Twin exhibitions showing the plight of Sidmouth’s Suffragettes and Suffragists are now on display at the town’s two unique micro museum art spaces.
The Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Antiquities are unique art galleries housed in two telephone boxes in Sidmouth’s market square.
In the Museum of Antiquities, you can see Suffragists – an exhibition showcasing the work of three Sidmouth women following Millicent Fawcett’s peaceful campaign for the rights of women.
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The installation was inspired by the recent Peace Garden Mural project, which is located at the top of Sidmouth high street at Dissenter of Sidmouth by the Unitarian Chapel. The mural features three women who were instrumental in both campaigning for women’s suffrage and shaping Sidmouth into the town we know today.
The mural and the exhibition focus on the lives of Annie Leigh Browne, a staunch supporter of the Sidmouth and District Women’s Suffrage Society, her partner, Mary Kilgour who co-founded the Union of Practical Suffragists and her sister, Lady Lockyer, nee Mary Browne. The three are known for being educationalists, scientists and philanthropists and their funding, campaigns and activism made significant positive changes to the lives of people living in Sidmouth.
The Browne sisters set up Sidmouth’s first Maternity and Infant Welfare Centre at their home, Woolacombe House. Annie is also credited with designing a riverside park along the River Sid. Lady Lockyer, an astronomer and botanist, owned the land that the Norman Lockyer Observatory now occupies.
In the Museum of Contemporary Art is the twin exhibit, Suffragettes, which features some of the iconic signs, slogans and leaflets from the less peaceful Suffragette movement. Artefacts included in the exhibit include a copy of the Cat and Mouse Act postcard, a reference to the Act of Parliament that temporarily discharged prisoners on the grounds of ill health. The Act was parliament’s way of attempting to stop Suffragettes from going on hunger strike, alongside the brutal regime of force feeding. There are also pamphlets from the Women’s Social and Political Union; a song sheet of the March of Women, which became the anthem to the movement; posters advertising demonstrations and a 1912 Metropolitan Police charge record.
The Museum of Antiquities and Museum of Contemporary Art are housed in K6 model phone boxes that were commissioned in 1935 as part of the celebrations around King George’s silver jubilee. The iconic red phone boxes were repurposed by Sidmouth School of Art and Sidmouth Coastal Community Hub, who turned them into art spaces. If you have any ideas or collaborations for future exhibitions, get in touch with Sidmouth School of Art, you can find out more about the project here.