Madame Tussauds London has announced that it will be unveiling a wax figure of the feminist trailblazer and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst to mark International Women’s Day on Wednesday March 8. The unveiling will coincide with the 120th anniversary of Pankhurst co-founding the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
Pankhurst was one of the key figures of the suffragette movement, which led to women gaining equal voting rights to men across the United Kingdom. Pankhurst, who was from Manchester, her daughters and her fellow WSPU activists received repeated prison sentences for their physical confrontations to get women equal rights, and were instrumental in urging women to contribute to Britain’s fight in the First World War.
Her new wax figure will reflect all this and more. Pankhurst will be dressed in the suffragette movement’s colours of purple and white, with her lapel displaying her hunger strike medal. Her figure will be standing on a chair, as she often did while addressing crowds of people during her rallies.
Talking about the importance of the figure, Madame Tussauds London’s general manager, Tim Waters, said: “Madame Tussauds London was founded more than 200 years ago by another female trailblazer, Marie Tussaud, a definition that also perfectly sums up our newest figure, Emmeline Pankhurst.
“This is the second figure that we have created of Emmeline Pankhurst after she was first immortalised in 1908 during the suffragette movement. With her new figure, we are able to bring history back to life in a way that only Madame Tussauds London can, by giving guests the opportunity to see her in 3D, as though stood amongst the crowd at one of her famous, rousing speeches.”
He added: “By creating this new figure, we are remembering a revolutionary female voice of the past that helped to shape modern culture.”
