Sylvia Pankhurst Statue

Photo credit - Paul Harrop

Sylvia Pankhurst’s first commemorative statue stands in Mile End Park in the East End of London. Pankhurst, along with the soccer player Ledley King, was chosen by the local community to be depicted in the park.

Dedicated on August 15th, 2011, the statue was part of the Portrait Benches project, led by the charity Sustrans, to beautify the National Cycle Network.

The Laser Process of Cannock created the two-dimensional steel silhouette statue. It depicts Pankhurst holding a pile of papers on her left and handing them out with her right.

Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) was the daughter of the UK suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. Growing up in a social-political activist home shaped her views on equality and drove her to activism work.

She followed her passion and gained training as an artist but devoted her life to different social causes. Alongside her older sister, Christabel, and their mother, she became a leader of the UK women’s rights movement, setting her home base in the East End neighborhood of London.

Besides women’s rights, Pankhurst wrote and fought for socialism and against colonialism throughout the British Empire and fascism in Europe.

Towards the end of WW1, Pankhurst started a 30-year-long relationship with the Italian anarchist/painter/ journalist Silvio Corio. At 45, she gave birth to their son.

Since 1934 she has advocated for Ethiopia’s independence, founding and writing for 20 years The New Times and Ethiopia News. In 1956, following the invitation of the emperor Haile Selassie, she moved to Ethiopia and lived there till she died four years later. Pankhurst was buried with honors in front of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa.

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