Gallery
Blue plaque unveiled to honour leading suffragist
Guests at 80 Lewisham House for the unveiling of blue plaque for Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. Picture: Henry Woodsford - Credit: Archant
A blue plaque in honour of a leading suffragist who lived in Weston has been unveiled.
Guests at 80 Lewisham House for the unveiling of blue plaque for Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. Picture: Henry Woodsford - Credit: Archant
Weston Town Council with Weston Civic Society put up a plaque dedicated to Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence on Friday.
The Pethicks were a well-heeled family who moved from Bristol in 1877 to live in Trewartha, now 80 Lewisham House, an imposing residence with gate-lodge and stabling set in grounds which occupied the entirety of land between Bristol Road Lower, Montpelier, Montpelier East and Trewartha Park.
Emmeline was born in Clifton, the second of 13 children, and her sister Dorothy, the 10th child, was born in Weston.
Guests at 80 Lewisham House for the unveiling of blue plaque for Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. Picture: Henry Woodsford - Credit: Archant
Henry, their father, was a successful merchant of South American hide, owner of the Weston Gazette, and a Weston town commissioner.
Weston's mayor Mark Canniford said: 'Most people have no clue apart from the short history lessons they had about the suffragettes at school and the great commitments they made in a world we would consider terribly unfair today.
'The blue plaques are tremendous for the town and certainly for this very historic area of Weston.'
Most Read
- 1 Police appeal after acid attack on woman in Weston
- 2 Fears Weston will be UK 'laughing stock' if See Monster delayed until September
- 3 Masonic lodge donates to Weston's RNLI
- 4 New coastal path linking Brean to Sand Bay opens
- 5 North Somerset Council to approve historic bus improvement plan
- 6 Councillor heralds Marine Lake revamp a 'huge success'
- 7 Weston College to launch new adult courses for free
- 8 Research reveals which car brands hold their value best
- 9 Bank of England warns people have 100 days to use old £20 and £50 notes
- 10 Watch Stone Age musical in Hutton this weekend
Emmeline spent about 14 years living at Trewartha before moving to work at the West London Methodist Mission in 1891 where, having encountered the horrors of urban poverty and despair, she founded a dressmaking co-operative for poor young women.
Her introduction of an eight-hour working day with guaranteed minimum wages and holiday entitlement was revolutionary and led to her embracing socialism.
She campaigned for suffrage across Europe and America while Dorothy, along with Annie Kenney and Millicent Browne, organised a women's protest on Weston beach in 1908 and were accused by the Mercury of being a 'nuisance… prone to hysteria … with a perverted realisation of right and wrong'.
Guests at 80 Lewisham House for the unveiling of blue plaque for Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. Picture: Henry Woodsford - Credit: Archant
The town council has six more blue plaques to install and is in the process of building a new website which will have an audio and map tour of all the locations.
John Crockford-Hawley, chairman of the town council's museum working party, added: 'When it came to female suffrage, Weston really was ahead of many other places.'
Guests at 80 Lewisham House for the unveiling of blue plaque for Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. Picture: Henry Woodsford - Credit: Archant
Guests at 80 Lewisham House for the unveiling of blue plaque for Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. Picture: Henry Woodsford - Credit: Archant
