The suffragette Mary Clarke was honoured with the freedom of the city of Brighton and Hove at a special council meeting this afternoon (Thursday 14 December).
At Hove Town Hall, members of Brighton and Hove City Council praised her dedication to the cause of winning votes for women as organiser of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
Mary Jane Clarke was Emmeline Pankhurst’s sister and the organiser of the WSPU in Brighton in 1909 and 1910.
Her great-great-niece Briony Goulden accepted the honour, accompanied by her daughters Sylvie and Lena Goulden.
The Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey proposed the motion to honour Clarke, saying: “It is only thanks to women like Mary that I can stand here, that women like me can enter politics and continue the fight for women’s rights.
“There is still so much to fight for. I want this award to be the first step in celebrating her legacy.
“I want every girl and woman in our great city to know about Mary Clarke and what she did for us.”
Councillor Sankey said that she hoped one day to see Mary Clarke’s statue in the grounds of the Royal Pavilion.
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said that she recalled when the blue plaque for the WSPU was installed on at the Quadrant.
She said: “Unfortunately, Mary was not recognised among the women’s suffrage campaigners commemorated on the plinth of Millicent Fawcett’s statue in Parliament Square.
“Let us hope that the statue proposed for Mary for will come to the Pavilion estate as it is thoroughly deserved.”
Green councillor Sue Shanks said that she hoped to see more women given the freedom of the city as currently only men had the honour.
Brighton and Hove’s highest civic honour had previously been awarded to the former Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi but in October councillors voted to strip of her of the award.
This afternoon they voted unanimously to recognise Mary Clarke, with the three Brighton and Hove MPs Caroline Lucas, Peter Kyle and Lloyd Russell-Moyle sending messages of support.
Good, I am sure we all look forward to Freedom of the City being awarded to that contemporary suffragette and champion of the rights of biological women, Professor Kathleen Stock, in celebration of her more than 20 year association with our city at the next Special Full Council Meeting. At least Professor Stock is alive to enjoy it.
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Agree with you there Barry. Another candidate might be the woman who tried to raise school child safeguarding concerns at the October full council meeting but was shut down by the Mayor and then physically manhandled out of the chamber by two men.
Hear hear… History will not be kind to sussex uni, the union or the city on this one…
What a strange thing to say. Why would you put a statue of a failed philosopher?
Your nasty comment perfectly demonstrates why Stock should be honoured. Thank you.
I don’t get it. All this fuss for a woman who was loosely associated with Brighton. Also, the suffragettes were initially campaigning to have the vote only for wealthy married women. It was much later that the vote for ALL women came.
And why would we waste money that we apparently don’t have on a statue of a dead person. Can we stop ‘othering’ and focus on here and now. And yes Barry Johnson….. some accolade to Katherine Stock for the witch hunt she has suffered would be more appropriate.
A witch hunt supported, it seems, by council leaders at the time and certainly by the Green Party candidate for Regency forced to stand down when rumbled. https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2022/02/22/green-candidate-quits-party-after-stock-campaign-questions/
“Rumbled” and “witch hunt” are funny terms to use for someone expressing their free speech. If you defend Ms Stock’s right to express her free speech, you must also defend the right of those to object to it. Or is it free speech for some and not for others?
Prof Stock, a lesbian feminist and defender of women’s sex based rights, was targeted by a campaign that harrassed and intimidated her. None of these people had the courage to engage her in free debate. It was the Green Party candidate’s public support for this campaign against Kathleen Stock – which involved masked protesters, stickers and posters being put up on campus – that made him unsuitable as for election and he later quit the party. This individual was rumbled by party member Steve Moses. ‘Witch hunt’ absolutely describes the campaign against Kathleen which created an atmosphere so hostile (including vilification of her by academic colleagues) she felt she had no choice but to resign from the University of Sussex.
I hope that fills in the yawning gap in your understanding Joanna? Many of us – Kathleen included – unequivocally support free speech. Prof Stock remains willing to debate her opponents but many still want to shut down those occassions where she speaks (a notable example was her talk at the Oxford Union on 30th May this year).
What a great idea look forward to seeing the statue. Don’t understand what all the comments are about the statue is not of a stick woman. Women have the vote thanks to the suffragettes it is silly to say Stick is the same thing what she done
Commemorating Mary Clarke with a statue is a good thing (well done Jean Calder and others who campaigned for this). The irony here is that our Mayor and Council leader pay lip-service to a long deceased Suffragette while condemining the courageous efforts of the woman who tried to speak at October’s full council. That this woman was manhandled from the chamber by 2 men (as she tried to raise heartfelt safeguarding concerns) at the whim of the Mayor and senior officials, laughed at by councillors as she was ejected and later mocked and defamed by the council leader offers a powerful illustration of something ugly that Mary Clarke would have condemned. Our council postures over giving Freedom of the City to Mary Clarke while giving tacit support to the slogan ‘No TERFS on Our Turf’ (those who happily eject a woman attempting to finish her question were, presumably, happy to see Prof Stock run out of town).
Was this reported anywhere, Adrian? The minutes haven’t appeared yet.
Despite being witnessed by the press it wasn’t reported (except in SB-Ls B&HN live twitter coverage). But the webcast for Oct 19th gives you an idea (go to 34min 26 sec). At the meeting on Thursday 14th I was pleased to see Cllr Fishleigh ask “when a woman was forcibly ejected by 2 security guards while some people laughed, if that happens again [ ] would you please tell us what would happen?” But the Mayor gave her no answer. https://aisapps.sonicfoundry.com/AuditelScheduler/Player/Index/?id=313a25d4-57b7-47ec-ae8a-da9c463b021e&presID=bd90e0f885ea4f50a00c4f22a0bab11a1d
OMG – the facade of democracy is wearing thin in this borough…