleepy we exercised our vocal cords once more. We were invited in, and the ladies, who seemed highly amused, gave us 2s. 6d. By the time we got home (to Nelson Street) we had earned the large sum of 5s.6d. through our night’s labour!”
Annie the suffragette
Annie was a determined and key participant in the WSPU. From 1906, she moved to London and inspired working-class East End women to take up the cause. On 9 March 1906, the suffragettes marched to Downing Street and Annie climbed the prime minister’s car (Campbell-Bannerman) to address the crowd with her signature shawl and clogs, after which she was arrested again. Annie moved to Bristol in 1907 and until 1911 headed the West of England’s WSPU branch. She became Deputy Leader of the WSPU in1912.
Annie was imprisoned 13 times and regularly underwent force-feeding whilst interned. She was an outspoken critic of the Cat and Mouse Act which allowed prisoners who were ill (especially after hunger strike or force feeding) to be released until they were well enough to be re-arrested and imprisoned to complete the rest of their prison sentence.
Annie married James Taylor in 1918 and had a son, Warwick Kenney Taylor in 1921. She died in 1953, aged 73, and her ashes are scattered on Saddleworth Moor.
