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Anyone for Panko?


 
This splendid playing card is one of a set for the game of Panko, or Votes for Women,  “the Great Card Game – Suffragists v Anti Suffragists”.  

 

 
 
The cards were designed by  Edward Tennyson Reed (1860–1933), a cartoonist known for his sketches of politicians in the House of Commons. Reed worked for Punch magazine on their parliamentary pages between 1890 and 1912.   

 

 
 
Panko was one of many items of merchandise sold by the militant Women’s Social and Political Union to raise funds for the cause. It was marketed as a gift with appeal for both supporters and antis. If you bought it for friends who were supporters it would please them, and if your friends were anti it would amuse them – and after the game you could convert them! Advertised in the WSPU magazine, Votes for Women, in December 1909, Panko would have made an ideal Christmas present. Alas, my set is incomplete – big hint in case Santa is thinking of bringing me something this year!  

Comments

  1. Wonderful post! I had no idea that this game ever existed! Thank you for sharing! Goal Goal Goal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment. There was also a wonderful board game called Pank A Squith, a suffragette snakes and ladders... see http://www.sheilahanlon.com/?p=132

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