Memorial to Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst

The memorial to Emmeline Pankhurst, designed by A G Walker and Sir Herbert Baker, was unveiled in 1930. Later additions from 1959 by Peter Hills commemorate Christabel Pankhurst and the Women's Social and Political Union. The memorial is located approximately 10 metres within the north-west entrance of Victoria Tower Gardens, facing Abingdon Street, within the gardens to the south of the Palace of Westminster.

The memorial consists of a cast bronze statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, standing just over two metres high, set on a Portland stone plinth. Low, curved, exedra-like screens flank the statue, terminating in square piers. Emmeline Pankhurst is depicted wearing a long dress and coat with a fur collar, her right arm and hand held low and outstretched, and her left arm bent, holding an eyeglass. The sculptor’s signature appears at the base of the statue, and a maker's mark, ‘A. B. Burton/ Founder,’ is on the rear. The bronze was coated in black in the late 20th century to protect it.

The stone plinth features inset pilasters at each corner, and an inscription on the front face reads: EMMELINE PANKHURST: 1858-1928. A tablet set into the paving at the base of the plinth reads: THIS STATUE OF / EMMELINE PANKHURST / WAS ERECTED / AS A TRIBUTE TO / HER COURAGEOUS / LEADERSHIP OF THE / MOVEMENT FOR THE / ENFRANCHISEMENT / OF WOMEN.

The right-hand pier displays a bronze roundel with a cast relief portrait of Christabel Pankhurst, accompanied by an inscription reading: DAME / CHRISTABEL / PANKHURST / [illegible, possibly post-nominal letters] / 1881-1958. The outer face of this pier includes a further inscription: THESE WALLS AND PIERS HAVE / BEEN ERECTED IN MEMORY / OF DAME CHRISTABEL PANKHURST / WHO JOINTLY WITH HER MOTHER / MRS EMMELINE PANKHURST / INSPIRED AND LED THE / MILITANT SUFFRAGE CAMPAIGN.

The left-hand pier features a bronze roundel depicting a WSPU prisoners’ badge, with the accompanying inscription: W.S.P.U PRISONERS’ BADGE 1905-1914. The inscription on the outer face of the pier reads: REPLICA OF BADGE, A BROAD / ARROW ON THE WESTMINSTER / ARMS, GIVEN BY THE WOMEN’S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION / TO OVER 1000 WOMEN WHO / SUFFERED IMPRISONMENT FOR / WOMEN’S ENFRANCHISEMENT.