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SUFFRAGETTE JEWELLERY

Jewellery dating from the turn of the twentieth century and comprised of the colour scheme purple, white, and green is often associated with the suffragette movement in Britain. The Women's Social and Political Union, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) in 1903, and formed to recruit working class women to the cause for the vote, officially adopted the colours in 1908. They were designed to stand for dignity (purple), purity (white), and hope (green). A number of badges and brooches with this scheme are known to have been commissioned for party members, including the Holloway Brooch, now in the collection of the Museum of London. These pieces were worn to show support for the cause as well as honour acts of particular hardship or bravery such as imprisonment in the name of women's suffrage. In their Christmas 1908 catalogue, London jeweller to the crown Mappin & Webb advertised suffragette jewellery, and Emmeline Pankhurst was presented with a specially commissioned piece in purple, white, and green.