Pankhurst Anthem and UK’s Centenary of Women’s Suffrage

Source: BBC Radio 3

6 February 1918 ground-breaking Act of Parliament allowed some women in the United Kingdom to vote for the first time.

Although it would be another ten years before all UK women could vote on the same terms as men, it was a momentous step on the road to voting equality. 100 years later to the day, BBC Radio 3 is marking this important centenary of women’s suffrage with a special commission. BBC Radio 3 joined forces with two descendants of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst to produce a new choral work that singers from around the country are invited to perform.

The Pankhurst Anthem – Composer Lucy Pankhurst has written a beautiful choral setting for a text by the activist and writer Helen Pankhurst, based on a powerful address given by her famous great-grandmother, Emmeline. The Pankhurst Anthem is comprised of two sections. The first, Echoes of Emmeline, adapts words by Emmeline Pankhurst to reflect on the suffragettes’ struggle to be enfranchised. The second section, Anthem, is more upbeat in tone and explores the modern repercussions of the suffrage movement.

More at: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/fwN7fPqlWSrzVbhQSYyvWz/get-singing-the-pankhurst-anthem