Harrison Shirley - Sylvia Pankhurst: the rebellious suffragette

Doreen Montgomery, my special agent for over 30 years. Without her confident encouragement, the story of Sylvia Pankhursts courageous and turbulent life would not have been told.

Sally Evemy, my friend and colleague whose good-humoured, patient, nitpicking attention to detail kept me on course, as we attempted to sift our way through sometimes unassailable paper mountains of Sylvias own writings, and an unusually rich archive of those who knew her.

The time and energy that so many people have shared with us is a reflection of their warmth for Sylvias memory and their appreciation of her unique contribution to history. I hope we have forgotten no one, for we are grateful to them all:

The Pankhurst family Dr Rita and Dr Richard Pankhurst, Dr Helen Pankhurst and Dr Alula Pankhurst; Mieke Hermans at the IISG, for help and accommodation during our stay; Susan Hogan, Adela Pankhursts daughter; Sylvia Ayling, for putting me on the right road; Josephine Boyle, for her knowledge of Woodford; Leslie Powter, for sharing his childhood memories; the archivists at St Aubyns, Chigwell and Bancrofts Schools; Sandie OConnor of the Essex Art Club; Billie Figg, for acting as a link in the chain; Tudor Allen and the staff of the Redbridge Library Local Studies; Basil Taylor, for lending us his diary; John Lawenson, for help with Keir Hardie; Dr Arcadiu Petrescu, for his memories.

The National Federation of Womens Institutes; The Museum of Labour History, Manchester; The Ethiopian Embassy; The Novosti Press Agency; The Pankhurst Centre, Manchester; Tish Collins and the staff at Marx Memorial Library, London; The Historical Manuscripts Commission; Gail Cameron of the Womens Library; the staff at the Museum of London.

The late Caroline Benn; The Rt. Hon. Tony Benn; The Rt. Hon. Michael Foot; the late Baroness Castle; C.T. Isolani CBE LVO, Norah Smyths nephew; Maureen Nield, for her knowledge of Norah Smyth; Molly Cook, for her enthusiastic introduction to Sylvias paintings; Professor Ullendorff, Professor Emeritus of Semitic Languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London; Dr Catherine Hamlin of the Fistula Hospital, Addis Ababa, for time on the telephone.

Geoffrey and Jill Last; Sir Dennis and Lady Wright and John Gardner, for their hospitality and memories of Sylvia in Ethiopia; Barbara Winslow, Assistant Professor of History, Medgar Evans College, City University, London; Joanna Dunham, Amy Brownings niece; Simon Houfe, for sending excerpts from Sir Alfred Richardsons memoirs; lngleby Kernahan for his enthusiastic help on the life of Richard Pankhurst; Eric Pankhurst, for his work on the family tree; Richard Hardy Smith, bookseller in Wadhurst, Sussex, for his introduction to the Anglo-Ethiopian Society; Adrienne Hack of the Anglo-Ethiopian Society; Mr J.A. Flower of Penshurst; Marie Bird, President of the Woodford Bridge Townswomens Guild; Professor Joe White, University of Pittsburgh; Nancy Buckland, Jackson Library, Michigan; Giles Peppiatt, Bonhams Auctioneers; the staff at Fairfield House, Bath; Irene Cockcroft, Soroptomist International of Greater London; Megan Dobney of the Pankhurst Memorial Committee; The Random House Group Ltd, for permission to quote from Caroline Benns Keir Hardie, originally published by Hutchinson. My husband, Duncan Field, for being there.