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You wait more than 100 years for the memory of two of history’s most important feminist figures to be honoured – and then two come along at once.

Campaigns to erect statues of both suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst and author and “foremother of feminism” Mary Wollstonecraft in Islington took giant leaps forward this week.

The Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Committee, who for years have been trying to have the statue made in Westminster, have now set their sights on Clerkenwell Green, which has its own radical history.

They have the financial backing of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), who are trying to raise £70,000 for the project, and £10,000 from the City of London Corporation and hope to have the statue ready for the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which first gave some women the vote.

Pankhurst’s mother and elder sister, Emmeline and Christabel, are already commemorated with a statue and plaque near the houses of parliament, but not the more radical Sylvia. The House of Lords has blocked plans in the past as they argue she does not have a connection to the area.

Committee member and TUC regional secretary Megan Dobney told the Tribune Sylvia had been “written out of history”.

“It is a disgrace that she has not been recognised,” Ms Dobney added.

Sylvia broke with her family over her opposition to the First World War and the pursuit of her socialist ideas. She was particularly focused on helping working class women and was an anti-racism campaigner.

“She was a different creature to her mother and sister,” Ms Dobney said.

A bronze model of the statue has already been made by the late sculptor Ian Walters, who was also responsible for the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square.

Education Secretary and Minister for Women Nicky Morgan has also indicated her support for the Mary on the Green campaign to erect a statue of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of 1792 work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, on Newington Green.

Labour leader and Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn has also called for more statues honouring women.