The government is to help fund a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester, the city’s first monument to a woman in more than 100 years.

The statue of the suffragette leader, who came from the city’s Moss Side neighbourhood, will be unveiled on 14 December 2018 to mark 100 years since women first voted in a UK general election.

Campaigners said the landmark would go some way to redressing the gender balance of statues in Manchester city centre, where 16 of 17 civic monuments are of men.

The Our Emmeline statue will be the first of a woman in Manchester since a giant one of Queen Victoria was unveiled in 1901.



The Pankhurst Centre in Manchester, the family home of Emmeline Pankhurst. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

The Pankhurst statue, by the sculptor Hazel Reeves, depicts the suffragette leader standing on a chair delivering a speech, and will be erected in the city’s St Peter’s Square near the grand central library, where it will greet thousands of commuters and shoppers each day.

Andrew Simcock, a local councillor who has led a long campaign for the statue, said the government had pledged £370,000 towards projects in Manchester celebrating 100 years of votes for women.

As part of this, he said, ministers had agreed a “very significant and substantial donation” towards the statue, which had been expected to cost between £100,000 and £150,000.

Until now, the statue has been entirely privately funded. Almost £3,000 was raised in donations when Simcock cycled 1,059 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 20 days.

Pankhurst was chosen by a “decisive majority” when thousands of people voted on a longlist of 20 women.

Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and patron of the Pankhurst Trust, said: “It’s fantastic that the Pankhurst Centre and Our Emmeline statue have received government support.



“Emmeline is a globally iconic figure much beloved in her home town of Manchester. She will stand guard as an enduring reminder of the struggle for the vote, beckoning us to keep going forward as we continue the journey towards gender equality.”

It will be the second statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in the UK. A memorial to her and her daughter Christabel, who was also an activist, stands in London’s Victoria Tower Gardens, close to the Palace of Westminster.