Autograph letter signed from Police Court by suffragette Adela Pankhurst 1909-12

PANKHURST, Adela. Autograph letter signed from Police Court, concerning W.S.P.U. policy and the disruption of a political meeting. [c. 1909–1912].
 
Two pages, written in pencil on ruled paper, folded; old tape repairs at margins and central fold, some light creasing and handling marks. Good. 
 
The letter discusses the transfer of tickets in order to secure entry to a political meeting. Pankhurst writes: “I think you have done entirely right in saying you were standing by the policy of the W.S.P.U. when transferring the tickets to me.” She advises the recipient to state that, after purchasing them, she was persuaded to relinquish them “in favour of what you consider a public duty,”  She then asserts that “everybody understands that our methods, whatever they are, are justified by political necessity.” Pankhurst concludes that the episode “was a great triumph if only one woman got in,” indicating that the object of the ticket transfer was the successful admission of at least one suffragette to an otherwise restricted political meeting.
 
The final line reads: “Just written at P. Court. Another adjournment.” The reference is to Police Court proceedings. Adela Pankhurst (1885–1961), youngest daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and sister of Christabel and Sylvia, was repeatedly arrested and prosecuted between 1909 and 1913 for disrupting political meetings and other militant suffrage actions, in particular involving Winston Churchill. 
 
A rare militant letter, written from court, with Adela Pankhurst explicitly referencing W.S.P.U. policy and the justification of direct action.