suffragette jewellery

• Sylvia Pankhurst • Ernestine Mills • Georgie Gaskin • Arthur Gaskin • R C Price

Popular designs for suffrage jewellery included Sylvia Pankhurst's 'Angel of Freedom' design, hatpins in the shape of an arrow to evoke the prison convict's arrow, and badges displaying photos of the WSPU leaders.

Some writers, particularly those focused on the collectors' market, argue that the significance of jewellery as a means of self-identification with the Suffragette Movement is overstated, due to the popularity of these jewellery colours before and after the period in which suffragettes were most active. However, as scholar Elizabeth Goring notes, the purple-white-green colour combination was deeply symbolic of the Suffragette Movement and the use of these colours "offered a powerful means by which suffragettes could publicly advertise their identity," and would not be construed as merely decorative by others. The dearth of items identified explicitly as suffragette jewellery in major collections can be partly attributed to the difficulty of using colour alone, without specific date of origin or other documentation, to distinguish this jewellery from other Edwardian jewellery. Association of medals with the Suffragette Movement is more straightforward, and in 2015 the gallantry medal awarded to Mary Aldham was sold at auction for £23,450. Maud Joachim's WSPU medal was sold at auction at Bonhams on 3 October 2023 for £41,600 and acquired by Glasgow Women's Library following a fundraising campaign and a grant. The Museum of London permanent collection contains an example of a bespoke piece of suffragette jewellery with clear provenance, a pendant dubbed the Angel of Hope. It was created by Ernestine Mills to commemorate the 1909 release from Holloway Prison of Louise Mary Eates, Secretary of Kensington Women's Social and Political Union.