Flower stall at the Women's Exhibition

The Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst at the flower stall of the Women's Exhibition, May 1909. The Women's Exhibition, held at the Prince's Skating Rink in Knightsbridge between 13th and 26th May 1909, was organised by the Women's Social and Political Union to recruit new members, raise funds for the campaign and to gain much needed publicity for the Votes for Women cause.
The flower stall took centre stage at the Exhibition. In the 14th May edition of Votes for Women it was noted 'No more beautiful or suitable centre for the Women’s exhibition could have been imagined. Here were plants of every kind, most of them in flower, palms, ivy, ferns, creepers and a mass of cut flowers….the rock garden is a refreshing and interesting feature.'
In this image taken by Christina Broom Emmeline is seated second on the right alongside the Suffragettes responsible for the flower stall. To the right can be seen the millinery stall organised by the Kensington branch of the Women's Social and Political Union with help from donations from leading London stores including Liberty and Peter Robinson. This is one in a series of posed images taken by the photographer Christina Broom at the exhibition, many of which were subsequently sold as souvenir postcards.