In the corner of Christchurch Gardens in the heart of London stands a bronzed scroll sculpture in the shape of the letter S commemorating the women and men who fought for the legal voting right of women in the UK.
The text of the scroll reads:
“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.
Nearby Caxton Hall was historically associated with women’s suffrage meetings & deputations to Parliament.”
On both sides of the scroll is the sign of the badge of the Women’s Social and Political Union and the Women’s Freedom League, known as the Holloway brooch.
In 1926, Edith How-Martyn founded the Suffragette Fellowship organization to preserve, document, and commemorate the women and men who fought for women’s emancipation. The organization formed an archive, created educational programs, and held annual commemorative events on memorable dates, such as Emmeline Pankhurst’s birthday, the first militant protest, the suffrage victories of the 1918 Qualification of Women Act and the 1928 Equal Franchise Act.
They also commissioned Lorne McKean and Edwin Russell to create this memorial and unveiled it on July 14th, 1970, Pankhurst’s birthday, with the presence of living suffragettes.
This memorial stands next to Caxton Hall, a historic building where the Women’s Social and Political Union met.
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