Unfurling Portsmouth's Suffrage Banners
We are so excited to announce that in mid January of 2025 there will be a new exhibition opening at the Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery showing original and replica banners, photographs of the Portsmouth suffragettes and suffragists. and a motion graphic telling the story of the Pilgrim's march from Portsmouth to London from 17th July 1913. There will also be a newspaper detailing the story you can take away to keep.
We will be showing how sisters Norah and Margaret O'Shea from Cosham were central organisers of the local NUWSS and display extracts of Harriet Blessley's original account of the march.
We'll also tell the story of how women such as Charlotte Marsh of the WSPU who was living in Southsea, defied the law and hid rather than fill in the census forms of 1911 as part of a national census boycott
The Pilgrims march from Portsmouth to London
On 26 July 1913, 50,000 suffragists and supporters of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies completed their pilgrimage to London’s Hyde Park to call for equal voting rights for women.
The pilgrims wore the NUWSS colours of red, white and green, with raffia cockles on their hats, sashes and badges. They were joined by many other supporters such as the Women’s Labour League and the Men’s League for Women’s suffrage.
There were six main marching routes to London, the Great North route, Watling Street route, West Country route, Bournemouth route, Portsmouth route and the Kentish pilgrims way.
Harriet Blessley
In Portsmouth, the march set off from the Town Hall Square on the evening of the 17th July 1913.
One of the pilgrims was 40 year old Harriet Blessley from Portsmouth who documented the march.
Her account and some photographs held at the Portsmouth History centre form the basis for this project and exhibition.
Get Involved
We'd love you to be involved with the collection - please do contact me if you would like to offer any objects or paperwork you have from this time to loan or photograph, or by recounting any memories you were told by people involved. You can either email sarah.houghton@port.ac.uk or click here for a form
This ongoing exhibition forms part of PhD student Sarah Houghton's research which should be completed in 2028. If you would like to follow the visual development of the project please follow the instagram account here
This project is funded by the University of Portsmouth Heritage Hub in partnership with the Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery and the Portsmouth History Centre