Sylvia’s vision ‘…an equalitarian society, in which by mutual aid and service, there should be an abundance for all to satisfy material and spiritual need.’

Sylvia Pankhurst was born (1882) into the most famous feminist family of her time – the ‘Pankhursts’ of Manchester. Her mother Emmeline and older sister Christabel are more well known . However Sylvia is finally being recognised and valued for the immense force for human rights, equality and peace that she was throughout her life. She was a fearless suffragette and was the most imprisonned and tortured (force-feeding) of any of them. This permanently damaged her health of course. Her community work in the East End of London was remarkable for the depth and breadth of the needs she sought to meet through various projects including a women’s toy workshop, a Montessori nursery and a cost-price restaurant for impoverished families. She was vehemently anti-war during the first World War. Then in the second World War she supported the defenders of freedom and democracy. Her extraordinary commitment to equality for all led her to champion international liberation struggles. She fought fascism (one of the most prominent opponents at the time) and anti-colonialism. She is revered in Ethiopia (where she died in 1960 and had a state funeral) for her unwavering support for their liberation from colonial invasion and rule as well as for all the humanitarian and economic projects she started up there. A truly inspiring woman. Oh and…she was also a brilliant artist!