In 2006 the BBC Antiques Road Show was filmed at the University of Sydney. One of the items their experts valued was a suffragette tea set manufactured in Staffordshire by Williamsons of Longton. It comprised six art deco cups, saucers and plates, a cake plate, tea pot, milk jug and sugar bowl decorated in the colours of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). The set was decorated with the iconic design of the angel of freedom blowing a trumpet and carrying a banner with the word “Freedom” on it.      The tea service was designed by Sylvia Pankhurst for the WSPU’s 1909 exhibition at the Prince’s Skating Rink in London. A Scottish version for use at a WSPU exhibition in Glasgow was produced in 1910. The angel design was also used on the cover of bound copies of the WSPU newspaper, Votes for Women . As soon as I saw the Sydney tea set I wanted one! Alas, these are very rare items and consequently very expensive. Complete sets are rarer still, and it’s more usua...

When I was in London a few days ago I spent an enjoyable afternoon strolling around the Houses of Parliament and viewing the statues of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Women’s Social and Political Union, and suffragist Millicent Garratt Fawcett, leader of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Standing in the middle of Parliament Square on a cold, gloomy day with traffic going about its business, tourists going about their pleasure, and office workers going about their lunch, it was sobering to think of all the dreadful scenes that had taken place there just over a hundred years ago. When I shut my eyes many horribly familiar images rose up in my imagination. Of women attempting to deliver petitions to the House of Commons being set upon by police and thugs, kicked, knocked to the ground, and in some cases sexually assaulted. Of women having their clothes torn and their hair pulled out. Of women arrested, including Mrs Pankhurst herself. A suffra...