Soroptimist International Epsom & District paid tribute to suffragette Emily Wilding Davison when they visited the new statue in Epsom town centre on Sunday. They are currently celebrating their centenary year (1921 – 2021) and what better way to do this than to take a moment to reflect on how far the women’s movement has come in 100 years. One long-standing Soroptimist member for 47 years, Diana Porter, said “The statue of Emily acknowledges the efforts of suffragettes to obtain some recognition for women of their true role in society. We were pleased to donate funds to the Surrey History Centre enabling them to purchase ‘The Suffragette’ dated 13 June 1913 which documented Emily stepping out in front of the King’s horse on 4 June 1913, causing her fatal injuries.”
More about the Emily Wilding Davison project can be seen here: https://sigbi.org/epsom-and-district/2019/02/17/the-emily-wilding-davison-project/
The Soroptimists have something in common with the suffragettes in that they are a voluntary women’s organisation whose aim is to improve the lives of women. This global organisation of over 72,000 members in 121 countries, continues to educate, empower and enable women and girls to this day.
The local Soroptimist International Club in Epsom have focused on a number of issues in recent times, for example supporting three domestic abuse charities: True Honour, East Surrey Domestic Abuse Services and Reigate & Banstead Women’s Aid. Very recently they donated items to pregnant Afghan women refugees arriving in the UK.
If you are interested in becoming a Soroptimist or finding out about the Epsom Club (which also covers Ewell, Leatherhead and Dorking ) please visit their website https://sigbi.org/epsom-and-district/ and contact enquiriessiepsom@gmail.com for more information.
The Emily Davison Memorial Project has a strong link with Epsom Soroptimists. It’s former Regional President of Southern England Barbara Watts was a active member of our committee and very passionate about the statue. Sadly Barbara passed away before the completion of the statue. She is greatly missed within the whole community of the many projects she was involved with.
I’m an American descendant of Emily.. our family name was changed to Pancoast, my mother’s maiden name, that lineage goes back to the 1700s in America.