Hats Off To Annie Kenney

1 week ago by @jackketch

Hats Off To Annie Kenney

jackketch

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Liner Notes

#suffragette #feminist #folk #lefty
As said before, I'm a History teacher and this week I was in an assembly about LGBTQ history, and Annie Kenney was talked about. I'd never really heard about her before but I found her an intriguing figure - a working class woman born in a poor Northern English town, a trade union activist in a cotton mill where she lost a finger (I'm also a trade union rep), and then she became heavily involved in the WSPU (Suffragettes) where she rose through the ranks. She then became notorious after heckling Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey in a meeting and when it became clear they weren't going to support extending the franchise she brought out a 'Votes for women' flag and was arrested. Like other suffragettes she went on hunger strike in prison - a situation which the government tried to handle with the 'Cat and mouse' act where hunger striking suffragettes were released until they regained their strength, then bought back to prison. Kenney once took part in a suffragette meeting while on a stretcher as she was so weak. When women eventually got the vote in 1918/1928, she retired from politics, and more or less disappeared from History, although she is remembered now as a trailblazing working class feminist and also something of an LGBTQ hero.
I left the assembly with the phrase 'Hats off to Annie Kenney' in my head, and a rough idea of a tune - recorded it today, my wife helped me with some of the lyrics.

Lyrics

Born without a silver spoon
Raised under a Northern moon
She always danced to her own tune
So began young Annie Kenney

Started off as a factory girl
Working all day to pay the bills
Lost a finger in the mills
That was our Annie Kenney

Chorus

She won't give in
And she won't back down
She won't shut up
She'll stand her ground
She won't be quiet
She will be heard
She'll go down fighting, saying
'Deeds not words'

When it was time for something new
She joined the WSPU
Fought till she was black and blue
That was our Annie Kenney

And when she met Churchill and Grey
And saw that they could not be swayed
The police had to carry her away
That was our Annie Kenney

Chorus

In prison, refusing to be fed
Even tied down to the bed
For the cause, she willingly bled
That was our Annie Kenney

After playing Cat and Mouse
And the public horror that was roused
The Act was passed then by the House
Hats off to Annie Kenney!

She didn't give in
And she didn't back down
She didn't shut up
She stood her ground
She was not quiet
And she was heard
Victory was hers with
'Deeds not words'

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