Person    | Female  Born 5/5/1882  Died 27/9/1960

Sylvia Pankhurst

Categories: Gender Issues, Peace, Seriously Famous

Countries: Ethiopia

Born in Manchester as Estelle Sylvia, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst. Trained and initially worked as an artist. Worked with George Lansbury in the East End. 1924 Sylvia moved from the East End of London to Woodford Green, into Red Cottage with Silvio Corio, an Italian anarchist/journalist/painter and her lover and companion for 30 years. Demolished in 1939, Red Cottage was number 126 on Woodford Green High Road. They ran it as a teashop. What remains is the Stone Bomb monument.

In 1927 she give birth to her and Corio's son Richard, named for her father, whom she loved and revered.

In 1935 Sylvia moved to a Victorian house, West Dene, 3 Charteris Road. When she became interested in Ethiopia she began publishing the New Times and Ethiopian News in 1936 and carried on for almost 20 years. “When the emperor, Haile Selassie, arrived in exile in Britain in June 1936 she was part of the unofficial welcoming committee that met him at Waterloo Station, presenting him with the latest edition of the paper.” (From a Radio 4 programme ‘Sylvia Pankhurst: Honorary Ethiopian’.) In 1956, at the invitation of Selassie, she emigrated to Ethiopia, and stayed there for the remainder of her life. Buried in Adis Adaba as saint/martyr of Ethiopian nation.

Diamond Geezer has tracked down a lot of the East End addresses associated with Sylvia. And Spitalfields Life quotes from Sylvia's own books to tell some of the events from the campaign.

Sylvia designed the Holloway, or portcullis badge, the image which appears on the Christchurch Gardens sculptural scroll and also on the memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens. The design consists of a portcullis symbol overlaid with a broad prisoners' arrow. The badges were given by the WSPU to women who had suffered imprisonment. A portcullis has been used to represent the Palace of Westminster, and by extension government, since the middle-ages. The broad arrow was first used on prisoners’ clothing in the 1870s. Sylvia combined the two icons very successfully.

According to Martin Plaut, specialist in South Africa, Pankhurst had a "passionate relationship" with Keir Hardie, which he attempted to end by touring the world in 1907-8.

2020: Via Facebook Gerard Greene told us that "Sylvia moved to West Dene in late 1928 or early 1929 (see Shirley Harrison's biography which reprints a letter from West Dene in 'early 1929' which is now in the IISG archive, Amsterdam)".

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sylvia Pankhurst

Commemorated ati

East London Federation of the Suffragettes

Site of 400 Old Ford Road East London Federation of the Suffragettes' Women's...

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East London Toy Factory

45 Norman Grove. E. Sylvia Pankhurst set up the East London Toy Factory and ...

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Emmeline Pankhurst and daughters

Unveiled by by Dr Helen Pankhurst, Sylvia's great granddaughter.

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Fawcett frieze - 17, Pankhurst x 4

The Pankhursts, Emmeline, 1858 - 1928, Sylvia, 1882 - 1960, Christabel 1880 -...

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Suffrage for women - 1918

Sylvia is represented a number of times in the mural. The image we have chose...

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Show all 9

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Sylvia Pankhurst

Creations i

Stone Bomb Anti-war Monument

Airplanes were used in WW1 but there was strong opposition to aerial bombing....

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Other Subjects

Matchgirls' strike

Matchgirls' strike

A strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory. Annie Besant had published an article about the poor working conditions at the factory, 'White Slavery in London'. Thi...

Event, Gender Issues, Industry, Social Welfare

5 memorials
Anna Haslam

Anna Haslam

Co-founder of the Irishwomen’s Suffrage and Local Government Association. Born Anna Maria Fisher in County Cork, Ireland, to a large Quaker family already involved in social welfare and reform. Mar...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, Ireland

1 memorial
Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson

Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson

Born Aldeburgh, Suffolk. CBE MD. Daughter of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and niece of Millicent Fawcett. Suffragette. Established and ran the Endell Street Military Hospital. The picture shows Ander...

Person, Gender Issues, Medicine

2 memorials
Suffragettes

Suffragettes

The wonderful Spitalfields Life published a map on the East End Suffragette activities.  And London Historians has a post 'Parliament and Votes for Women'.

Group, Gender Issues

4 memorials
Women's Liberal Association

Women's Liberal Association

Women's suffrage movement. It seems that many of these groups merged to form the Liberal Women's Foundation in 1887.

Group, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Bexley Civic Society

Bexley Civic Society

Environmental group. Founded in the 1970s with the objectives to improve the local environment, protect the green belt, eliminate street clutter and protect wildlife.

Group, Community / Clubs, Gardens / Agriculture, History

6 memorials
Robert Clayton

Robert Clayton

Born Northamptonshire. Apprenticed as a scrivener (like a secretary). Entered business and then set up a bank. Made a fortune from his connections with the slave trade and entered politics. Lord Ma...

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1 memorial