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Invitation to Award of the Freedom of the City for Mary Clarke

Mary Clarke is to be honoured by the posthumous award of the Freedom of the City, a wonderful tribute. The award is to be made at a special meeting of Brighton & Hove City Council at 3.30pm on Thursday 14 December at Hove Town Hall. Supporters are very welcome.

Statue Appeal Trustee Briony Goulden, and her two daughters Sophie and Lena, will receive the award on behalf of Mary. They are several times great nieces of Mary Clarke, who was born Mary Goulden. We hope supporters will come along to cheer them all on.

The meeting will take place at 3.30pm following an invitation-only reception for the Appeal at 2.30 hosted by the Mayor, Cllr Jackie O’Quinn. Councillors will make short speeches and Briony will respond.

Unfortunately the very successful Balfour school Mary’s Lamp girls’ group cannot now be present. Instead, Sophie and Lena will represent all the Child Ambassadors and will carry a replica of Mary’s lamp, recalling Isabella McKeown’s comment after Mary’s death that her friends and followers should “not mourn in silence” but “take up the torch and light the darkness”. We hope Isaac Abatan (21), our first Student Ambassador, will also be present to support the others. The Appeal Trustees will be there and our Patrons and Adult Ambassadors have been invited.

We hope supporters will be there for the presentation. If you would like to attend, or know people who might like to do so, please let them know. Please be there for 3.15 pm, in good time for the start of the Council meeting at 3.30. You will have to sit in the gallery, but there is a good view and you can make some noise in appreciation! With luck, we may be able to meet for a hot drink in the downstairs cafe after the event.

Black Friday Remembered in Jubilee Library

Black Friday is now associated with a day of cheap bargains in the shops. It is unfortunate that this new celebration of consumerism happens in November, the month of remembrance. It is is especially galling for anyone wishing to remember the sacrifices made by suffragists and suffragettes and the terrible events of 18th November 1910, also called ‘Black Friday’. Three women died as a result of these events, of whom Mary Clarke was the first.

It was on 18th November that Mary, along with 300 other suffragettes, assembled peacefully to petition Parliament. Over several hours, the women were systematically physically and sexually attacked by London police officers. The women were often subjected to violent attack, but the assaults of Black Friday seem to have been particularly vicious and sustained.

There are several heart-rending accounts of the terrible way women were treated and injured. We don’t know exactly what happened to Mary, just that afterwards she was bed-ridden for three days. She was advised not to get up even then, but she insisted on going back to London to protest about the police’s treatment of the women. There she was arrested and imprisoned for one month, during which time she was forcibly fed. She died of a brain haemorrhage two days after her release from prison. Mary’s sister Emmeline Pankhurst, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and other leaders of the WSPU all blamed the events of Black Friday for Mary’s death.

We know Mary also experienced domestic abuse as well as state violence. Apart from the anniversary of Black Friday, we recall that 25th November is the U.N. Designated Day of Action against Violence Against Women and that it begins the U.N. 16 Days of Action against Violence against Women.

Each year we commemorate Black Friday and the 16 Days by arranging a display in foyer of the Jubilee Library. This year it was held from 13th to the 26th November.

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Please keep an eye on the website and send us news or comments. Help us get out our message by publicising the information on the website and following us on Facebook and Twitter. ‘Like’ us or retweet whenever and as often as you can!

If you can help with social media please let us know. Please follow us on our website maryclarkestatue.com; on twitter @mary_statue; and on Facebook facebook.com/MaryClarkeStatue

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THANKS FOR DONATIONS AND CURRENT TARGET

We thank all our donors, large and small. The maquette has been paid for and delivered. Our target now is to raise £50,000 for the costs of the statue.

Please note the Appeal is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) number 1185845.

Copyright © 2019 Mary Clarke Statue Appeal - Registered Charity Number 1185845.
All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
c/o Regency Town House, 13 Brunswick Square, Hove, BN3 1EH

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Mary Clarke Statue Appeal · 48 shaftesbury Road · Brighton, East Sussex BN1 4NF · United Kingdom