Sylvia Pankhurst is too often the “forgotten” Pankhurst. In this centenary year of the first limited votes for women we are campaigning to change this.

You may know about Sylvia the suffragette but perhaps be unaware that she doesn’t feature on the existing memorial to the suffragettes. Sylvia wrote the definitive history of the suffragette movement and her name is primarily associated with the fight for votes for women. What is less well known is her active involvement in socialist causes both domestic and international, causes still so relevant today.

This is why Sylvia merits a statue. It will represent her commitment to peace and her fight against racism, fascism and imperialism; her work with trade unions, fighting with the impoverished working class in the East End of London and her campaigning for votes for women, equal pay and childcare.

We are delighted to have the support of Islington Council and the Corporation of the City of London to raise the statue on Clerkenwell Green, London, however the majority of the funds we have raised have been from donations from individuals and trade union branches. This really will be a people’s statue.

We have already paid, from sponsors’ donations, the costs of the artist at the foundry making the full size clay model, and the costs of preparation of the mould.

We now need a further £50,000. This will cover the costs of casting the statue in bronze and preparing the plinth.Then of course we need to work with the foundry on delivery and with Islington Council on raising the statue and to organise the massive public launch we want in order to ensure that Sylvia’s life and work is properly acknowledged and celebrated. More tediously, but very importantly, we must also arrange for continuous insurance and maintenance.

So we are now seeking your help to raise £50,000 – please donate, tell friends and family, and raise in your trade union branch, your community or political organisation, or indeed in any other place!

With your help we will ensure that Sylvia, a woman who in so many ways was ahead of her time, is recognised and her messages of peace and equality for all informs future generations.

Thank you from The Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Committee

The campaign website

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Cheques should be made payable to “SERTUC (Sylvia Pankhurst)” and sent to

Megan Dobney, SERTUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS

Contact us on 01479 851 306 or 07849549849 or via philippa.clark@yahoo.co.uk