KP/JK/3/PAN/C/1 - Letter, Christabel Pankhurst to Jessie Kenney, 29/11/1918
Reference code
KP/JK/3/PAN/C/1
Level of description
Item
Title
Letter, Christabel Pankhurst to Jessie Kenney, 29/11/1918
Date/s
29/11/1918
Creator
Pankhurst, Christabel, Dame, 1880-1958Creator
Kenney, JessieAdministrative/Biographical history
recipient
Scope and content
A transcript follows this description.
Christabel writes to Jessie from the Smethwick election campaign, where Christabel was running to become an MP during the first General Election in which women had the right to vote as well as to stand as MP candidates. She writes about the horrid weather and her busy campaign life: “You can imagine what work it has been to get the organisation side going. 3000 absent voters to circula[rise] committee [loans], hard to get [through] the political views of their landlords etc. etc.” Christabel also reports that Cynthia Maguire and other retired suffragettes were putting their organising skills to work again and doing well. She mentions that her final election meeting had taken place the night before and she found it “most encouraging.” Very few of her political opponents made objections, she tells Jessie, “No Unionist [Irish Unionist] opposition and the only Labour opposition came from measly Bolsheviks and very few at that.”
Envelope included.
Transcript provided by Hazel Brain [KP/JK/3/PAN/C/2].
Midland Hotel, BIRMINGHAM, 29 Nov [November] 1918
My darling old Jessie.
I am so very sorry about the news your letter brings but I hope you are better by now.
The weather here is damp and horrid – only one gleam of sun (reported in the Daily Mail) has visited us so far.
But the Smethwick [people’s friendliness] seems [Page 2] to make up for it.
You can imagine what work it has been to get the organisation side going. 3000 absent voters to circula[rise], committee [loans] hard to get [through] the political views of their landlords etc. etc. But all is smoothing out and in the next two weeks we shall [illegible deletion] reap [Page 3] the fruits of all this [illegible] work.
The [happiest] band is the [Meetings] Department. Miss [illegible] and Maguire and Co [Company]. They are on familiar ground so far as the work is concerned and they are doing it well.
My final meeting was last night [Page 4] and was most encouraging. No Unionist opposition and the only Labour opposition came from measly Bolsheviks and very few at that.
But of course meetings are not the final test and we act accordingly.
I have written to Dr. S[-----] asking if it is really impossible to get the stuff mother [Page 5] has when she is in U.S.A. [United States of America]
If he arranges anything I will let you know so that you may share the benefit. What you need is more Bu[---] and dry [“dry” underlined twice] weather, for dampness is the worst thing for your troubles.
I have some hope [Page 6] that Dr. [illegible].S. will rise to the occasion as the one thing needed on this job is plenty of “push and go”. Annie may be interested in the enclosed cutting, do please hand to her
With best love
C.P. [Christabel Pankhurst]
Christabel writes to Jessie from the Smethwick election campaign, where Christabel was running to become an MP during the first General Election in which women had the right to vote as well as to stand as MP candidates. She writes about the horrid weather and her busy campaign life: “You can imagine what work it has been to get the organisation side going. 3000 absent voters to circula[rise] committee [loans], hard to get [through] the political views of their landlords etc. etc.” Christabel also reports that Cynthia Maguire and other retired suffragettes were putting their organising skills to work again and doing well. She mentions that her final election meeting had taken place the night before and she found it “most encouraging.” Very few of her political opponents made objections, she tells Jessie, “No Unionist [Irish Unionist] opposition and the only Labour opposition came from measly Bolsheviks and very few at that.”
Envelope included.
Transcript provided by Hazel Brain [KP/JK/3/PAN/C/2].
Midland Hotel, BIRMINGHAM, 29 Nov [November] 1918
My darling old Jessie.
I am so very sorry about the news your letter brings but I hope you are better by now.
The weather here is damp and horrid – only one gleam of sun (reported in the Daily Mail) has visited us so far.
But the Smethwick [people’s friendliness] seems [Page 2] to make up for it.
You can imagine what work it has been to get the organisation side going. 3000 absent voters to circula[rise], committee [loans] hard to get [through] the political views of their landlords etc. etc. But all is smoothing out and in the next two weeks we shall [illegible deletion] reap [Page 3] the fruits of all this [illegible] work.
The [happiest] band is the [Meetings] Department. Miss [illegible] and Maguire and Co [Company]. They are on familiar ground so far as the work is concerned and they are doing it well.
My final meeting was last night [Page 4] and was most encouraging. No Unionist opposition and the only Labour opposition came from measly Bolsheviks and very few at that.
But of course meetings are not the final test and we act accordingly.
I have written to Dr. S[-----] asking if it is really impossible to get the stuff mother [Page 5] has when she is in U.S.A. [United States of America]
If he arranges anything I will let you know so that you may share the benefit. What you need is more Bu[---] and dry [“dry” underlined twice] weather, for dampness is the worst thing for your troubles.
I have some hope [Page 6] that Dr. [illegible].S. will rise to the occasion as the one thing needed on this job is plenty of “push and go”. Annie may be interested in the enclosed cutting, do please hand to her
With best love
C.P. [Christabel Pankhurst]
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright: Estate of Christabel Pankhurst (c/o Helen Pankhurst). All rights reserved.
Copyright: Estate of Jessie Kenney. All rights reserved. Included here by kind permission of Warwick Kenney-Taylor (son of Annie Kenney) and later generations of the Kenney and Taylor families.
Copyright: Estate of Jessie Kenney. All rights reserved. Included here by kind permission of Warwick Kenney-Taylor (son of Annie Kenney) and later generations of the Kenney and Taylor families.
Existence and location of copies
A digital copy may be viewed at Suffragette Stories: https://suffragettestories.omeka.net/items/show/117
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KP - The Kenney Papers
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KP/JK - Jessie Kenney
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KP/JK/3 - Correspondence
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KP/JK/3/PAN/C - Correspondence with Christabel Pankhurst
- KP/JK/3/PAN/C/1 - Letter, Christabel Pankhurst to Jessie Kenney, 29/11/1918
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KP/JK/3/PAN/C - Correspondence with Christabel Pankhurst
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KP/JK/3 - Correspondence
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KP/JK - Jessie Kenney
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