We are delighted to report that the application has been agreed, very appropriately on 26 February just before International Women’s Day on 8th March. There was a great deal of public interest in the application and many letters of support and we are so grateful for that. See the comments at https://planningapps.brighton-hove.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=T6QV3XDM0K500

In particular we have been very thankful for the support of local business people who are eager to be part of this historic road’s regeneration. Also for the support of councillors, local members of parliament and numerous council officers who have worked with great professionalism to help. We thank them for their understanding.

This is an accessible site close to the historic buildings where so many suffrage meetings were held and in sight of the Royal Pavilion, which hosted many suffragette meetings including Mary’s own memorial meeting after her death. We chose the site following advice from Brighton & Hove

City Council Heritage Planners and Highways Engineers and discussion with Cllr Jacob Taylor, as well as further consultation with key local trusts and businesses. We are very grateful to them all.

We recognise that there were two or three objections to our application, mostly focussed on road safety and fear of vandalism. We understand these concerns. We are well aware there have been problems of anti-social behaviour in this road and also unsafe movement of traffic – often through the area designated for street furniture, where this statue would be sited. However, we are confident there are effective ways to address these challenges. 

We are committed to continuing to work with the City Council and local businesses to find solutions to any problems. In commons with the many individuals and institutions that supported us, we firmly believe that the statue will play a crucial role in ongoing plans to both regenerate the road and make it safe. 

In her comments on the application, local Ward Councillor Ellen McLeay, stressed the links between commemorating Mary – who was a survivor of domestic abuse as well as a victim of state violence – and Council policy. Ellen McLeay wrote:

“The ethos behind this statue aligns with commitments

already made by Brighton & Hove City Council to support women and girls. This includes the ambition to become the UK capital of women and girls’ sport and BHCC’s work to reduce Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) by 50% over the next decade. At a time when women’s rights are being undermined in many parts of the world, commemorating the struggle that secured women the vote in the UK feels especially important.”

“With a female-led council, including both the Leader and the Chief Executive, this statue reflects the democratic principles at the heart of our city. It represents the 50% whose voices went unheard for far too long.”

The Appeal still needs to raise a further £35,000, but we can write about that another day. 

For now all we want to do is to say thank you to everyone. Thank you so much.

Jean Calder, Chair of Trustees

at a special council meeting at Hove Town on  Thursday 14 December 2023. This followed a wonderful Reception for trustees of the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal and supporters, hosted by the Mayor Jackie O’Quinn.

Briony Goulden, Mary’s great-great-niece, and a trustee of the Appeal, accepted the honour, assisted by her daughters Sylvie and Lena. The two girls are Child Ambassadors for the Appeal.

The award was unanimously agreed by all three parties represented on the Council. Briony received the official certificate on behalf of the Mary and our Appeal. She thanked the council for its support and assistance over the years, in particular for its help in funding our bronze maquette made by sculptor Denise Dutton to the design of the proposed statue. The maquette was on display in the Council Chamber along with our embroidered banner, a poster of Mary and a seven foot cut-out of the proposed statue.

There were many moving speeches. Cllr Bella Sankey, the Labour leader of the Council and a campaigner for women’s rights and safety, moved the motion to honour Mary. She said: “It is only thanks to women like Mary that I can stand here, that women like me can enter politics and continue the fight for women’s rights.”

She added: “There is still so much to fight for. I want this award to be the first step in celebrating her legacy”…. “I want every girl and woman in our great city to know about Mary Clarke and what she did for us.” Cllr Sankey said that she hoped one day to see Mary Clarke’s statue in the grounds of the Royal Pavilion and Conservative councillor Carol Theobald and others agreed. 

Councillor Theobald said: “Let us hope that the statue proposed for Mary for will come

to the Pavilion estate, as it is thoroughly deserved.” She recalled 2018, when the blue plaque for the WSPU was installed at the Quadrant, commenting correctly that it was a shame that:  “…Mary had not been recognised among the women’s suffrage campaigners who were commemorated on the plinth of Millicent Fawcett’s statue in Parliament Square.” 

Cllr Theobald highlighted the terrible violence Mary and her fellow suffragettes suffered at Black Friday, when so many were attacked and sexually assaulted.

Labour Cllr Amanda Grimshaw, who has long supported our campaign and is an active campaigner against domestic abuse, also made a moving speech. There was warm support too from Green Councillor Sue Shanks who said she hoped to see many more women given the freedom of the city.

Labour Cllr Alan Robins spoke passionately about the importance of the statue and

paid generous tribute to the campaigning work of the Statue Appeal. He especially highlighted the awareness raising work of the child ambassadors and the Mary’s Lamp girls’ group at Balfour School. Since the 2018 centenary, Cllr Robins has worked with us in advocating for suffrage plaques and the statue of Mary. He too supports it being erected in the Pavilion Gardens near the Museum to ensure it is seen by as many people as possible, especially children.

When Labour Councillor Mitchie Alexander rose to speak she surprised those present, not by making a speech, but by reading a very powerful poem she had written herself about Mary’s  importance to women.

With Cllr Alexander’s permission, we hope to get the text of that poem and post it on the website

Statements of support were also read from the city’s three members of Parliament, Caroline Lucas, Peter Kyle and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the first two of whom are Patrons of the Appeal.

After the meeting, Jean Calder, Chair of Trustees commented: “Our fundraising has

been hard hit, first by the COVID lockdown and then the cost of living crisis. This wonderful honour has raised Mary’s profile once again and will provide a renewed boost to the campaign as it relaunches in 2024. We are so grateful to the Mayor, Cllr Sankey and others for all their help.”

“Given an  increase in foundry costs, including the cost of bronze, our target is now £60,000, of which we have raised £20,000, almost all of it from small individual donations.”

Mary Clarke was the first suffragette to give her life for women’s right to Vote but, there is no public memorial to her anywhere in the UK. Brighton, where she lived and worked, has few memorials for women and no statues other than of Queen Victoria. 

The Mary Clarke Statue Appeal was set up in late 2018 to fund a statue of Mary Clarke, as a symbol for the city of women’s rights, equality and democracy. The Appeal aims to site the statue in  or very near the Royal Pavilion Estate, where the suffrage movement had strong historic links. The hope is to place it in the garden near the Museum entrance, where it can easily be seen by every school party, resident and visitor. The Appeal needs to raise £60,000.

The Mary Clarke Statue Appeal is pleased to announce that in the past month:

• Charity status has been achieved
• Brighton & Hove City Council has granted the £10,000 previously pledged to fund a bronze maquette (model) of the planned statue
• a sculptor has been chosen, following a short competition for the commission between three excellent sculptors

Denise Dutton MRSS from Leak in Staffordshire has been appointed to make the initial bronze maquette of Mary Clarke and then, provided the funding can be secured, to make the statue. Denise studied sculpture at the prestigious Sir Henry Doulton School of Sculpture in Stoke-on-Trent. She has worked on numerous commissions, both public and private over the past 24 years.

Her works include: the suffragette Annie Kenney, unveiled in December 2018 in Oldham;  the Land Girls and Lumber Jills memorial statue at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas which was unveiled in 2014 by The Countess of Wessex; a portrait bust of Sir Neville Mott Nobel prize winner for physics, at the Mott Building, Cambridge; and a life size equestrian statue of the last Maharajah of India, Duleep Singh, unveiled by Prince Charles.

Denise said:

“I will be pleased to work with the trustees of the Mary Clarke Statue appeal and to be a part of realising their mission in bringing the memory of Mary’s life story to others through the statue. The making of a sculpture goes further than a sheer physical task it’s also about the artist’s engagement with the subject. I feel empathy with Mary, for what for she endured through her life and what she fought for. These emotions will be ever present during the realisation of the commission.”

Jean Calder, the Chair of the Appeal said:

“We are delighted that Denise has agreed to take on this commission. She is a fine sculptor with experience of producing inspirational commemorative work. She also has an excellent understanding of the suffrage movement because of the work she did on the sculpture of Annie Kenney.”

“At Mary’s memorial service in Brighton, local suffragette Isabella McKeown said “Her they must not mourn in silence. They must take the torch from her and light the darkness…”. We are asking local people to take up the torch and support this campaign to commemorate Mary and the ideals for which she gave her life – freedom, democracy and equal rights.”

To donate, click the Donate button above. To support the Appeal in other ways contact jeancalder.mcsa@gmail.com.