Blue plaque finally in place in Brighton to commemorate two suffragettes

The plaque honours Elizabeth Robins and Octavia Wilberforce, who lived at 24 Montpelier Crescent.

It was visited last Friday (June 11) by Brighton mayor Alan Robins and members of the Brighton and Hove Women’s History Group which campaigned for the plaques.

Elizabeth Robins was a internationally famous actress who became a suffragette. She used her wealth to help the national suffrage movement and pioneering women’s clinics and health services in Brighton and Hove. Octavia Wilberforce worked with Elizabeth Robins to develop local women’s health services and ran her surgery from the house in Montpelier Crescent, which continues as a GP surgery to this day.

The plaque will be one of the stop offs on guided walks being held as part of the Fringe Festival. The walks – The Women Behind the Plaques – will benefit the mayor’s charities, Off the Fence, Sussex Heart Charity, Together Co, Brighton Fringe, and Leo House.

The walks will end in the Pavilion Gardens with an introduction to Mary Clarke, the first suffragette to die for women’s right to vote. The Mary Clarke Statue Appeal campaigns to honour Mary by means of a statue in the Pavilion Gardens.

Guided walks will be held on Saturday, June 19, and on July 10 and August 14. To book, visit: The Women Behind the Plaques: Stories of Resilience and Bravery.