The Suffragette Memorial is an outdoor sculpture commemorating those who fought for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, located in the north-west corner of Christchurch Gardens, Victoria, London. [1] [2] The sculptors were Lorne McKean and Edwin Russell and the project was devised and supervised by the architect Paul Paget. [3] The memorial was unveiled in 1970. [4] It takes the form of a scroll in the shape of the letter S, created in fibreglass and finished in cold-cast bronze, placed on a conical plinth. [4] The text of the scroll reads: [1] [5]
This tribute is erected by the Suffragette Fellowship to commemorate the courage and perseverance of all those men and women who in the long struggle for votes for women selflessly braved derision, opposition and ostracism, many enduring physical violence and suffering.
An additional inscription notes that Caxton Hall, a nearby building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, "was historically associated with women's suffrage meetings and deputations to Parliament". [1] The badge of the Women's Social and Political Union and the Women's Freedom League, known as the Holloway brooch, appears on both sides of the scroll; at the back of the scroll this is accompanied by a representation of the entrance to Holloway Prison. [4]
The memorial was commissioned by the Suffragette Fellowship, [6] an organisation dedicated to commemorating the fight for women's suffrage whose membership was confined to living suffragettes or the families of suffragettes. [4] A number of surviving suffragettes attended the unveiling, including the Fellowship's president Grace Roe [7] and Edith Clayton Pepper, [8] Leonora Cohen and Lilian Lenton. [5] [7] At the unveiling the Labour politician Edith Summerskill told the audience of the debt she felt towards the suffragettes, adding "I will not fail to try to make some contribution to the women's cause". [7] Also in attendance, the Labour politician and Speaker of the House of Commons Horace King said that he believed that there would "sooner or later" be a woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [7]
Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed its militant actions from exile in France from 1912 to 1913. In 1914, she supported the war against Germany. After the war, she moved to the United States, where she worked as an evangelist for the Second Adventist movement.
Rosa May Billinghurst was a British suffragette and women's rights activist. She was known popularly as the "cripple suffragette" as she campaigned in a tricycle.
Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and artistic events and after the Second World War was the most popular register office used by high society and celebrities who required a civil marriage.
A statue of William Shakespeare, by the sculptor Giovanni Fontana after an original by Peter Scheemakers, has formed the centrepiece of Leicester Square Gardens in London since 1874.
The statue of Charlie Chaplin in Leicester Square, London, is a work of 1979 by the sculptor John Doubleday. It portrays the actor, comedian and filmmaker in his best-known role, as The Tramp.
A Grade II-listed bronze statue of Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, by John Tweed, stands in King Charles Street, Whitehall, London. The work was unveiled in 1912 outside Gwydyr House, also in Whitehall, and was moved to its current location in 1916.
The Bali Bombings Memorial is a permanent memorial in central London to victims of the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia. It was designed by Gary Breeze and the carving was undertaken by Martin Cook and Gary Breeze. It was unveiled on 12 October 2006, the fourth anniversary of the bombings, by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, at a ceremony attended by relatives and friends of the 28 British victims.
The Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial is a memorial in London to Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel, two of the foremost British suffragettes. It stands at the entrance to Victoria Tower Gardens, south of Victoria Tower at the southwest corner of the Palace of Westminster. Its main feature is a bronze statue of Emmeline Pankhurst by Arthur George Walker, unveiled in 1930. In 1958 the statue was relocated to its current site and the bronze reliefs commemorating Christabel Pankhurst were added.
The Royal Tank Regiment Memorial is a sculpture by Vivien Mallock in Whitehall Court, London. It commemorates the Royal Tank Regiment.
The Eagle Squadrons Memorial is a Second World War memorial in Grosvenor Square, London. It commemorates the service of the three Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons from 1940 to 1942, during the Battle of Britain, and in particular their 244 Americans and 16 British fighter pilots, of whom 71 were killed. The bronze sculpture of an eagle which tops the memorial is by Elisabeth Frink.
Lucy Minnie Baldock was a British suffragette. Along with Annie Kenney, she co-founded the first branch in London of the Women's Social and Political Union.
The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline Criado Perez, the statue's creation was endorsed by both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The statue, Parliament Square's first monument to a woman and also its first sculpture by a woman, was funded through the government's Centenary Fund, which marks 100 years since some women won the right to vote. The memorial was unveiled on 24 April 2018.
The Holloway brooch was presented by the Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) to women who had been imprisoned at Holloway Prison for militant suffragette activity. It is also referred to as the "Portcullis badge", the "Holloway Prison brooch" and the "Victoria Cross of the Union".
Ellen Crocker (1872–1962) was a British suffragette, and a cousin of Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence.
Elizabeth Ellen Hesmondhalgh began working around 1885 as a cotton spinner in Preston, and became a British suffragette, imprisoned twice for militant protesting on behalf of women's franchise, and awarded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) Hunger Strike Medal for valour.
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