... recognises the city's history as "a radical city with a history of strong female figures" (according to Andrew Simcock, who chaired the campaign that fought for the statue to be erected – interviewed by the BBC). When the choice of a subject was put to the public, Emmeline Pankhurst was "chosen overwhelmingly".
Emmeline Goulden was born in Manchester on 14 July 1858, into a family of radicals. She married Richard Pankhurst, a lawyer and supporter of votes for women, in 1879; after her husband's death she founded an organisation that campaigned for married women to be allowed to vote in local elections, which by October 1903 had evolved to become the Women's Social and Political Union.
The statue in St. Peter's Square will be the second in the UK to commemorate Emmeline Pankhurst. A memorial to her and her daughter Christobel, who was also an activist, stands in London's Victoria Tower Gardens, near the Palace of Westminster.
The other woman commemorated by a statue in Manchester is Queen Victoria, who stands in Piccadilly Gardens.
© Macclesfield Quiz League 2017