LONDON STATUES - WOMEN
LONDON STATUES - WOMEN
It will come as no surprise that statues of men in London outnumber those of women by around five to one. Apart from all the generals, we’ve also had far more kings than queens, and just three female prime ministers - one of whom couldn’t outlast a lettuce. Across the Pond, the US still awaits its first female president, incredulously twice preferring Donald Trump.
In London this imbalance is slowly being redressed; here are some examples, appropriately starting with the Suffragettes - women who felt passionately about imbalances .…
EMMELINE PANKHURST (1858-1928) CHRISTABEL PANKHURST (1880–1958)
Victoria Tower Gardens
National Portrait Gallery
Emmeline Pankhurst was the indomitable leader of
the British suffragette movement, campaigning tirelessly for women’s right to
vote. The bronze statue by Arthur George Walker, unveiled in 1930, celebrates
her courage and determination. In 1958, it was moved to its current site, next to the Houses of Parliament, accompanied by a relief of her daughter Christabel. Emmeline’s activism often landed her in prison, and she once staged a 24-hour hunger strike to protest her treatment - an early example of “political fasting” in action.
Christabel Pankhurst worked alongside her mother in their Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), often employing more militant
tactics than Emmeline - although probably not in that dress. Christabel lived long enough to see the full fruits of her efforts:
women over 30 gained the right to vote in 1918, and universal suffrage arrived on July 2, 1928 - nineteen days after the death of Emmeline.
SYLVIA PANKHURST (1882–1960)
Mile End Park portrait bench National Portrait Gallery
Sylvia, the second Pankhurst daughter, took a more inclusive, socialist approach to suffrage, advocating for working-class women. She also campaigned against fascism and supported anti-colonial movements in Ethiopia and Italy, showing her activism went far beyond London.
Adela, the youngest Pankhurst sister, was also a WSPU activist. Then, in 1914, she moved to Australia where she co-founded the Communist Party of Australia and the Australia First Movement.
MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT (1847–1929)
Parliament Square
Millicent Garrett Fawcett championed women’s suffrage through peaceful, constitutional campaigning. Her famous motto, Courage calls to courage everywhere, is engraved on the banner she holds - or is it a tea towel (sorry, couldn't resist). The statue by Gillian Wearing, unveiled in 2018, marks the first (and so far only) female figure in Parliament Square. Millicent married blind MP Henry Fawcett (1833-1884) after he had been turned down by her older sister Elizabeth. Henry was also a champion of women's rights - his memorial in Embankment Gardens was erected by 'his grateful countrywomen' and unveiled, three years after his death, by his wife Millicent.
Embankment Gardens National Portrait Gallery
Photos of other leading suffragettes are displayed on the plinth, including Emmeline Pankhurst with her daughters and Minnie Lansbury with her father-in-law George, also a campaigner for women's rights .....
After Minnie’s death, her widower Edgar Lansbury married the actress Moyna Macgill. Actress Angela Lansbury was their daughter.
This Minnie Lansbury Memorial Clock on Electric House in Bow Road was erected in the 1930s. With support from Angela Lansbury, it was restored in 2008.
EDITH GARRUD (1872-1971)
Finsbury Park Station
Edith Garrud was a suffragette and the first female jujitsu instructor in Britain. She trained women protesters to defend themselves, often against hostile policemen. The bicycle is not part of Garrud's Portrait Bench - a handy place to chain your bike whilst you pop into town.
As a member of the Women's Freedom League, Garrud instructed fellow suffragettes in self-defence. The sequence of photos are of her demonstrating how to deal with a troublesome policeman (played by her husband).
Punch Magazine, 1910
GRACE DARLING (1815–1842)
National Portrait Gallery
Grace Darling, aged just 22, became a Victorian heroine after she and her father rescued survivors of the shipwrecked Forfarshire off the Farne Islands in 1838. The courage of the lighthouse keeper's daughter in stormy seas made her a symbol of bravery and selflessness. Darling's achievement was celebrated in her lifetime; she received a large financial reward in addition to the plaudits of the nation - and some marriage proposals.
VIOLETTE SZABO (1921–1945)
Albert Embankment, Lambeth Palace Imperial War Museums
Violette Szabo was a British-French SOE (Special Operations Executive) agent during World War II, parachuting into occupied France to organize sabotage and resistance. She was captured, sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, and executed by the Nazis at just 23. Szabo was awarded the George Cross, bestowed posthumously in 1946. Her story inspired the 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride, with Virginia McKenna taking the lead.
NOOR INAYAT KHAN (1914–1944)
Gordon Square, Bloomsbury
Noor Inayat Khan was an SOE British spy of Indian descent who, like Violette Szabo, served in occupied France during World War II. Despite being betrayed and captured, she refused to reveal secrets and was executed at Dachau concentration camp. She also received the George Cross posthumously.
Khan was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century ruler of Mysore who fought the British – an ironic twist for someone who would later die serving Britain during the Second World War.
Curiously, London has no statues of male spies. Not even a James Bond among the cinematic figures of Leicester Square. When it comes to espionage, the city’s memorials seem to favour the real heroines over the fictional heroes.
IRIS BEERBOHM TREE (1897–1968)
Tate Britain With Augustus John, 1925
Iris Tree was a poet, actor and bohemian muse, who posed for many artists, as in this 1915 bust by Jacob Epstein. She once modelled for Augustus John and also moved in literary circles that included Ezra Pound and D.H. Lawrence.
Perhaps the most familiar painting of her is the 1916 study by Amedeo Modigliani .....
Image courtesy of the Courtauld Gallery
And so from Tree to Twiggy - these posts aren't just thrown together, y'know ....
TWIGGY (b. 1949)
Twiggy was born Lesley Hornby in 1949. Her nickname came from her extremely slim teenage figure - friends said she was “thin as a twig”, which soon became Twiggy. At just 16, she became the face of 1960s youth fashion, with short hair, long eyelashes and a waif-like look that contrasted sharply with earlier glamour models.
Bourdon Place, Mayfair Unknown location, 1967
Hidden away in Mayfair’s Bourdon Place, a life-size bronze scene captures a moment from London’s Swinging Sixties: Twiggy posing for fashion photographer Terence Donovan while a passing shopper pauses to watch. The sculpture, titled Three Figures and created by Neal French, recreates the energy of 1960s London fashion culture. The figures stand directly on the street rather than on plinths, so visitors can wander among them and feel as if they have stumbled upon a real photo shoot from another era.
Twiggy herself unveiled the sculpture in 2012.
ZANDRA RHODES (b. 1940)
National Portrait Gallery
Zandra Rhodes is a flamboyant fashion designer whose work has been celebrated internationally. Rhodes, famous for her signature bold prints, designs outfits and costumes for royalty and celebrities which, in the past, included Diana, Princess of Wales, Marc Bolan and Freddie Mercury.
NITOCRIS (c. 22nd century BC)
Frieze of Parnassus, Albert Memorial
Nitocris (also known as Neithikret or Nipocris) is a legendary figure in ancient Egyptian history, believed to be a queen of the 6th Dynasty. According to legend, Nitocris avenged her brother's murder by inviting his killers to a banquet and drowning them in a hidden chamber. After this act, she allegedly took her own life. However, there's limited concrete evidence to confirm her existence or deeds.
Our final lady is a bit of an oddity, found in a place where the ratio of male to female statues is a good deal greater than five to one. Nitocris is the only woman among the 169 statues on the Albert Memorial’s Frieze of Parnassus. She's on the far right ....
The frieze was conceived as a gathering of the great figures of artistic culture - named after Mount Parnassus, home of the Muses. Our token woman is included amongst the architects, as she is credited with building the third pyramid at Giza.
One can only wonder about the selection process for the frieze. Maybe they did consider representation in Victorian Britain: Beethoven (deaf) and Milton (blind) were disabled, Michelangelo and da Vinci were probably gay and Nitocris ticked two boxes, being both female and African (although not black).
NB: Portraits from The National Portrait Gallery collections are shown under the terms for use in non-commercial projects (e.g., blogs and local newsletters).
Statues of women in earlier categories:
Margaret MacDonald Margaret Thatcher Liz Truss
Queen Boudica Empress Matilda Eleanor of Aquitaine
Isabelle of Angoulême Eleanor of Castile Anne Boleyn
Lady Jane Grey Queen Elizabeth I Mary Queen of Scots
Nell Gwynn Queen Mary II Queen Anne
Princess Sofia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Queen Victoria
Alexandra of Denmark Mary of Teck Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Princess Diana Queen Elizabeth II
Amy Winehouse Ada Lovelace Fanny Wilkinson
Florence Nightingale Mary Seacole Edith Cavell
Louisa Aldrich-Blake
Virginian Woolf Agatha Christie P.L.Travers
Anne Frank Jacqueline Wilson
Catherine Booth Virginia Wade Nicola Adams
Anna Pavlova Nellie Melba Margot Fonteyn 
Sarah Siddons Gal Gadot Julie Andrews
Renée Zellweger Karjol Joan Littlewood
Peggy Ashcroft Sybil Thorndike
London may still have five times as many statues of men as women, but the gap is narrowing. From political pioneers to cultural icons, these figures show that the city’s history - like its statues - is gradually becoming more balanced. Meanwhile, this old bloke is still wondering whether Millicent Garrett Fawcett ironed that tea towel. To be fair, her husband couldn’t do it - he was blind.
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