International Women's Day - Suffragette Emily Pankhurst visited Largs

On Thursday August 24 1911, the famous advocate for the woman's vote spoke at the Public Hall in Largs.

Bailie Boyd occupied the chair and said that he was a great sympathiser of the movement.

To great applause, he introduced Mrs Pankhurst as the pioneer of a movement which was destined to place millions of women on the roll as voters.

Mrs Pankhurst said she understood that it was the first ever indoors meeting in Largs in support of votes for women, though there had been a good deal of outdoor work.

The 'News' reported: 'At the meeting she said she was glad of the opportunity of saying exactly what women wanted and what they did not want.

A suffragette rally in Glasgow of the period (Image: Newsquest)

"They were asking that the disqualification of sex should be removed, and if a woman was qualified or otherwise, she would not be disqualified because she was a woman.

"A vote had to be paid for in the same way as everything else had, but women paid for their votes and did not get them.

"When a women paid for her vote by rates or otherwise, she should get what she had paid for, just as if she were a man.

"It was unfair that it should be otherwise, and that she should thus be deprived of liberty and the right of self-government.

"In modern politics all parties were trying to get women to do their canvassing, and influencing voters. She asked woman who are strong party politicians if they could understand how it was they were held good enough to understand politics, and to teach men how to use their vote, and yet they themselves were held incapable of voting."

She held that this was a degrading position for women to be placed in. The bill placed in front of the Parliament did not contain all that women wanted but went a long way in the right direction.

Women even objected to not being allowed to go down mines. Mrs Pankhurst said that the only problem was that it was dirty but other than that 'working in the pithead was healthier than factory work and the legislature had no right to deprive girls of a livelihood.'

Mrs Pankhurst, who had already been imprisoned twice, defended some of the more militant aspects of the movement and said that if men considered that they had superior conduct and could govern all human beings, then they had taken on a job far too big for them.

The 'News' reported: 'Mrs Pankhurst is a a quiet but eloquent and convincing orator, and was frequently applauded during the address.

"She hoped the government was going to play fair with them but they were determined that if their hopes were again defeated, there would be no shrinking from sacrifices in order to win their freedom."