A planning application has been submitted for a long-planned statue of suffragette Mary Clarke in the city centre.
Jean Calder, chair of The Mary Clarke Statue Appeal, has applied to Brighton and Hove City Council to put the 6ft 4in bronze statue in New Road, opposite the Theatre Royal.
The charity has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the memorial to the suffragette, who became the first to die for women’s right to vote on Christmas Day 1910.
In the application, Ms Calder said: “Many buildings in New Road have been demolished, but those that remain would have been well-known to Mary.
“The architecture of New Road is now mixed and the traditional design of the proposed statue is in keeping with the environment and will look well against planned railings to the Pavilion Gardens.
“The site’s immediate neighbours, the Theatre Royal and the Pavilion Gardens Cafe, support the proposal. All businesses in the road have been contacted and provided with copies of the design.
“Several have expressed enthusiasm for the statue, hoping it will enhance safety and assist in the regeneration of the road. None has raised objections.”
Mary Clarke was the sister of Emmeline Pankhurst and in 1906 helped her found the national Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
She became the WSPU’s paid organiser in Brighton, living in Victoria Road and working from WSPU offices by the Clock Tower.
She died of a brain haemorrhage two days after being released from prison, where she had been repeatedly force fed during a hunger strike.
Sculptor Denise Dutton has designed the statue, and a maquette model of it has been on display at the Jubilee Library.
