Minnie Turner, born in Preston Street one-hundred and fifty years ago, has become the latest name to be honoured on a Brighton & Hove Bus.
The Brighton and Hove Bus Company say they are delighted to pay tribute to Minnie Turner, who was a leading campaigner for votes for women, after working with Brighton’s Royal Pavilion & Museums to select names for their buses.
Alexia Lazou from Royal Pavilion & Museums said: “We’ve really enjoyed working with the bus company to help select the names of notable people from Brighton & Hove’s history. A number of those chosen feature in our museum displays, enabling people to learn more about how these individuals made a significant contribution to our city.”
Born in 1867, Minnie Turner ran a guest house in Victoria Road early last century which attracted many professional women.
She joined the Liberal Party but left because of their poor support for women’s suffrage. She then turned to militancy and was arrested three times, once breaking a window at the Home Office in London and being sent to prison.
In later years she was modest about her achievements, but proud of the many suffrage leaders who had stayed with her at Victoria Road. Her guests had included Mrs Pankhurst and several of her family, Lady Constance Lytton, Lady Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Emily Wilding Davison, Annie Kenney, Mrs Drummond and many others.
Further buses have been named after George Albert Smith and James Williamson – The two film pioneers feature in Royal Pavilion & Museums’ display ‘Experimental Motion’ at Brighton Museum, which is open until 4 June 2017. The display tells the story of experimental film-making in Brighton & Hove, from 1896 to the present day, and features Jeff Keen who is also named on a bus.
Mary Merrifield has also had a bus named after her. During her last few years in Brighton, Mary helped to arrange the natural history galleries at the Brighton Museum – she will feature in a new display at the museum later this year.
