For long the preserve of English Heritage there are now many other commemorative plaque schemes across London. Individuals too can join in the fun, researching and memorialising the history of their own home, place of work or street.  

And now a striking new blue plaque has appeared on Glebe House, in Glebe Place SW3, to mark a story of defiance, deception and an escape worthy of a first-rate thriller.

The plaque, installed by homeowner Sandra de Laszlo, honours the formidable Emmeline Pankhurst and a little-known clash that unfolded outside the house more than a century ago.

“I put it up about nine months ago,” said Sandra, “but it’s something I’d been thinking about for a long time — inspired by the extraordinary bravery and commitment of the suffragettes.”

Glebe House is the scene of what came to be called the Battle of Glebe Place.

It is just before 5pm on a cold February evening in 1914. A crowd of around 1,000 people has gathered, filled with anticipation. They have come to see Emmeline Pankhurst — then the most wanted woman in Britain — challenge the establishment to let women have the vote. 

Emmeline moves on to the balcony to address the crowd: poised, defiant, dressed in black. But she is living on borrowed time. Though free on licence, she is banned from speaking in public — and the police are in the crowd waiting for the right moment to pounce. 

As the meeting ends, a group of women emerges from the house, shielding a veiled figure the police are meant to believe is Emmeline. Officers move in. Then chaos erupts.

Police later claimed they were attacked with clubs as the women fought to protect the decoy. A full-scale scuffle breaks out as officers force their way through the crowd. In the mêlée, uncertainty reigns: where is Emmeline?

For hours, the police keep watch, unsure if their target is still inside. They have been outmanoeuvred.

The house where Pankhurst sought sanctuary

It is not until the following day that the real escape unfolds. As a car pulls up outside, Emmeline’s bodyguards launch a sudden diversion, rushing the police line. In that split second of confusion, she makes her move — climbing into the vehicle and disappearing down the King’s Road, free for now. But her freedom does not last.

Just two weeks later, speaking in Glasgow, she is brutally beaten by police before being dragged back to Holloway Prison. There, she immediately goes on hunger strike — one of many acts of resistance that would define her life.

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was no ordinary campaigner. Founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903, she helped turn the fight for women’s suffrage into a national and international crusade. 

After years of frustration at political indifference Emmeline and her daughter Christabel 

pushed the movement into more militant action — from protests to window-smashing and arson — tactics that divided the suffrage movement as some feared it was turning public opinion against them.

The government’s response was brutal. Hundreds of women were arrested, assaulted, and subjected to force-feeding; the ‘horrible outrage of the gag and feeding tube’ — a practice widely condemned at the time as barbaric.

Emmeline had many connections to Chelsea. A network of local supporters provided funds and places to hide when she was on the run. Glebe House itself became one such refuge, thanks to former owners Gladys Schütze and her husband, who opened their doors to the cause.

Emmeline’s youngest daughter Sylvia also a leading activist and the artist whose designs influenced much of the Suffragette’s campaign material, lived for a time at 43 Park Walk and has a plaque at 120 Cheyne Walk, the most important of her addresses to survive in London. Emmeline is buried in Brompton Cemetery, Chelsea.

Emmeline Pankhurst’s grave in Brompton Cemetery

Historian Dr Emelyne Godfrey later pieced together the dramatic events at Glebe House while researching the bodyguards who protected suffragette leaders in her book “Mrs Pankhurst’s Bodyguards”— women trained to fight and when required to take on the police.

Now, more than a century on, that moment of resistance is at last commemorated.

Thanks to Sandra’s determination, passers-by can stop outside Glebe House and glimpse a story that might otherwise have been lost — a story of courage, confrontation and a fight that played a part in changing the course of history.

As Emmeline Pankhurst put it at the time, they were fighting so that “every little girl born into the world will have an equal chance with her brothers”.

And on this quiet Chelsea street, that fight still echoes.

From 1st-4th October the Chelsea History Festival celebrates its eighth year with more than 100 different events across three major heritage institutions – Royal Hospital Chelsea, the National Army Museum, and the Physic Garden. 

As part of the festival, guide Emily Laurence Baker will be leading a number of walks including one that uncovers the lives and legacies of women who helped shape Chelsea. Depending on the route she takes, the plaque to the Battle of Glebe Place may be visited.

The Chelsea Citizen is proud to be the media partner for this year’s history festival

The idea was born out of frustration as more families are pushed to rely on food banks, while deeper problems remained untouched.

Drawing on a model first piloted in Tower Hamlets, Victoria Steward Todd – Director of The K+C Foundation and colleagues from the First Love Foundation – organised community engagement sessions on the estate and carried out a detailed needs assessment to identify exactly where support was lacking — and what could make the biggest difference. Last week, that vision became reality.

Photo: Family and Friends

More than 50 people — including funders, frontline charities and local political figures — gathered at the World’s End Youth Centre to formally launch and celebrate The Beacon Partnership.

In her opening remarks, Ms Stewart Todd said the partnership could mark a turning point for the estate. She said: “When charities work together, they are often greater than the sum of their parts and the Beacon Partnership’s aim is to offer a holistic, wraparound service that meets our residents’ needs.”  

At the heart of the partnership are three frontline charities, each tackling a different pressure point in residents’ lives. Ubuntu Pledge will focus on digital skills and IT training; Nucleus Legal Advice Centre will help residents navigate the complex world of housing, tax and benefits; while Family Friends will work to build resilience and social connections among both adults and young people. And the need for support is urgent.

“With the government and businesses pushing more services online, people’s IT skills need to keep up,” said Henry Otim from Ubuntu Pledge. “The NHS is increasingly relying on digital communication, and without the right knowledge, some — particularly older residents — risk being left behind.”

Photo: Family and Friends

For many, even basic digital tasks can feel overwhelming.

“People come to us with all sorts of fears about using technology,” he added. “We’re here to guide them, build confidence and help them develop skills that open doors.”

The youth centre will now operate as a community hub during the day, offering residents a place to seek advice, learn new skills and build connections. Two dedicated caseworkers will provide consistent, one-to-one support.

Crucially the Beacon Partnership is backed by a three-year funding commitment, so residents won’t face the fear of support suddenly disappearing.

Annual evaluations will track what works — and what needs tweaking — with the potential for the model to be expanded to other communities if it proves successful.

For the families on World’s End, the Beacon Partnership offers something increasingly rare – not just emergency help, but the chance to build something more secure for the future. We wish them every success.

The funders for the Beacon Partnership 

The Julia Rausing Trust

 The Caerlow Trust

The Mercer Foundation

Cadogan Estates

The Martin Charitable Trust

Since The Citizen aired the serious unease felt amongst residents in a story last month, the housing association charity has pledged to fast-track a solution — but has admitted that the problems are so extensive that it will take at least a year to solve.

Families have already endured four long years of relentless noisy works and have been trapped behind scaffolding and netting that has cast their homes into daytime darkness.

Peabody has finally conceded the works have taken “much longer than expected” and have promised a full-scale push, with contractors to be deployed inside and outside the building, as well as across multiple floors, at the same time to finish the job more quickly. But even that means the works will not be finished until “sometime in 2027”.

In a statement to The Citizen, Peabody said: “We’re very sorry that this has taken much longer than expected and for the impact this has had on residents. We know how difficult it is to live with this level of disruption, and we don’t underestimate how challenging it has been.

“This work is essential to make sure residents’ homes are safe and meet the latest standards. When we removed the cladding, we uncovered additional issues within the building. This has happened across the sector, as some problems only become visible once work begins. Where this happens, we make sure everything is fully put right so homes are safe.

“We’re continuing to stay in close contact with residents and will share clearer timescales as soon as we can. We’re focused on finishing this as quickly as possible, while making sure it is done properly and to the highest safety standards, and continuing to support residents throughout.”

The state of Kingsgate House on the King’s Road as photographed last Friday ©TCC

Sadly for residents, this statement echoes a familiar refrain. “Too little, too late,” is the verdict from inside the block.

Originally launched in 2020 to strip out dangerous cladding in the wake of Grenfell Tower fire, the repair project has spiralled into a catalogue of defects.

Kingsgate House is a mix of shared ownership and social rent flats that was built in 2014 as part of a Section 106 “trade off” for the construction of a luxury block of flats overlooking Kensington Park Gardens. It was supposed to be a modern success story, but once the cladding came off, a Pandora’s box of problems emerged.

Peabody admits the works uncovered serious hidden defects, including rainwater damage to the timber frame — forcing a complete rebuild of the top two floors and even the re-housing of residents to other rental accommodation. Other issues at Kingsgate House include: faulty, untreated wooden balconies, leaks through windows and bathrooms, persistent heating and hot water failures, and – arguably, worst of all – a lift outage of seven months, leaving wheelchair users trapped in their homes. 

Residents point the finger squarely at poor original construction — and question how the building ever passed inspection. “I used to be proud to live here,” said one. “Now it’s in a sorry state — and it’s not clear if it will ever be put right.”

There’s one bright note amid the gloom: Peabody says insurance premiums won’t rise further because of the works — and has pledged refunds for excess communal electricity charges. Peabody also insists fire safety checks have been completed and that homes are safe. That will come as cold comfort to residents battered by disruption — and soaring bills.

To add to their misery service charges have nearly doubled in four years, rocketing from £222 to £418 per month, driven largely by unexplained hikes in insurance and electricity costs. Then there’s the mystery of the building’s distinctive solar power panels that were once lauded as a great innovation and an environmentally friendly design. Residents claim that they have never seen a penny’s worth of energy from these “photovoltaic panels”. 

Peabody has admitted to The Citizen that the panels do not currently work and promises they will be fixed when the project ends. Notably, Peabody would not confirm the net energy value deemed from the panels since they were installed – or indeed if they have ever worked.

In the meantime, life goes on in limbo. “It’s like living on a building site,” said one resident. “The noise, the mess, the disturbance, the lack of security… the uncertainty.” Another added: “We can’t open windows properly or use our balconies. We live in darkness.”

Patience is running out. “They pretend to care,” said one furious tenant. “We are exhausted. It’s a never-ending nightmare.”

Angry families are now forming a residents’ association to demand answers— including clear schedules, proper communication, quarterly meetings and fully itemised service charges.

The Chelsea Citizen today pledges to stay on this story — until the last scaffolding pole comes down and the energy flows from those fancy solar panels.

For more than four years, local people have noticed and questioned why a newly built residential block called Kingsgate House – known for its distinctive yellow and green solar shutters on its frontage – has been consistently covered by extensive scaffolding.

More often that not, part of the scaffolding netting on the six storey property has been proudly displaying adverts for luxury fashion brands such as Gucci and Prada.

Following extensive enquiries by The Citizen, we can reveal that the building has been in a vicious cycle of works since 2022, which started with the urgent removal of combustible cladding to make it compliant with post-Grenfell regulatory standards.

Since then, other urgent works have been needed, such as problems with the roof, internal leaks and repairs to the heating system and electrical network. Residents claim that the poor quality of workmanship during the construction phase has led to an array of problems.

The fallout from the works has created a “hell” for residents and many – especially those living on the top two floors – have had to move out entirely for up to FOUR YEARS.

Kingsgate House, which sits on the junction with Gunter Grove in SW10, is a housing association property owned and managed by the Peabody Trust. It has around 100 residents in 43 flats and was “awarded” to the borough as part of a Section 106 settlement from permissions for a luxury apartment block in De Vere Gardens, Kensington. 

It is believed that Kingsgate House cost £12m to build, but whatever happened during the construction of the block, the legacy of it is still being felt all these years later.

The De Vere Gardens property that led to the Section 106 funding of Kingsgate House

Some people have been shunted from one rental flat to another for years – often at short notice. Peabody has paid all the emergency rental income and has even handed cash payments to residents as compensation for the disruption they have had to endure. 

“This has been a living nightmare,” one resident told The Citizen. “The entire building was to have been shoddily built at the outset. Many windows can’t be opened fully, so the ventilation is terrible, and there have been problems with the heating and electricity systems. The internal lift didn’t work for seven months. The whole situation is intolerable.

“The scaffolding has ruined the natural light coming into the flats. It is so bad that people have bought powerful lamps to try to lift the gloom. Then there is the constant noise from workmen all over the place. It has been a very stressful and unhappy situation.”

Residents were told last October that part of the scaffolding would come down before Christmas, but that deadline passed by and there is still no sign of it being removed. Now, there is talk that some of the residents will have to wait until the summer to move back in. But the lack of transparency as regards the nature of the on-going problems and the timelines to resolve them is frustrating for residents and blighting their lives.

A spokesperson for Peabody said: “We’re very sorry that this work has taken much longer than expected, and for the inconvenience this has caused residents. We have stayed in touch with residents throughout and will share clearer timescales as soon as we can. Keeping people safe is our priority, and we’re focused on completing the work as quickly as possible while  continuing to support residents.” 

The Citizen is trying to establish which building company was responsible for the construction.

GRIM: Kingsgate House at night where the lights of the flats are barely visible behind the scaffolding netting