Pankhurst statue to be unveiled

14 December 2018, 06:24 | Updated: 14 December 2018, 06:27

A statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst will be unveiled in her home city exactly 100 years after women in the UK first voted in a general election.

The centenary will be marked in Manchester on Friday with the culmination of the Our Emmeline project.

People are expected to march from the Pankhurst Centre, the birthplace of the suffragette movement, and the People's History Museum before converging on St Peter's Square at midday to see the memorial revealed.

Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of the women's rights activist, said: "Our Emmeline is not only a wonderful tribute to the life and work of Emmeline Pankhurst, but is also an incredible legacy to the suffragette movement and the role of Manchester's women in campaigning for the vote.

"That she should be unveiled exactly 100 years since the day some women first went to the polls and a few first stood as MPs in a UK election is especially poignant.

"I hope that Our Emmeline inspires all those who are now helping to continue the ongoing journey towards achieving equality."

The statue will be the first of a woman in Manchester since Queen Victoria was unveiled in Piccadilly Gardens in 1901.

Mrs Pankhurst was selected by the public to be immortalised as a statue from a long list of 20 inspiring Mancunian women.