Openshaw. The Manchester Executive of the ILP readily endorsed her candida-
ture and accurately predicted that Emmeline would ‘do much good if returned,
to humanise the administration of the Poor Law’.^31
That winter there was a particularly high unemployment rate in Manchester
causing immense distress among the working classes since there was no unem-
ployment benefit nor relief for the ‘able-bodied poor’ from the Boards of
Guardians, apart from entry to the dreaded workhouse; such a move was unac-
ceptable to the majority of the unemployed and also impossible to implement
since there were insufficient places to house the large number of needy men,
women and children. While Keir Hardie, in the House of Commons,
denounced the government for offering no help in such times, Emmeline and
Richard took the lead in setting up a Committee for the Relief of the
Unemployed with Richard acting as honorary secretary and Dr. Martin, who
was also standing for election as a Poor Law Guardian, as honorary treasurer. A
central office was opened in Deansgate and volunteers raised money through
street collections, advertisements and subscriptions. Emmeline formed a
women’s sub-committee to focus on the needs of mothers and children and was
particularly active in soliciting donations of food. Each morning she would
drive to Shudehill Market to collect from the stallholders and city merchants
free gifts of food which would then be made up into soup in large cooking pots.
Later each day, in the bitter cold, from noon till two, she took her place on the
lorry, handing out half pint mugs of the hot liquid and pieces of bread. At first
about a thousand people were fed daily in Manchester’s Stevenson Square, as
well as large numbers in the districts of Ancoats, Gorton and Openshaw, but
the numbers soon doubled. Meanwhile, Richard Pankhurst and Leonard Hall, a
doctor’s son, led deputations to Manchester City Council and the Boards of
Guardians and sent resolutions to the government, demanding that local
authorities should be empowered to acquire the necessary land and machinery
that would enable them to provide work for the unemployed, at trade union
rates, and that the powers and funds of Boards of Guardians should be extended
so that they could give adequate relief.^32 At the height of this unrest, the
popular Emmeline was returned as a Poor Law Guardian on 17 December 1894
for the distressed area of Openshaw. She headed the poll with 1,276 votes.^33
This was the first election for a post as a socialist and public representative that
Emmeline had won and it was to prove a formative influence on her life.
At her first meeting at the Chorlton Board of Guardians, Emmeline immedi-
ately made her mark by presenting a resolution condemning the limited powers
granted to such Boards by the local authorities and arguing that decisions in
regard to relief should be placed instead with a special committee of the House
of Commons. Her resolution had scarcely been defeated when a deputation of
the unemployed, led by her husband and Leonard Hall, banged at the door of
the Poor Law Offices. Some representatives were admitted and heated
exchanges took place during which Emmeline, ‘by turns passionate and persua-
sive’, helped to calm and resolve the situation so that the Guardians hastily
SOCIALIST AND PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVE