There are only two statues of women in Liverpool – Florence Nightingale and of course, Queen Victoria. But now there’s a campaign underway to double that number and see two women installed in one of Liverpool’s great civic buildings. Of the 12 statues at St George’s Hall not one is of a woman - councillor Flo Clucas is leading the drive to change that. One of the women in contention for a plinth is Josephine Butler who campaigned to protect prostitutes and raise the age of consent. The other is Kitty Wilkinson who arrived destitute in Liverpool in 1794. She pioneered the public wash house movement – giving poor people somewhere to clean their clothes. Her wash houses lasted well into the twentieth century – the last one closed down just a decade ago. As Judy Merry discovered Kitty Wilkinson and her wash houses are remembered by ordinary people to this day…
|
