As part of Her Court, Young Masters and Wimbledon Museum were delighted to welcome Dr Helen Pankhurst CBE for a very special evening exploring Wimbledon’s suffrage history and its continuing relevance today.
In Conversation with Dr Helen Pankhurst CBE brought together women with living links to the suffrage movement, including Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst; Carmela Corbett, actress, writer, producer and Women’s Aid Community Ambassador; and descendants connected to Wimbledon suffragettes Ernestine Mills and Rose Lamartine Yates. The conversation was moderated by Lucy Kane, Owner and Co-Founder of Time & Leisure Magazine.
The event marked an important moment for Her Court, the exhibition presented by Young Masters in collaboration with Wimbledon Museum, bringing contemporary art into dialogue with the museum’s remarkable archival material and the little-known history of the women’s suffrage movement in Wimbledon.
Helen shared stories from her family history and brought with her a suffragette toffee hammer, used to break windows during protests. An ordinary domestic object transformed into an instrument of political action, it offered a striking connection to the courage, determination and disruptive strategies of the women who fought for political representation.
We were also honoured to welcome the Mayor, alongside participating artists, descendants of local suffragettes, supporters, guests and members of the Wimbledon community. Bringing these different generations together within the museum made the evening an especially meaningful celebration of local history, contemporary art and the continuing conversation around women’s representation.
The event was supported by our media partners Time & Leisure, who have followed Her Court and its exploration of Wimbledon’s hidden feminist history throughout the exhibition.
Their feature, “Meeting the local descendants of Suffragettes in Wimbledon,” captures the evening and its extraordinary living connections to the women who helped change British history.
Read the full article in Time & Leisure: “Meeting the local descendants of Suffragettes in Wimbledon”
Presented by Young Masters and Cynthia Corbett Gallery in collaboration with Wimbledon Museum, Her Court brings together contemporary artists responding to the museum’s suffrage collection, creating new connections between art, local history, equality and representation.
https://www.young-masters.co.uk/her-court-2026
