Manchester suffragette banner

It was following a crowdfunder that the Manchester suffragette banner came into PHM’s collection in 2018. Having appeared alongside Emmeline Pankhurst during some of her most significant speeches, including when she addressed a crowd of 50,000 people at Heaton Park in Manchester (19 July 1908), the banner had been out of the public eye for almost a century. The timing of its discovery couldn’t have been more symbolic, and meant that in 2018 the Manchester suffragette banner was able to play a starring role in marking the centenary of the first women achieving the vote and represent all of those who had fought for the right to do so.

Jenny Mabbott, Head of Collections & Engagement at People’s History Museum, says ‘The significance of this banner to the history of women’s suffrage cannot be overstated. Created at the height of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) campaign, it is the work of renowned banner maker Thomas Brown & Sons. But what makes it really special is the fact that it stood on the same platform as Emmeline Pankhurst, in whose honour it is made, when she gave some of her most famous speeches.’