KP/JK/1/3 - Passport

KP/JK/1/3

Item

Passport

9/6/1917

1 Passport

Great Britain. Foreign Office

Jessie Kenney’s passport, issued on 9/6/1917 and renewed on 10/4/1919. Provides a physical description and contains a number of international stamps from Jessie’s travels. Her 1917 trip to Russia, on which she accompanied Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), to lobby Russian women to contribute to the war effort on behalf of the British government is one of her most significant contributions to the British war effort. During their stay, they met with The First Women’s Battalion of Death, led by Maria Bochkarëva, and participated in procession with them. In her unpublished memoir, Jessie called it “one of the greatest patriotic demonstrations being held during the revolution.” In October 1917, the Women’s Battalion was called upon to defend the Winter Palace, but the 1000-strong battalion was unable to overcome the 40 000 Bolshevik soldiers and surrendered. Jessie was very critical of the Bolsheviks, despite her own working-class roots. In a diary entry from the Russian trip, she wrote: “[The Bolsheviks] were out to cause anarchy and hatred amongst the people, and against the Allies, those Allies who had helped Russia in every possible way.” In addition, the passport contains stamps from France, Switzerland, and Austria.

A digital copy may be viewed at Suffragette Stories: https://suffragettestories.omeka.net/items/show/38