archives.trin.cam.ac.uk

Letter from the Earl of Halifax to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/2/12
Item
6 Aug. 1959

7 Kingston House North, Princes Gate, S.W.7.—Thanks him for his kind letter and for a copy of Dame Christabel Pankhurst’s book (Unshackled).

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/78a
Item
[early July 1959]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

(Addis Ababa.)—Has been moved by Christabel’s book (Unshackled). Is planning to write a memoir of her father, and asks for help in procuring his letters.

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/79
Item
[early July 1959]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

(Addis Ababa.)—Thanks him for a copy of her sister’s book (Unshackled), and discusses the references in it to herself.

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/82
Item
[mid July 1959]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Declines his offer of a second copy of Christabel’s book. Her father’s letters to her mother should be included in her memoir of him, but they are in the hands of someone outside the family.

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/83
Item
[18 July 1959?]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Is writing a biography of her father. Asks for help in obtaining his letters to her mother, which are in the possession of Grace Roe, her sister’s executrix.

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/80
Item
10 July [1959]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—The names of her parents’ first two sons are not given correctly in her sister’s book.

Letter from Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/5/115
Item
3 July 1959

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

India House.—Accepts an invitation to the unveiling of a memorial to Christabel Pankhurst. Agrees to write a letter regarding her feelings and those of many Indian women towards Christabel Pankhurst’s work, but points out that Indian women derived their impetus to progress not from their British sisters but from the freedom struggle under Gandhi.

Letter from Laurence Housman to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/6/249
Item
27 Nov. 1958

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

Longmeadow, Street, Somerset.—Discusses his feelings towards Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst, and declines to contribute to the cost of a statue of the latter.

—————

Transcript

Longmeadow, Street, Somerset
Nov 27th 1958

Dear Pethick Lawrence

(If I may drop formality in memory of old days) I was very glad to hear from you: but I am 94 and am a rather worn-out old man. You may be surprised to hear that Miss Pankhurst has never appealed to me: her companion (Annie Kenny†.) did. She and I did not like each other. There was a silly Suffragette fable, that I was in love with her: and that she had made our marriage conditional on their getting the vote. Mrs Pankhurst I liked & respected; but I did not approve of the section which indulged in violence and destruction. Also I disliked that final triumphal procession along Picadilly† to curry favour with the Government when War broke out. Also she tied some Australian Prime Minister to her tail. The tragic moment to my mind was when she had got as far as a public meeting in London, when the Police were after her. She had managed to get there, and was just about to speak, when the Police broke in. “Women! They are taking me!” she cried. The women all jumped to their feet, but not (as she had hoped) to become violent. “You brutes!” was all they cried. Whereas she had wanted a real battle! And if a few women and police got killed,—all the better for the cause.

So that’s that! And you can leave me out of your subscribers for any additions to Mrs Pankhurst’s Statue in Westminster[.]

I wonder whether you know that I have become a member of “the Society of Friends” and as “a Quaker” am now a staunch Pacifist! Thus you & I have become far separated in our ideas; but not in our old friendship, I hope.

Ever yours very sincerely
Laurence Housman

PS. I’m afraid I have mislaid your present address, with the letter I received from you. LH

—————

† Sic.

Carbon copy of a letter from F. W. Pethick-Lawrence to Sir Stanley Unwin

PETH/1/12
Item
31 Oct. 1958

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

Thanks him for the book (see 1/9). Is helping to raise money for a memorial to Christabel Pankhurst and editing a book by her (Unshackled).

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/77
Item
[July 1958?]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

(Addis Ababa.)—Thanks Lady Pethick-Lawrence for an account of the celebra-tion of her mother (Emmeline Pankhurst)’s centenary. Suggests ideas for a suitable memorial (for Christabel?), and recalls the courageous actions of Princess Tsahai.

Leaf from The Woman Teacher, containing an article by Lord Pethick-Lawrence entitled ‘The Girl who Slew the Dragon’

PETH/9/55
Item
Mar. 1958

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

Leaf from The Woman Teacher, containing an article headed ‘Dame Christabel Pankhurst’, including the text of Lord Pethick-Lawrence’s address at her memorial service

PETH/9/56
Item
Mar. 1958

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

Letter from Sylvia Pankhurst to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

PETH/9/76
Item
19 Mar. [1958]

Parte de Pethick-Lawrence Papers

P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Thanks him for a copy of his speech at the memorial service (for Dame Christabel Pankhurst). Reflects on the suffrage movement and the the Pethick-Lawrences’ contributions to it.

(Letter-head of the Ethiopia Observer. Sylvia Pankhurst is named as Editor.)