Annie Kenney

Studio portrait of Annie Kenney dressed for Women's Sunday, 1908. Here she is seen wearing her 'Chairman' badge of office referring to her official role in the procession and rally, where she chaired the speeches at Platform 3 at Hyde Park.
Annie was a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union and one of its most charismatic speakers. She and Christabel Pankhurst, were the first Suffragettes to be arrested and imprisoned in October 1905 for interrupting a Liberal meeting in the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Annie, born in Lancashire, was often portrayed by the WSPU as a working class 'Mill Girl'. However, although she spent a short time working in a mill factory, she came from a highly cultured family home where she was exposed to a wide range of books and broad education. In 1906 Annie was sent by the WSPU to 'rouse' London' where she addressed meetings, canvassed women and led deputations to Parliament. From 1907 she was appointed WSPU organiser in the west of England on a salary of £2 a week. From 1912, with Christabel Pankhurst in exile in Paris, Annie was given control of WSPU headquarters to ensure Christabel's policy of militancy was carried through. In 1913 Annie was found guilty of conspiracy to inflict damage to property. Sentenced to three years' imprisonment there she went on hunger strike before being repeatedly released under the terms of the Cat & Mouse Act.