Emmeline Pethick, the daughter of Henry Pethick, a businessman
in Bristol, was born in Clifton on 21st October 1867. She later
recalled: "My mother bore thirteen children, of whom five died
in infancy. My youngest brother was born seventeen years after
me. Those were the days of large families. I never heard my
mother make any complaint about this excessive childbearing. She
accepted it with complete surrender and even with satisfaction."
Henry Pethick was a devout Methodist. "As children we were all
taken to Church as soon as we could walk and we had to sit very
still indeed, because if not, we would be slapped afterwards.
When we were older we had to remember and repeat the text at
dinner-time, and if we failed to do this we were set to learn
pieces of Scripture by heart." Emmeline was sent away to
boarding school in Devizes at the age of eight. A rebellious
child, she was constantly in trouble with her teachers. After
being transferred to a Quaker school she was accused of being "a
corrupting influence on