This brilliant new mural has appeared on the side of the Morpeth Arms, 402 Old Ford Rd, Bow, E3 5NR. In 1914 the East London Federation of Suffragettes moved their headquarters to the building next door to the pub. There’s a well-researched article about Sylvia Pankhurst by Amy Freeborn here on the Roman Road London website.
More details about the commission and the artist, Jerome Davenport, are here.
The Representation of the People Act 1918, gave the vote for the first time to ALL men over 21, and finally to women, but only women over 30 who held £5 of property, or had husbands who did. Even so women then made up 43% of the electorate, because so many men had been killed in WWI. The 1918 act enabled and extra 5.6 million men and 8.4 million women to have the vote.
In 1928 the vote was given to all women over the age of 21 on equal terms with men.
At the 1912 election only 7.7 million men were eligible to vote, and before 1867 only 1 million men could vote. Until 1872 the vote wasn’t even secret – the voter’s employer or landlord would be standing opposite him making sure he put his X beside the correct name! Bribery, intimidation and blackmail were rife
What a Great Mural to capture a piece of Local History. Ray Gipson.
Yes it is. Dreadful graffiti was replaced by street art, then the quality went up. And this is top quality.