those women who could not help in any way, even by holding drawing-room
meetings or assisting at public meetings in halls, that they ‘must pay a fine.
They must give money to Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, in order that the work which
other people will perform can be done effectively.’^39 When the collection was
taken, £300 was received in promises which, together with the money collected
and the sale of tickets made a total of over £400.
‘Thursday’s meeting was very wonderful’, Emmeline later wrote to Elizabeth
Robins from the comfort of her room at the Inns of Court Hotel. ‘I am very
British I fear & feel very dumb & stupid when called upon to show my personal
feelings in public. Still all the same the feelings are there!’^40 Emmeline’s gift of
inspiring service and devotion was by now legendary. ‘While we admired
Christabel’, recalled one Union member, ‘we loved Mrs. Pankhurst.’^41 Mary
Phillips, a Scottish suffragette, expressed the thoughts of many Union members
that January when she enthused that their leader’s splendid courage in fighting
with her sister women and for them, together with the complete trust she
placed in them, gave her ‘a place in the hearts of those who know her best’.^42 It
was a devotion that enabled Emmeline to become one of the most powerful
feminist leaders of a women’s movement for all time.
EMMELINE AND CHRISTABEL