Bow Palace the site of the Great Suffrage Demonstration

On 24 November 1912, Sylvia Pankhurst and George Lansbury held what contemporary posters boldly described as a “Great Suffrage Demonstration.” Printed in the iconic shades of purple, green and white. The advertisement announced a “Fight to Win” at a place confidently titled ‘Bow Palace‘. It’s a venue whose exact identity and location has long since faded from local memory.

The event formed part of a fiery by-election campaign for the constituency of Bow and Bromley. Lansbury had originally won the seat in 1910 for the Independent Labour Party. But, frustrated by Parliament’s refusal to take women’s suffrage seriously, he resigned in protest. He then fought the resulting by-election with Votes for Women as his single, uncompromising platform.

Bow and Bromley By-Election of 1912

The gamble cost him. On 26 November 1912, Lansbury lost to Conservative Reginald Blair by 751 votes. But it was this bold act that drew Sylvia Pankhurst to the East End. Here she would remain and eventually establish the East London Federation of the Suffragettes. It became one of the most radical and community-focused suffrage organisations of the era.

But that is the well-known history…

The question here is different. Where exactly was the Bow Palace? This grandly named East End building that once hosted suffrage rallies and political speeches!

Search for the Bow Palace

Tracking down the Bow Palace isn’t as simple as checking a map. The poster advertising the demonstration placed it clearly on the Bow Road. However more than a century of slum clearances, wartime bombing and redevelopment has dramatically reshaped the landscape. Several buildings in and around Bow have, at various times, been linked to the name “Palace.” Yet only one truly fits the bill.

Below are the contenders from other ‘Palace’s’ in the area…

The People’s Palace – Mile End

The People’s Palace, opened in 1892 on Mile End Road. It was designed to bring culture, education, entertainment and recreation to East Enders. Its Queen’s Hall burnt down in 1931 and was rebuilt with more of an academic focus. Today, it forms part of Queen Mary University.

Well-known in 1912, yes, but not in Bow and not the Bow Palace of suffrage fame.

Bow Station and the Bow Palais – Bow Road

Further along Bow Road stood the imposing Bow Station, a true community landmark. Over decades it housed numerous clubs, societies and institutes. In the 1950s its grand upstairs ballroom was reborn as the Bow Palais. A name pronounced almost identically to “Bow Palace.”

But this incarnation didn’t appear until forty years after the suffrage demonstration. So while fondly remembered, it wasn’t the venue in use in 1912.

Old Palace – Bromley by Bow

Even older was the Old Palace, built in 1606 and demolished in 1894. One ornate panelled room survives, re-assembled at the V&A Museum. Romantic stories suggest James I once used the building as a hunting lodge. .

But it was gone long before 1912, so not the Bow Palace we’re seeking.

Palace Theatre – Bow Road

The building that was the Bow Palace began life as a pub called the Three Cups, built in 1811. Its transformation over the next century created the venue that Lansbury and Pankhurst would have known:

• 1855: A music hall was added, renamed Marlow’s Music Hall.
• 1892: Rebuilt as the Eastern Empire Theatre.
• 1903–1917: Renamed the Palace Theatre
• Locals, however, simply called it the ‘Bow Palace‘.

By 1923 the name was made official, and after a final renovation in 1935 it reopened as the Regal Cinema. Despite wartime bomb damage and an eventual reopening in 1947, the building’s days were numbered. It closed on 11 January 1958, its last film being The Sun Also Rises starring Errol Flynn. It was demolished in 1960.

A grand turn-of-the-century photograph of Bow Road shows the building dominating the streetscape. This is the Bow Palace that hosted the Great Suffrage Demonstration.

Site of the Great Suffrage Demonstration

The Bow Palace stood at 156 Bow Road. This was directly opposite the spot where the statue of Gladstone now stands outside Bow Church.

Just along the same stretch at 198 Bow Road was the small shopfront Sylvia Pankhurst first used as her East End base. Along with Lansbury, she was determined and fiercely committed to the Votes for Women campaign. This road lays at the heart of an extraordinary political moment.

Today, nothing remains of it. The site, like much of the old Bow village, was swept away during the post-war drive for modern housing. A block of social housing now occupies the corner of Bow Road and Bromley High Street. A place where once a theatre, cinema and a suffrage landmark stood.

For more Inspiring City articles you might like, take a look at…

• The Old Bow Station and the Bow Palais
• Suffragette Walking Tour of the East End of London
• A Suffragette History of Kensington
• Mural of Syliva Pankhurst on the Lord Morpeth Pub
• The Story of the Red Hand of Gladstone in Bow