Anger over plans to ‘banish’ suffragette statue from Parliament to remote Regent’s Park site

The Art Newspaper: Gareth Harris

In the centenary of women’s suffrage in the UK, controversial plans are afoot to relocate the statue of the suffragette pioneer Emmeline Pankhurst from its site near the Houses of Parliament to the private Regent’s University based in Regent’s Park.

The original reason for the move was to give the sculpture “a more prominent location”, says Liam O’Connor, whose London-based architectural firm has been commissioned to oversee the relocation project. Initially the plan was to find a better spot in Parliament Square but “following analysis of the scale comparison with other [statues in the area] such as Lincoln and Canning, it was clear that such a small figure would be inappropriate in that location,” he says. …Read More

Pictured: A rendering of how the original 1930 sculpture of Pankhurst will look in the main courtyard of Regent’s University | Liam O’Connor Architects