Britain Honours Millicent Fawcett with a Statue in Parliament Square

Suffragette and equal rights campaigner Millicent Fawcett to be first woman statue in Parliament Square a century after she dedicated her life to getting British women the right to vote

Mrs Fawcett started campaigning for women's votes in 1866 at nineteen 

Her statue will join 11 men in Parliament Square including Churchill and Lincoln

Theresa May said Fawcett continues to inspire battle against 'burning injustices'

The statue will be unveiled in 2018 - 100 years after women got the right to vote

How did women get the vote?  

The idea of women's suffrage began in the mid-1800s.

In 1866 the famous political thinker John Stuart Mill presented a petition for women's suffrage to the House of Commons. 

However it would take more than half-a-century before the ideas became a reality. 

There were two main movements in the fight for women's suffrage in Britain - suffragists and suffragettes. 

Suffragists such as Millicent Fawcett believed in enfranchising women by peaceful means such as protests and petitions.

The suffragette movement was begun by Emmeline Pankhurst and employed much more direct tactics. There motto was 'Deeds not Words.' 

Women's suffrage was a bitterly disputed issue, and topics such as forced- feeding, militant tactics and large rallies divided the population.

But the onset of World War One changed the minds of many opposed to suffrage. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith declared his support of women's suffrage in 1916.

Women over 30 were finally granted the right to vote in 1918.

However younger women would not gain full suffrage until 1928