“I’m an MP thanks to Saddleworth’s Annie Kenney and other suffragettes”

Annie Kenney – Springhead Suffragette

Reporter: Ruby Anstee

Thanks to the efforts of the suffragettes over 100 yrs ago, a third of the Members of the House of Commons are now women, including our Prime Minister Theresa May and MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth Debbie Abrahams.

Debbie told Saddleworth News and Life: “In marking the centenary of women’s suffrage I remember the life of Annie Kenney, a cotton mill worker, from Springhead in my constituency who was the only working class woman to hold a senior position in the Women’s Social and Political Union.”

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Annie became a leading figure in the Suffragette movement in 1905 when she, and Christabel Pankhurst, were imprisoned for several days after heckling Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey at a rally in Manchester on the issue of votes for women.

Emmeline Pankhurst wrote in her autobiography that this event was the beginning of the Suffragettes’ militant phase and that they went on to interrupt a great many more meetings and events and, as a result, were often imprisoned and treated very badly.

Debbie added, “It is thanks to the many sacrifices made by Annie, and other suffragettes, that I have the opportunity to serve Oldham East and Saddleworth as the 366th female Member of Parliament ever elected.”

Debbie is a patron for the Annie Kenney Fund, set up by Jim McMahon MP, along with Angela Rayner MP, and council leader Jean Stretton. This is to fund a statue in Oldham town centre of Annie. Find out more here www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/annie-kenney

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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