Jenny Engledow – Mary Clarke Statue Appeal https://maryclarkestatue.com Tue, 08 Nov 2022 16:24:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 168102941 The Forgotten Sister – A Talk 11.00am on 26 November 2022 https://maryclarkestatue.com/uncategorized/talk-and-display-about-mary-clarke-11-00am-on-26-november-at-jubilee-library-marking-the-uns-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-violence-against-women/ Sun, 06 Nov 2022 14:47:49 +0000 https://maryclarkestatue.com/?p=1781 There will be a very informal talk about Mary Clarke on Saturday 26th November at 11.00am, on the ground floor of the Jubilee Library in Brighton, entitled “The Forgotten Sister”. It will be led by our Chair of Trustees Jean Calder and will be followed by discussion.

Jenny Engledow with the banner of Mary ClarkeThere will be no charge and there is a cafe run by the wonderful charity Team Domenica.

The staff at the Jubilee Library invited us to help mark the United Nation’s annual  International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which takes place on 25th November. The day launches the UN’s annual 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violenceto combat violence against women and girls. This ends on the 10th December, Human Rights Day. The United Nation’s global theme for 2022’s 16 Days of Activism is “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”.

The library staff have kindly agreed to display our maquette of Mary in the Foyer to the Library and it will remain there from 7th November through to early December. From 25th November, the beautiful hand-embroidered banner of Mary Clarke, which was made for us by Jenny Engledow, will be on display in the library in a prominent position. We hope it will remain there for the full 16 Days of Activism.

We note that November is the month of remembrance. It starts with All Souls Day, on the 2 November, when, traditionally, the Christian church remembers the dead. As the month goes on, we mark Remembrance Sunday, commemorating those who have died

Mary Clarke

in war and conflict. Then each year on 25 November the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women launches the worldwide 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence to combat violence against women and girls.

We in the Mary Clarke Statue Appeal remember all women and girls who have died by violence in recent years and in the past. In particular, we remember the terrible events of “Black Friday” on 18th November 1910, when so many suffragettes were brutalised as they attempted to petition Parliament. We recall that it was almost certainly on that day that Mary Clarke received the head injuries that on Christmas Day 1910 led to her death by brain haemorrhage. Mary was the first of three women to die as a result of injuries that day. We remember them – and others (women and men) who have died in their struggle for freedom and democracy.

Please come if you can.

 

]]> 1781 A Banner for International Women’s Day https://maryclarkestatue.com/uncategorized/a-banner-for-international-womens-day/ Sun, 07 Mar 2021 20:46:22 +0000 https://maryclarkestatue.com/?p=1583
Jenny Engledow with the banner of Mary Clarke

March is Women’s History Month and the 8th March is International Women’s Day. Jenny Engledow, well known local peace campaigner and an extremely accomplished embroiderer has just completed a banner depicting Mary Clarke.

The suffragettes’ processions were central to their campaigning. They used fantastic costumes, flowers, horses, choirs and bands, and above all, beautifully coloured banners, to wonderful effect. Many banners were designed to be carried by a single person and depicted heroic individual women, such as Joan of Arc, or suffrage guilds and trades, professions or activities carried out by women.
Mary’s banner has been made to a design for a single-person banner of the time and depicts her face, head and shoulders along with the words:
 
Suffragette Mary Clarke 
1861 – 1910 
First Suffragette to Die for Women’s Right to Vote
Jenny designed the banner after consultation with the Appeal and has hand-stitched every part of it, a process that took many months.
In the short term, it is hoped it can be displayed in public places such as libraries,

Jenny Engledow in the North Road Timber Company store

possibly alongside the bronze maquette. We are currently in discussion with the Council about the possibility of displaying it near the maquette in the Jubilee Library, once it has opened agin.

Longer term, it is intended that the banner will be carried through the city in procession on key dates such as International Women’s Day and 25th November, the International   Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
We look forward to the day when once again we can march and sing together on the city’s streets. In the meanwhile, our heartfelt thanks to Jenny for her beautiful banner and the hours of work that went into making it.
During the years Mary worked in Brighton and the South East she was often subject to threats and blows from hostile crowds. She was committed to non-violence and had a reputation for responding with charm and good humour to insults and threats and with calm courage to actual violence. It is fitting that such a committed peace campaigner as Jenny Engledow should make her banner.
Jenny is local Branch Secretary and a  National Executive member for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Finally, our thanks to North Road Timber Company in Brighton, which supports the campaign and is making the wooden carrying frame.
]]> 1583 A New Banner for Mary https://maryclarkestatue.com/news/a-new-banner-for-mary/ Tue, 30 Jun 2020 15:05:19 +0000 https://maryclarkestatue.com/?p=1351 Jenny Engledow is well known in Brighton as a human rights and peace campaigner. What is less well known is that she is an excellent seamstress and embroiderer and has made beautiful banners for a range of causes. Many local people will have seen the beautiful banner Jenny made to celebrate the 2018 Centenary of women’s partial achievement of the Vote. It was based on a contemporary design prepared for the Brighton Branch of the WSPU. Now she has agreed to make a banner for Mary Clarke. The design is her own, based upon contemporary photographs, but the style echoes the beautiful ‘pennant’ banners  carried in procession by the suffragettes. They were designed to represent various women’s crafts and professions, but there were also individual banners to honour individual women of note. A huge amount of work has gone into the banner and despite COVID-related problems in supply of embroidery materials, Jenny is forging ahead. We thought you might like to see her at work. We are so grateful to her for this wonderful gift of her time and creativity. Once completed, the banner will be placed on public display and also taken out on procession. Our hope is that eventually, on key dates such as International Women’s Day or Human Rights Day (which is just before Mary’s birthday) the people of the city will be able to process to the statue with this and other banners. 

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