“My parents were both politically active and fervent supporters of equality, especially for women, and from the age of just 14, so was I.

How could it be otherwise, when I could see so clearly the appalling iniquity being meted out to half of the country’s population? The half that I, as a woman, belonged to.

I wanted to make the world a better place for women. And as long as we had no voice and no vote that would never happen.

At first, I tried to be womanly. To use my feminine influence to bring about change but soon saw it was no use.

In 1903 I founded the Women’s Social and Political Union to fight for women’s suffrage. And fight we did. ‘Deeds not words’ was always our motto.

We smashed windows, defied the law and when our actions landed us in prison, we went on hunger strike.

They called us militant, a name I was quite willing to accept.

I was arrested seven times and each time I was asked the same question.

Why was I a law breaker? But what else could I be when I was denied the right to be a law maker.

Often, at our rallies, we were physically assaulted by police, punched and kicked on the ground.

The more the government ignored us the more determined we became.

I can’t say I agreed with some of the more extreme actions, but I certainly understood them.

When war broke out in 1914, we suspended all our protests and rightly did all we could to support the war effort.

After all, what would be the point of fighting for a vote if we didn’t have a country to vote in?

In 1918, an act of parliament allowed us to take the first step towards female suffrage, and ten years later, after decades of struggle, we were finally granted the same voting rights as men.