Edited by Steven Oliver, Thursday 7 May 2026 at 15:01
As 'reward' for saying goodbye to a TMA, I recently took the Transpennine Express and had an interesting morning at 62 Nelson Street in Manchester.
This was once the family home for the Pankhursts, and is now The Pankhurst Centre - saved from demolition by a campaign by women in the 1980s it sits rather incongruously within the grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary (whilst I was visiting there were at least a couple of landings on the helipad immediately next door!).
It houses a small museum and exhibition space and is run by volunteers, who are just so knowledgeable about aspects of the family, the suffrage campaigns and the women's movement more broadly.
A bust of Emmeline looking suitably imposing, apparently she and her daughters fell out regularly and dramatically!
I'm sure this is many people's favourite part of the museum (although the commemorative gardens are also very nice - the Green/White/Purple is a great colour scheme for planting!) the parlour where the Women's Social and Political Union first convened on 10th October 1903. Apparently the invite included the following text... 'Women...we must do the work ourselves. We must have an independent women's movement. Come to my house and we will arrange it.' 💪
I also made a quick suffragette-focused trip back to the People's History Museum to remind myself of some of the things held there. Most loitered under photograph-resistant shiny glass cases 🙁, but I did get an almost passable image of the 'Pank-a-Squith' board game (I've also tracked down a transcribed set of the rules).
Deeds not words
As 'reward' for saying goodbye to a TMA, I recently took the Transpennine Express and had an interesting morning at 62 Nelson Street in Manchester.
This was once the family home for the Pankhursts, and is now The Pankhurst Centre - saved from demolition by a campaign by women in the 1980s it sits rather incongruously within the grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary (whilst I was visiting there were at least a couple of landings on the helipad immediately next door!).
It houses a small museum and exhibition space and is run by volunteers, who are just so knowledgeable about aspects of the family, the suffrage campaigns and the women's movement more broadly.
A bust of Emmeline looking suitably imposing, apparently she and her daughters fell out regularly and dramatically!
I'm sure this is many people's favourite part of the museum (although the commemorative gardens are also very nice - the Green/White/Purple is a great colour scheme for planting!) the parlour where the Women's Social and Political Union first convened on 10th October 1903. Apparently the invite included the following text... 'Women...we must do the work ourselves. We must have an independent women's movement. Come to my house and we will arrange it.' 💪
I also made a quick suffragette-focused trip back to the People's History Museum to remind myself of some of the things held there. Most loitered under photograph-resistant shiny glass cases 🙁, but I did get an almost passable image of the 'Pank-a-Squith' board game (I've also tracked down a transcribed set of the rules).
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