Emmeline Pankhurst's arrest at Buckingham Palace
- Artist: Central Press
- Date: 1914
- Medium: vintage print
- Dimensions: 8 in. x 6 in. (203 mm x 152 mm) image size
- Portrays: Emmeline Pankhurst, Francis Harry Rolfe
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is a vintage print from Central Press dated 22 May 1914. In it you can see Emmeline Pankhurst—her face tired from hunger strikes, her hat tipped at the back of her head—being held by Police Inspector Francis Harry Rolfe in the aftermath of the Buckingham Palace procession.
The scene is crowded: a few dozen women, their hats and scarves flying, are surrounded by police on horseback and marching men. The print captures the moment when Pankhurst, after leading a deputation of 200 women, was seized amid the violent clashes that left many injured and over sixty people arrested.
Notice the textures of her dress and Rolfe’s uniform—both printed in fine detail—making this tiny 8 in × 6 in image feel alive. The photograph is one of many reproductions that carried the story across Britain; the Daily Mirror even recorded Pankhurst shouting, “Tell the King, gentlemen!” as she was taken.
This image gives us a snapshot of early women’s suffrage struggle and reminds us how Pankhurst went on to run for Parliament and be honoured with a statue in Westminster in 1930.
See it in person
Emmeline Pankhurst's arrest at Buckingham Palace is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
