The Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial commemorate the mother and daughter who were prominent UK suffragettes leaders.
The initiative to commemorate Emmeline Pankhurst’s legacy with a statue was the project of the Pankhurst Memorial Fund, led by the members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), Rosamund Massey and Katherine Marshall. The Suffragette’s editor Rachel Barrett organized the fundraiser, and a Parliamentary bill approved the location in the south corner of Victoria Tower Gardens near the Palace of Westminster. The statue was created by Arthur George Walker, who also sculpted Florence Nightingale and Louisa Aldrich-Blake; both sculptures still stand in London.
It was unveiled on March 6th, 1930, by the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin. At the unveiling ceremony, the composer Ethel Smyth, also a member of the WSPU, conducted the Metropolitan Police Band, which included several suffragettes who were arrested together with Pankhurst during demonstrations. The band played The March of the Women, the anthem of the suffrage movement.
The bronze statue depicts Pankhurst with her arms outstretched as when she delivered a speech. A metal box inside the pedestal holds her obituary and letters.
In 1958, the statue was relocated from the south side of Victoria Tower Gardens to its current place on the north side. A low stone screen was built in front of the statue with bronze medallions at either end, one of Christabel Pankhurst’s portrait and the other of the WSPU’s “prison pin.” The renewed memorial was unveiled on July 13th, 1959.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was born in Manchester, England, to progressive parents who supported abolition and suffrage. Throughout her life, she has been active in various women’s rights organizations, and in 1889, she and her husband founded the Women’s Franchise League (WFL).
Over time, she realized that only militant actions would promote the cause, so in 1903, she and her daughter Christabel (1880-1958), together with other committed activists, established the WSPU, an all-women organization devoted solely to women’s voting rights. They became known for their militant methods, which included provoking the police, harassing parliament members, and vandalizing public art. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, as well as other WSPU members, were sent to prison several times and often went on hunger strikes.
The mother and daughter duo’s efforts finally paid off with the passage of the law granting voting rights to all women over 21 years on July 2th, 1928, only a few weeks after Emmeline Pankhurst died.
Also in Victoria Tower Gardens are Auguste Rodin’s statue Burghers of Calais, and the Buxton Memorial Fountain commemorates the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. North of Victoria Tower Gardens is Parliament Sq, where the statue of another suffragette leader, Millicent Fawcett, has been standing since 2018.
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