Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1834 – 5 July 1898) was an English barrister and socialist who was a strong supporter of women's rights.

He campaigned for multiple causes, including free speech, universal free secular education, republicanism, home rule for the Irish, independence for India, nationalisation of land, the disestablishment of the Church of England and the abolition of the House of Lords.

They were part of a political circle which included Keir Hardie, Annie Besant, William Morris and George Bernard Shaw.

[2] His controversial views did not win him many clients, but did afford him a place of great respect in the Independent Labour Party, even long after his sudden death, from stomach ulcers, at the age of 64.

He was buried alongside his parents in Brooklands Cemetery, Sale, Cheshire, where there is a headstone bearing their names.