Salford Suffragette Commemorated for International Women’s Day

Salford Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst (women’s rights movement), daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, protesting the English policy in India. Trafalgar Square, London, England, [1907-1914]. Image Credit: Spaarnestad Photo, via Nationaal Archief

Many a Salford Suffragette has played an important part in the movement, with many activists either being from Salford or playing a key role in the social revolution.

This Sunday marks International Women’s Day which reflects the importance of the Suffragette movement.

Salford has embraced their history linked to the movement by remembering the important figures that changed the way the world views women, including the Pankhursts and Eva Gore Booth.

To mark the occasion, Katherine Connelly, who is the biographer of Salford suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, will be holding a talk at the Working-Class Movement Library in Salford.

This Saturday, Ms Connelly will be discussing Emmeline Pankhurst’s daughter, Sylvia, about her life in America and the insight she had to the oppression of women and people of colour.

This Saturday 7 March at 2pm do join us as we welcome Katherine Connelly, Sylvia Pankhurst’s biographer, to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay with a talk about Sylvia touring the USA in 1911-1912. https://t.co/XrTf2OFEFo pic.twitter.com/G0NQZROhgn

— WCML (@wcmlibrary) March 2, 2020

Recently, there have been memorials to remember the Suffragette movement including a statue that is planning to be built in Brighton of Mary Jane Clarke, a Salford-born suffragette.

Clarke was the co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1906 with Emmeline Pankhurst. She was one of the many women who went on hunger strike and was force-fed after being imprisoned for breaking windows in a protest.

Salford-born suffragette statue planned to be built in Brighton

A quote from Ms Clarke states that: “Prison is the only place for self-respecting women.”

Her work with Emmeline Pankhurst helped to give women the ability to vote which led to improved treatment of women.

Emily Wilding Davison is another suffragette who supported the right for women to vote.

She threw herself in front of the king’s horse in the Derby in 1913. Her sacrifice has never been forgotten and is well-respected across the country.

Both Manchester-born Sylvia Pankhurst and her mother were active campaigners in the movement, however, Sylvia focused on local campaigning.

Salford continues to remember the hard work that these women did by hosting these events.