A NEW mural in Newton Abbot is bringing a dramatic chapter in Union Street’s history back into view – including the night suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst became caught up in a violent election riot.

The striking new artwork, created by young people taking part in street-art sessions run by The Cwtch Hub, depicts silhouettes of Pankhurst and another suffragette alongside the words ‘Deeds, not words’ – a slogan associated with the women’s suffrage movement.

The mural was inspired by events in Union Street during the 1908 parliamentary by-election in Newton Abbot.

The mural which now brightens the access lane off Union Street in Newton Abbot
The mural which now brightens the access lane off Union Street in Newton Abbot (MDA)

Pankhurst, her daughter Sylvia and fellow suffragette Nellie Martel had travelled to the town to campaign against Liberal candidate Charles Roden Buxton. Although both candidates supported votes for women, the Liberal government had declined to introduce legislation on the issue.

When Conservative candidate Captain Ernest Morrison-Bell was declared the winner, a crowd gathered in Union Street turned on the women, pelting them with eggs and shouting: ‘Those women have done it!’

The suffragettes fled to a doorway and reportedly used their umbrellas to defend themselves.

Two were knocked down and rolled in the mud before being rescued by a local garage owner who drove them away in his car.

The violence later spread to the Constitutional Club, where windows were smashed, while police struggled to clear the street.

Kris Hanson, of The Cwtch Hub, said the mural was intended to highlight a part of Union Street’s past which might otherwise be forgotten.

‘We’ve run these teen street-art sessions on Saturdays, with some funding we were given by Devon County Council’, he said.

‘The mural was one of the projects we decided to do alongside the whole Union Street regeneration project.

‘The idea came from the history of Union Street. There was a riot here involving around 100 mounted police, and Emmeline Pankhurst was involved’.

He added: ‘It was just about representing that history, because obviously Union Street has got quite a story behind it’.