First in the Fight ……………………… launches at the People’s History Museum …………. Today

Now I am looking forward to the book launch of First in the Fight today at the People’s History Museum.

According to the press release, First in the Fight has been “written by Helen Antrobus and Andrew Simcock, and with 20 individual Women in Print illustrations, First in the Fight tells of a city where, from the women who marched to St Peter’s Field flying the flag for reform to the first entrepreneurs, women have stood shoulder to shoulder in the fight for equality and change.

First in the Fight has been on a fascinating journey of its own, beginning with the public campaign championed by local councillor Andrew Simcock that led to the creation of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue, that now stands in St Peter’s Square in Manchester.  

All 20 women featured in the book were also part of the campaign, with their stories united by historian and author Helen Antrobus in First in the Fight.  

The stories featured in First in the Fight are those of Margaret Ashton, Lydia Becker, Louise Da-Cocodia, Margaret Downes, Elizabeth Gaskell, Annie Horniman, Sunny Lowry, Kathleen Ollerenshaw, Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst, Sylvia Pankhurst, Mary Quaile, Elizabeth Raffald, Esther Roper, Enriqueta Rylands, Olive Shapley, Shena Simon, Marie Stopes, Ellen Wilkinson and Emily Williamson”.

Now both the subject matter and the story of how the book was written is fascinating and one I shall be returning to over the next month and a bit.
Location; People’s History Museum, November 14th, 6.p.m

Pictures; statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, St Peter’s Square, and cover of First in the Fight, courtesy of Andrew Simcock