Emmeline Pankhurst (July 15, 1858 - June 14, 1928) was a English political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement. In 1903, five years after her husband died, She founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), an all-women suffrage advocacy organization. The group became known for physical confrontations: members smashed windows and assaulted police officers. Pankhurst, her daughters, and other WSPU activists received repeated prison sentences, where they staged hunger strikes to secure better conditions. As Pankhurst's eldest daughter Christabel took leadership of the WSPU, antagonism between the group and the government grew. Eventually the group adopted arson as a tactic, and more moderate organizations spoke out against the Pankhurst family. In 1913 several prominent individuals left the WSPU, among them Pankhurst's daughters Adela and Sylvia. She was widely criticized for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognized as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in Britain. She died in 1928, only weeks before the Conservative government's Representation of the People Act extended the vote to all women over 21 years of age.