Kenney, Jessie

jessie kenney was born in lees, near oldham, lancashire in 1887 to anne and horatio kenney. she was one of 11 children of whom her elder sisters annie, jane and nell and herself would later join the women's social and political union, and all of whom would receive a remarkable education in the family home. >From the age of thirteen to sixteen, Kenney worked in a local cotton mill becoming involved in the trades union there. In early 1905, she attended an event at the Oldham Trades Council with her sisters Annie and Jenny. Christabel Pankhurst and Teresa Billington-Greig addressed the meeting and from that moment Jessie and Annie would be involved in the women's suffrage movement.

After a brief time working in the local area, Annie Kenney moved to London to become an activist. Jessie would soon follow her, becoming Pethick-Lawrence's private secretary at the age of 19. Two years later, she was appointed as a WSPU organiser in the group's Clement's Inn offices. In June 1908 she was arrested at a demonstration and imprisoned for a month and it was after this that her health became an ongoing problem. She stayed in the West Country with the Blathwayt family on a number of occasions to restore her and, in 1910, was taken on a holiday to Switzerland by Pethick-Lawrence. Her health seemed to be re-established and on her return she was appointed as the organiser of the Walthamstow branch of the Women's Social and Political Union. Two years later she undertook the groups operations at the South hackney by-election but illness returned again and she was sent back to Switzerland the following year with lung disease.

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