Unfurling Portsmouth's Suffrage Banners
We are so excited to announce that on 28th January 2025, a new exhibition opened 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 on 17th July 1913. There's also a bundle of 3 newspapers detailing the story you can take away to keep.
The exhibition is designed to bring to life the contribution that the Portsmouth’s Suffragists and Suffragettes had on gaining equal voting rights. There are limited original artefacts that survive from the Portsmouth suffragists. What exists in the archives is showcased for you at the exhibition. To fill in the gaps there are some reproductions of artefacts seen in archival photographs. By creating these replicas, it is hoped to recapture the impact the banners made when they were unfurled, full size, with their striking visual presence to a crowded Town Hall Square in 1913. Harriet Blessley’s descriptive account of the Pilgrims’ march to London provided the chance to imagine how the route would have looked at the time. Using colourful historical postcards, photographs, and some creative license it is possible to reconstruct, animate and visualise scenes of Portsmouth and the route to London in a screen-based motion graphic. The series of accompanying newspapers aims to highlight the personal stories of those involved, with a special emphasis on uncovering previously unseen photographs of the women at the centre of the story. Bringing all these elements together in the form of an exhibition seeks to create a vibrant, tactile and visual narrative that will encourage visitors to connect with the past in a meaningful way.
Read about the exhibition in the Portsmouth News or catch me talking about it on ThatsTV
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 recount any memories you were told by people involved. Please contact me by email at sarah.houghton@port.ac.uk
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
Credits:
Sarah Houghton