A gift for Ayla from Hampstead Parish Church
Hampstead Parish Church has had its share of remarkable women and it seemed very appropriate to thank Ayla for everything she has done for HPC with a copy of a very beautiful banner made for the Hampstead branch of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage.
I am a museum curator and came across this banner in the Museum of London while researching a housing association set up by suffrage campaigners. This led to some research on the Church League for Women’s Suffrage. The League was founded in 1909 with the aim of securing for women the vote in ‘Church and State’ on the same basis as it was awarded to men. The League also campaigned for the revision of the marriage service in the Book of Common Prayer and for the ordination of women. It was one of many specialist non party political suffrage societies. There were also groups set up for Catholic and Jewish supporters of votes for women.
The banner was designed by Laurence Housman and made in silk, sateen and cotton by the Suffrage Atelier in c 1910. The words on the front read ‘The Glorious Liberty of the Children of God’. The reverse is painted ‘Hampstead Church League for Women’s Suffrage’. The banner was carried on demonstrations where different suffrage groups all displayed their own colours. The purple, white and green adopted by the Women’s Social and Political Union are the best known and have since come to represent the suffrage cause. The original banner now forms part of the Museum of London’s excellent suffrage collections.