Christabel Pankhurst at The Women's Exhibition, Knightsbridge

The Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst, 1909. The image was taken by Christina Broom during the two week Women's Exhibition held at the Princes' Skating Rink, Knightsbridge in May 1909.
The exhibition, organised by the Women's Social and Political Union to recruit new members and raise funds for the Votes for Women campaign, was regarded by the leadership as a triumphant success.
According to a report in Votes for Women on June 4th 1909 through the success of the exhibition 'We [the WSPU] have shown a new side to the public, with the result that our Movement has won a better understanding on the part of those who knew nothing about it except from hearsay’.
Christina Broom, trading as Mrs Albert Broom, was a pioneering professional photographer and is considered to be the UK's first woman press photographer. She was not personally acquainted with the Pankhursts or other suffrage leaders, yet she was able to secure access to them at the exhibition, taking three photographs of Christabel at this time.
Broom's extensive photographic work spans the activities of the suffrage movement in London, street views, military figures and actions of the Household Division including the First World War period, sporting events and the Royal Family.