Pic: Garry Knight

Campaigners continue to seek donations to build a statue in Newington Green of pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

A fundraising initiative has been launched by the Newington Green Action Group (NGAG), a charity dedicated to promoting the history of the Green through local community.

As an 18^th century writer, philosopher and advocate of women’s rights, Wollstonecraft resided in Newington Green and set up a girls school there in 1784.

Seed funding for the project has come from a local history book, The Village that Changed the World: A History of Newington Green N16 by Alex Allardyce. The book also won the Walter Bor Media Award.

Allardyce, who is also a former chairperson of NGAG, told EastLondonLines: “Mary Wollstonecraft was the obvious candidate from the many characters who are intertwined with Newington Green’s history. She had set up a girls’ school on Newington Green whose nonconformist atmosphere also encouraged her formative ideas.”

Since there was no significant memorial to the pioneering feminist, the decision was taken to erect a statue to commemorate her.

“So far we have raised just short of £20,000,” Allardyce said.

He added that the unveiling date of the statue is dependent on the progress of fundraising, but he hopes it will reach its target of £260,000 in 2013.

Wollstonecraft has been called “mother of feminism”. During her time in Newington Green, Wollstonecraft was introduced to several radical thinkers who inspired her emerging theories.

Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she asserts that the inferior of women to men is not inherent but due to lack of education, was one of the earliest feminist works to propagate gender equality. She died of septicaemia following the birth of her daughter, Mary Shelly, the author of Frankenstien.

Allardyce added that the unveiling date of the statue was dependent on the progress of fundraising, but he hopes it will reach its target of £260,000 in 2013.

NGAG has been voted as the most popular project in the NatWest Community Force in the North London Region.

For more information about the campaign visit maryonthegreen.org.