On December 14, 2018, thousands took to the streets of Manchester to take part in a tribute to ‘Our Emmeline’ as a statue of the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst was unveiled in her home city 100 years after women went to the polls for the first time in a UK General Election.
Emmeline’s legacy was honoured by people of all ages, including more than 1,000 schoolchildren, who marched from her former home, the Pankhurst Centre, to take part in the unveiling. Emmeline herself is depicted stood aloft a chair in St Peter’s Square as she addresses the crowds. Symbolically, the meeting circle in which she stands is orientated towards the former Free Trade Hall where the first disruptive actions of the suffragettes, including her own daughter Sylvia, took place.
The statue of Emmeline Pankhurst is only the second of a female to stand in Manchester since the statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled in Piccadilly Gardens in 1901. Emmeline Pankhurst was selected as the public’s chosen female icon to be immortalised as a statue from a list of 20 inspiring Mancunian females.
Main image: Hazel Reeves and Helen Pankhurst with Our Emmeline
Further information on the Emmeline Pankhurst Statue: www.womanchesterstatue.org.
‘Our Emmeline – ‘Lost Wax’ Bronze Casting’ film can be seen here: https://youtu.be/r89Mbr-twHw
@OurEmmeline #OurEmmeline
