A BANNER has been hand-stitched to commemorate Brighton’s “forgotten suffragette”.
Embroiderer Jenny Engledow spent months making the banner of Mary Clarke, who was the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) organiser for Brighton and leader of the suffragette movement in the South East.
Mary, the younger sister of Emmeline Pankhurst, was the first suffragette to die following police violence and forcible feeding in jail.
READ MORE: The story of Mary Clarke, Brighton's 'forgotten suffragette'
She had been injured by police on November 18, 1910 - the day which became known as Black Friday, when 300 suffragettes were beaten and sexually assaulted.
Mary was later arrested and died from a brain haemorrhage two days after her release from prison on Christmas Day 1910.
The Mary Clarke Statue Appeal was launched in 2018 to install a monument in her memory in the Pavilion Gardens.
Jenny, who is the local branch secretary and a national executive member for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, designed the banner after consultation with the Appeal.
It depicts Mary Clarke's face and was inspired by the single-person banners which the suffragettes used in their colourful processions.
Jean Calder, chairwoman of the Appeal, said: "We look forward to the day when once again we can march and sing together on the city’s streets.
"In the meanwhile, our heartfelt thanks to Jenny for her beautiful banner and the hours of work that went into making it.
"During the years Mary worked in Brighton and the South East she was often subject to threats and blows from hostile crowds.
"She was committed to non-violence and had a reputation for responding with charm and good humour to insults and threats and with calm courage to actual violence.
"It is fitting that such a committed peace campaigner as Jenny Engledow should make her banner."
The charity plans to display the banner in the Jubilee Library and other public places.
In the future it will also be used in processions on International Women’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, on November 25.
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