Dr. Cathreine Chisholm C.B.E. M.D. F.R.C.P. another story from Tony Goulding

Catherine Chisholm was the first woman (1) to obtain a medical degree from Manchester University which she received on Tuesday 28th July 1904.

Dr. Catherine Chisholm in 1912

She became a major force in the development of children’s medicine, particularly neo-natal care.

Catherine was born on 2nd January 1878 in Radcliffe Nr. Bury, Lancashire and was baptised in the town’s St. Thomas’s Church on 20th February 1878. She was the eldest of the four daughters of Kenneth Mckenzie, a physician and surgeon from Munlochy, Ross-shire, Scotland and his wife Mary (née Thornley) the eldest daughter of a local cotton manufacturer. 

Catherine lived her early life in Pilkington, Bury, Lancashire where her father had a surgery at Rock House, Stand Lane. She entered Owens College, Manchester University in 1895, being granted a B.A. degree in classics before entering the medical school. 

Following her graduation Dr, Chisholm’s found obtaining a post difficult as most hospitals remained reluctant to appoint female doctors. 

As a result, she had to move to London where she worked for a year at the Clapham Maternity Hospital, an institution which employed only women. In 1905 she was briefly the resident medical officer for the Eldwick Cottage Sanatorium for Women and Children, Bingley, Nr. Bradford, Yorkshire (West Riding). During 1906 Catherine returned to Manchester and started her own G.P. practice mainly treating female students at the university.   

Also in July 1908, she was appointed to a new post as Medical Inspector for the Manchester High School for Girls. a position she remained in 40 years. (2) For this purpose, she occupied a building at 339, Oxford Road, Manchester. This was to serve as the family home or the best part of two decades. Catherine lived here with her mother, Mary, (until her death on 6th July 1918) and her only surviving sister Alice Thornley. Her father had died on 23rd October 1902 and both her younger sisters died in infancy; Flora McDonald aged 2years and 6 months in 1883 and Eleanor aged 15 months in 1884.

Manchester Babies Hospital, Burnage Lane, Burnage (28/4/1924)

It was possibly these traumatic events in her early years which prompted her future work on the healthcare of babies and children in general. In any case she was the driving force behind the opening of The Manchester Babies Hospital (3) on 4th August 1914. 

Despite, an inauspicious opening date, the new facility thrived; initially at 77, Clarendon Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, then on Slade Lane, Levenshulme before moving to accommodate the growing number of patients to larger premises, Cringle Hall, Burnage Lane, Manchester while retaining the original building on Slade Lane.

It was funded in part by Manchester Corporation and fund-raising efforts by local prominent women such as Olga Hertz, Sheila Simon, and Margaret Ashton, the latter being one of the institution’s vice-presidents while Mrs. Simon was the“chairman” of its committee.

Manchester Babies Hospital List of Officers 1916-17

Alongside her hospital work, Dr Chisholm was active in the promotion of the education of young mothers in health and hygiene as a preventative measure. She was also a pioneer in the development of women’s sport, according to her entry on Wikipedia this began when she was instrumental in the founding of the University of Manchester’s Women Students’ and Athletics’ Union in 1899.

Outside of Health, Catherine was also a supporter of women’s suffrage and involved in disarmament campaigns.

Besides addressing various meetings in support of these causes, she variously hosted meetings of the local society of National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies at her home on Oxford Road in November 1912 and June 1914, assisted in the establishment of a new Suffrage Club in Ancoats,   Manchester, and acted as the co-treasurer of the Manchester group supporting the nationwide “Pilgrimage for Peace” in 1926. 

N.U.W.S.S. Poster 1913

Dr Chisholm made a more direct appeal for peace when she addressed a meeting at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall on Monday 18th October 1920 which was convened to welcome a delegation of British women, including Dr. Chisholm, returning from investigating the impact of the war in Ireland. After the women had reported back on the material damage and some graphic descriptions of the behaviour of Britain’s irregular soldiers (“The Black and Tans”) she proposed the following motion, which was subsequently passed.

 “That this meeting of Manchester citizens urges the government to set free all Irish political prisoners and offer a truce, during which all armed forces shall be withdrawn and the keeping of order be placed in the hands of the Irish local elected bodies- thus creating conditions under which the Irish people may determine their own form of government.”

 Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Dr Chisholm continued to lecture widely on medical issues and speak out on social issues. Her interests were varied, warning against overindulgence in tea and coffee, opposition to aggressive advertising aimed at young men by the brewery industry, promoting the importance of fresh air in the care of babies and exercise for schoolchildren, particularly girls among others. She was particularly keen that girls should be educated about their reproductive system.

  In pursuing these affairs, she was quick to embrace the new opportunity available through radio broadcasts.

 In the George V New Year’s Honours list of 1935, she was awarded the C.B.E. citing her rôle as consulting physician at the Manchester Northern Hospital for Women and Children.

  Also in January 19355, she was one of the inaugural signatories in the formation of a Manchester branch off the National Council for Civil Liberties. She was also a member of the Manchester Gaels and the Soroptimists.

 Catherine was certainly a local celebrity in much demand to appear at fundraising events, especially for child welfare and medical charities. There was, however, a downside to her fame as she became an early victim of “identity theft”. The Manchester Evening News of 11th May 1936 reported the case of an Ardwick woman, Mary Fellows, who was imprisoned for 6 weeks at Manchester Magistrates Court; she had obtained  three meals on credit by pretending she was Dr. Chisholm and saying she was short of cash as she was hurrying to perform an operation. In her evidence Catherine stated that, “she knew Fellows quite well and had had trouble with her for many years, through posing and ordering things in her name.”

Catherine never married and continued living with her sister on Oxford Road before moving to 34, Broadway, Didsbury, Manchester in 1923. She died there on Monay 21st July 1952 and was cremated at Manchester Crematorium on Thursday 24th July. Her sister Alice Thornley predeceased her on 15th February 1945. 

Dr Chisholm’s estate was valued at £17,790 -9s –3d (equal to £449,650 today).

Pictures: -Dr. Catherine Chisholm (1912) portrait, unknown artist m 72643 and Manchester Babies Hospital, Burnage Lane, Burnage Manchester City Council’s City Engineers Departmentm 52817 images courtesy of Manchester Libraries. Creative Commons Attribution International (CC BY 4.0) licence, Manchester Babies Hospital List of Officers 1916-17, 'Image provided by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester’  N.U.W.S.S. Poster 1913 in public domain. By NUWSS - Original publication: published by the NUWSS in 1913 in the UK. Immediate source: British Library http://www.bl.uk/learning/images/makeanimpact/suffragettes/large12625.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45443664

Notes: -

1) Dr. Chisholm shared this distinction with another woman Dr Catherine Corbett, who herself has a fascinating story which I hope to write of in a future post.

2) Catherine’s sister Alice Thornley was also a member of staff at Manchester High School for Girls; she taught French there for more than twenty years and was also the school’s medical clerk.

3) The Manchester Babies Hospital was renamed The Duchess of York Hospital in 1935. This honour was bestowed after she had opened a new nurses’ home and a medical wing on 10th July 1935. The Duchess, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon soon become George VI's queen consort and on his death was for 50 years simply "The Queen Mother".

When the trail goes cold ……. Miss Nellie Allen of Chorlton and Whalley Range

 Yesterday I was drawn into the life of Nellie Allen who was living on Barlow Moor Road in 1911 and on the census for that year refused to complete the form and instead wrote across it, “Until Women are recognised as citizens, I refuse to do a citizen’s duty” "No Vote No Census Nellie Allen”.*

Miss Nellie Allen, 1911

It was quite a find and prompted me to go looking for Miss Nellie Allen, who according to the enumerator was living at number 58 with her brother and a domestic servant in what was an eight roomed house.

I first thought they were living at the properties currently being redeveloped by Armistead Properties which once housed a mix of flats and commercial businesses including “The One Stop Party Shop”.

But now I am not so sure and think it maybe one of the houses closer to the junction with Cranbourne Road.

That was a disappointment which was made no better by the almost total absence of any mention in the official records.

So far, a search has revealed little before or after 1911 while the burial records of Southern Cemetery offer up five Nellie Allen’s buried there between 1914 and 1971.

Given her stance on votes for women I hoped there might be a reference in the newspapers of the period but that  has also drawn a blank.

Occupiers List, 1912-13

But she does appear in the street directory for 1911 and is listed as a “Dairyman” at 252 Upper Chorlton Road and 63 Barlow Moor Road.

Both shops are still there and the property on Upper Chorlton Road was still a Creamery in 1960.  The Chorlton business was in what is now a solicitor’s in therow which also contains the estate agent Emma Hatton and two hair stylists.

Barlow Moor Road, 2025

All of which just leaves a series of listings in the Occupiers List of the City of Manchester for 1911 through to 1914 which the document announces contains “Persons entitled to be enrolled in respect of Occupation aforesaid as Citizens, but not as Parliamentary Electors”.

And Nellie is there at 58 Barlow Moor Road but the property is shown as a shop which is confusing given that the row of semidetached houses appear always to have been residential, and at the beginning of 1911 was home to a Mr. Wiliam Henry Keenan.

I can only assume that as the directories were compiled before the start of the year and the 1911 census took place on April 2nd, this might explain the change of names.

But there is still the reference to 58 as a shop and as yet a total absence of any more records.

All a bit annoying.

Location; Chorlton & Whalley Range

Pictures; detail from the 1911 census for Miss Nellie Allen, and Occupiers List, 1912-13

*“No Vote No Census” ……. stories from Barlow Moor Road, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2025/05/no-vote-no-census-stories-from-barlow.html

“No Vote No Census” ……. stories from Barlow Moor Road

This is 517 Barlow Moor Road, and along with the remaining houses in the block was home to “Celebration The One Stop Party Shop”, a barber’s, and various other commercial enterprises as well as a collection of tenants.

2025

At some point two additional wings were added, and now the City Council’s planning portal indicates that there is an application in to convert the block  into 12 self-contained apartments. *

And given that the row may soon look very different  I took a series of pictures this week and began delving into its history.

It’s very early days, and I may not have matched the census returns to the right properties, but in 1911 we have a pick of stories from a German who was naturalised as a British citizen in 1907, a cotton merchant and an accountant and Miss Nellie Allen.

2023

What marks Miss Allen out is that she wrote across her 1911 census return “Until Women are recognised as citizens I refuse to do a citizen’s duty” "No Vote No Census Nellie Allen”

To which the enumerator has added “I understand Miss Allen has a brother and a domestic servant living with her”.

There is much more to find out, from who Miss Allen was, and of course to the date of the houses which looks to have been built by 1894.

All of which is the next task.

Location; Barlow Moor Road

Picture; the house wating for something to happen, 2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the row in 2023, courtesy of Google Maps

*CDN/25/0277, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=STMV1FBCKZH00&activeTab=summary

From Smyrna to Birkenhead …. votes for women … coffee sellers …. and heaps more

I wish I could find out more about Ms Florence Antonitte Barry.

Licking Lloyd George, undated

According to my Wikipedia  she “became active in the women's suffrage movement, and joined the WSPU. In 1912, she became a member of the Catholic Women’s Suffrage Society (CWSS), later known as the St. Joan’s International Alliance, and was appointed the honorary secretary of the Liverpool branch. She held this post for fifty years. 

Also in 1912, she attended the Catholic Congress at Norwich. She would argue against ideas that politics and religion shared no common ground, stating that ‘in the Church we have the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, so surely we should have political works of mercy too.’

Smyrne, 1903

By 1915, Barry had been appointed to the CWSS National Executive Committee.[3][8] In 1927, Barry was amongst the signers of a letter to The Times newspaper supporting the vote for women over the age of 21.

Barry also liaised with international Catholic organisations and women's rights activists on other issues, such as … the 'physical integrity of women," which meant female circumcision (now known as female genital mutilation). She campaigned against "physical violations" of women.'"*

The same article offers seven references all of which offer little more, and so far a trawl of the Manchester Guardian has revealed no more.

Coffee seller, 1900

But then I only came to know of her existence yesterday when my old “posty” chum David Harrop shared a election of picture postcards which had been owned by Ms Barry.

In all there are 90 of them and many were sent from Smyrna where her father had been born.  They were all written in the years directly before the outbreak of the Great War when the city was still part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Grand Mosque, 1902

They show inhabitants of Smyrna, offer up some interesting comments and appear to have been sent by Florence and other members of the family. 

These alone make the collection an interesting insight into a bit of the Ottoman Empire, but there is more including the humorous card directed at Lloyd George.

In time I will get to see all 90, and by then may have found out more about Ms Barry.

Pictures; Picture postcards from the collection of Florence Barry, 1900-15, courtesy of David Harrop

*Florence Barry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Barry

What if Rin Tin Tin had been born a cat?

You will have to be of a certain age to remember Rin Tin Tin.

Where the North Begins, 1923

He was a star of films radio and TV and his media career stretched from 1923 into the 21st century.

But his first appearances date from the early years of cinema and later transferred to the wireless in the 1930s and on to television from 1954 to 59.

And it is those black and white televisions series that I and many of my contemporise will remember.

My Wikipedia tells me that "Rin Tin Tin (September 1918 – August 10, 1932) was a male German Shepherd born in Flirey, France, who became an international star in motion pictures. 

He was rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who nicknamed him "Rinty". Duncan trained Rin Tin Tin and obtained silent film work for the dog. 

Rin Tin Tin was an immediate box-office success and went on to appear in 27 Hollywood films, gaining worldwide fame. Along with the earlier canine film star Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin was responsible for greatly increasing the popularity of German Shepherd dogs as family pets. 

The immense profitability of his films contributed to the success of Warner Bros. studios and helped advance the career of Darryl F. Zanuck from screenwriter to producer and studio executive".*

Of course given the longevity of his “run” there were three Rin Tin Tins and later still more stand ins who went under their own names.

Rin Tin Tin, in Frozen River, 1929

But what if Rin Tin Tin had been born a cat?  

I doubt that there would have been many adventure films set in the frozen tundra featuring a ginger cat fighting off bears, and gangs of hoodlums.

It is not so daft a question because it mirrors that equally daft excercise beloved of some historians and journalists ……. What if Hitler hadn’t been born, Maria Antonetta hadn’t liked cake, Genghis Khan had preferred fishing to a career of conquest or Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters had taken up making balaclavas?

I grant you it is entertaining and may throw light on how events can turn out but to reuse a favourite quote of mine it is as useful as “trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.”**

Not that it stops historians playing the game, and even for a while was part of one GCSE history course where students were asked to speculate on different outcomes to an event.

But for me the trouble with the task is that once you change one bit of the equation all the bits are open to being changed. 

So if Hitler hadn’t been born in the Austro Hungarian Empire in the 1880s but instead in Paris what would the impact of this antisemitic, duff artist with delusions of grandeur have been on European history? 

Or if he been born but the Great War hadn’t occurred how would his destructive passage through the 20th century panned out?

Sneaking up on Mr's Pankhurst, 2022

And how would we remember Emmeline Pankhurst’s contribution if Lloyd George hadn’t calculated that giving the vote to a section of women who were in their 30s and by and large comfortably well off might enhance his election chances in the General Election of 1918. 

Four women campaigning for change, 1905

That election was called in the December just 10 months after The Representation of the People Act 1918 which gave women over the age of 30, and all men over the age of 21, a vote in Parliamentary elections was passed.

Nor should we forget those working class women who in their workplaces and in the Labour Movement advanced the arguments for the Parliamentary enfranchisement of women, but who are in the main left in the shadows. Women like Arnott Robinson from Manchester, Ada Chew, and Annie Kenney.

As Brecht wrote ….. “So many particulars. So many questions”.***

Women demanding change Manchester, 2013

It isn’t that I don’t think the ifs of history shouldn’t be played but just that it ain’t history, and while it can be fun and entertaining as  historical fiction it doesn’t deliver the goods.

So I won’t be looking to wonder how Samantha the cat would have saved the heroine of the 1923 Rin Tin Tin  movie, Where the North Begins, seeing off the dastardly corrupt official and saving the trapper Gabrielle who she loved.

Location; any time

Pictures, Poster for the American film Where the North Begins,1923, and Warner Bros-Lithograph by Otis Lithograph, Cleveland Poster, 1923, Rin Tin Tin from the film Frozen River, 1929, Sneaking up on Mrs Pankhurst, St Peter’s Square, Manchester, 2022, and demanding change, 2013, Manchester from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Suffragettes, 1905, m48441, Annie Briggs, Lillian Forrester and Evelyn Manestra. who attacked pictures in Manchester City Art Gallery in April 1913. m08225, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass 

*Rin Tin Tin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rin_Tin_Tin

**“Worrying about the future is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life will always be things that never crossed your worried mind.” Sunscreen, Baz Luhrmann, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

***A Worker Reads History, Bertolt Brecht, 1947

Rachel Scott (née Lovett) another story from Tony Goulding

This is another story that has been spawned during a conversation with a friend, in this case a colleague at Oxfam who also volunteers at the Pankhurst Centre on Nelson Street, Chorlton-on Medlock, Manchester. It is the story of another advocate of women’s suffrage, and rights generally, with a connection to Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Letter to the Editor of The Clarion Newspaper - 30th October 1903

 Rachel Lovett was born in Hulme, Manchester during the December quarter of 1863. She was raised in the Newton Heath area of Manchester. She married Harold Charles David Scott on 10th July 1890 at The Albert Memorial Church on Queens Road, Collyhurst, Manchester. Harold Charles David was the eldest of at least 6 children of Walter Scott and Sarah M. (née Gotobed) and started his working life at 16 as a schoolteacher; possibly a pupil-teacher in his father’s school. Where the young couple began their life together is not known, however from 11th October 1891 they were living at 47, Keppel Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where they stayed until September 1897. 

47, Keppel Road - November 2024

As is indicated by the above letter sent to the editor of "The Clarion", Rachel was the first Honorary Secretary of The Women’s Social and Political Union after its formation in Manchester in February 1903.

  Rachel and her husband Harold Charles David Scott had five children.

  1) Walter Lovett – born in Salford during the June quarter of 1891, died 20th June 1958 Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland, where he had been living since at least November 1940 as on Thursday 21st of that month he was fined 30 shillings for breaking the blackout regulations. Married to Majorie Dawson; had at least one child, Patricia. Occupation –Analytical Chemist. In 1911 he was recorded as a “student of chemistry” probably at Manchester University.

2) Harold David –born on 7th May 1892 in the Weaste area of Salford. Joined 8th battalion Royal Fusiliers on 4th September 1914. Address on demobilization from Road the army “The Knoll”, Church Road, Urmston his parents’ residence. He was an “engineer’s designer” Married to Anne with one daughter Cynthia M. living at 6, Mardale Avenue, Urmston and described as an “estimating and designing engineer” on the 1939 Register.

3) Francis Gordon born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy on 15th January 1894.  As a former pupil of Manchester Grammar School, he enlisted in one of the “Public Schools Battalions”, the 20th Royal Fusiliers, in August 1914. Prior to his military service he had worked as a clerk in a shipping office.

He was awarded Military Medal “for gallantry on the battlefield” M.E.N. August 16th, 1916.  

Gazetted Temp 2nd Lieutenant (from cadet) on 1st May 1918, he was killed in action in France on 20th October 1918 just 3 weeks from the end of the war. He is buried in The Belle Vue British Cemetery, Briastre, France.

4) Clarissa Marion, the only daughter, also born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in January 1897. During the First World War she served in the V.A.D. at a base in Piccadilly, Manchester.

      In the 1921 census she is recorded as unmarried and living with her parents in Urmston. Her occupation was given as Professional Pianist - “On her own account”. She appears to have followed in her mother’s footsteps as this cutting of 17th October 1919 seems to indicate.

The Vote –17th October 1919,The Organ of the Women’s Freedom League

During the December quarter of 1923 in Manchester Cathedral, Clarissa Marion married Leonard Lowe Boardman (his second wife – his first Mary (née Andrew) having died during the September quarter of 1921). The new couple moved to Mellor, Derbyshire and started to raise a family. Sadly, Clarissa Marion died, aged just 35, on Monday 23rd May 1932. Her obituary from The Stockport Advertiser and Guardian of Friday 27th May. Recorded that she had died in a Manchester Nursing Home following an operation and had lived in Mellor since her marriage, latterly at “Branford”, Longhurst Lane. It also stated that as well as her musical talents she was also a gifted tennis player.

 5) Oliver Royle was born on 7th December 1905 in Flixton, Lancashire. In 1921, aged 15 years and 6 months, he was still in full-time education and living with his parents and sister in Church Road, Urmston as recorded in the census. He later moved with his widowed father to 36, Queens Road Urmston as recorded in the Electoral Roll of 1930. Shortly after this date Oliver, who is described in various records as a “merchant” became something of a “globetrotter”. He is recorded as travelling on “The Empress of Asia” from Yokohama, Japan to St. Albans, Vermont, U.S.A. in March 1930 (1) and shown as a passenger on the “S.S. Gloucestershire”, sailing on 6th January 1933 from the U.K. (Liverpool) to Columbo in what was then known as Ceylon. On 21st December 1935 he married, Australian, Gertrude Mary (née Thorne) in St Peter’s Garrison Church, Port Columbo, Ceylon (2) and later moved to the State of Victoria, Australia. He died there on 28th October 1978 in Elwood, North Melbourne.

Rachel Scott died in Urmston during the June quarter of 1925.Harold Charles David Scott, Rachel’s husband died at “Spaldrick” 36, Queens Road, Urmston, Lancashire on 1st June 1937. His estate was valued for probate as £11, 496-18s-6d (Today that would be worth £658,000).

Pictures: - Letter to the editor of “The Clarion” 30th October 1903 provided by THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk). 

Extract from “The Vote” 17th October 1919 (with no known copyright holder) accessed from Find my Past - With Thanks to The British Newspaper Archive.

47, Keppel Road – November 2024 from the collection of Tony Goulding.

Notes: 

1) Oliver Royle’s permanent residence shown on this record is “Calcutta, India”.

2) Amy Gertrude Mary was the daughter of Doctor Herbert Roger Horne and the first of his three wives, Margaret Ross (née Thomson) of Traralgon, Victoria, Australia.

Acknowledgement.

Elizabeth Crawford’s “Lockdown Research Who Unfurled The Manchester “First in The Fight” WSPU Banner” on her blog

 “womanandhersphere” includes a lot of additional detail on Rachel’s early life and her role in the W.S.P.U.

https://womanandhersphere.com/2020/12/03lockdown-research-who-unfurled-the-manchester-first-in-the-fight-wspu-banner

Sharing the Square with Mrs. Pankhurst ............

Now the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in St Peter’s Square remains a popular one.*

Mrs. Pankhurst, 2022

On any one day there will be someone having their picture taken beside her.

And that is as it should be given her contribution to the campaign for extending the franchise to women.

Equally significant is that she was the first woman in 117 years to be recognised with a statue in a public place in the city since that of Queen Victoria in 1901.

But of course, Mrs. Pankhurst was not alone in the campaign, and we rightly remember Annie Kenney whose statue stands in Oldham’s Parliament Square, and those who died during the struggle.

Annot Robinson, crca 1895

And then there are the less well-known ones like Ada Chew who was active in the Trade Union Movement and the Independent Labour Party and whose name is on the plinth of Millicent Fawcett's statue in Parliament Square, London.

Here in Manchester, there were a host of working class women including Annot Robinson who is less well known but deserves more recognition.**

So perhaps we shall have more statues to those who made that contribution to maintaining the campaign, and perhaps Mrs. Robinson would be a start.***

Location; St Peter’s Square

Picture;  Sharing the Square with Mrs, Pankhurst, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Annot Robinson, from ANNOT ROBINSON: A FORGOTTEN MANCHESTER SUFFRAGETTE***

*Emmeline Pankhurst, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=mrs.+pankhurst

**Annot Robinson, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Annot%20Robinson

***ANNOT ROBINSON: A FORGOTTEN MANCHESTER SUFFRAGETTE, Kate Rigby, Manchester Regional History Review, Vol 1 Nu 1 Spring 1987, http://www.hssr.mmu.ac.uk/mcrh/files/2013/01/mrhr_01i_rigby.pdf

The Chorlton house and the Bolton suffragette .... unfinished stories

I am never surprised at how a story appears apparently out of nowhere.

Last week I was on Reynard Road, in  the house of Jaime writing about her cellar and the copper which was used to wash clothes.

It produced to a heap of pictures and comments from people who also had items in their cellars which were used to wash clothes.

And as you do I began looking for some of the residents of Jaime’s house and have been able to track quite a few.

But the one that caught my interest was Edward Blincoe and his wife Mary Ann, who may well have been the first to live there in 1903.

Two years earlier they were in Flixton and a decade later in Tabley Superior, just outside Knutsford.

Mr. Blincoe described himself as an artist and designer, but what drew me in was Mary Ann’s description of herself in the section under occupation, where she wrote “Suffragette”.

This was tactic employed by women engaged in the struggle for the vote and she was not alone.

But to make the connection between Reynard Road and Chorlton was exciting.

Just when they moved out to Knutsford, is unclear.  They were still here in 1909 but had gone by 1911, and some time after the death of Edward in 1914 Mary Ann settled in Bolton.

And here she was involved with the Bolton Women Citizen's Association, which was part of a national movement which aimed “to stimulate women's interest in social and political issues in order to prepare them for active citizenship”.*

I know that from 1912 she had been the organizing secretary of the  Bolton Women Citizen's Association, so it is possible that she was already in the town before the death of her husband, who died of a “paralysis of the brain” while an inmate of The Cheshire Lunatic Asylum.

As yet I haven’t found out any more about her activities, but in 2018 she was one of the eight Bolton women included on the list of 100 people chosen nationally to be celebrated for the work they did for the Suffrage movement. They were, “Mary Elizabeth Barnes (1864-1942), Sarah Reddish (1849-1928), Florence Blincoe (1874-1932), Alice Collinge (1873-1957), Bertha Lizzie Agnew (1869-1930), Mary Haslam (1851 -1922), Hannah Mitchell; Elizabeth Ann Anderson (1890-1983)”**

All of which means there will be a lot more about Mary Ann.  I have contacted the Bolton Archives, and await a reply.  In the meantime I know she was born in Cheshire in 1874 and died in 1932.

The rest as they say is just waiting to be uncovered.

Location; Chorlton and Bolton

Picture; Women marching with police escort. It is not known for definite but it is assumed these are suffragettes, undated, m08238, and "Suffragtettes, Manchester", 1905, m48441, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* National Women Citizen's Association, National Archives, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/9fb57391-f86b-482d-be37-1e31fcfe0d48

** Parliament Square suffragette statue: Women of Bolton honoured, By Saiqa Chaudhari  @saiqa2 Education Reporter The Bolton News, April 27th, 2018, https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/16188398.parliament-square-suffragette-statue-women-bolton-honoured/

Haystack Ablaze at Chorlton .............. Breaking News .... 1914

Now I like the way old friends offer up bits of their own research for the blog.

So, today Lawrence sent over this priceless piece of Breaking News, and rather than make a mess of representing it, I shall just quote what he sent over with the press clipping.

“Saw this cutting in The Suffragette 3rd April 1914. It’s essentially a word for word copy of The Manchester Guardian story 28th March 1913. 

I thought of you - another age of haystacks on Barlow Moor Road - possibly a farm around the Southern Cemetery area. 

Leaving a copy of The Suffragette newspaper at the scene of the crime was often used to claim responsibility and obtain publicity for the cause. Paraffin was readily available in ironmongers even when I was a lad. 

Getting nostalgic here for the smell of ironmongers something you don’t get tramping round B&Q".  

I may or may not return to the story, and I expect Lawrence will burrow deeper into the events of that March day.

Or that might inspire someone else as well.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; Haystack Ablaze at Chorlton, The Suffragette 3rd April 1914, researched by Lawrence Beedle

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

First in the Fight ……launches at the People’s History Museum …... November 14th

Now I am looking forward to the book launch of First in the Fight next month 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, at 6.pm.

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

Back in Alex Park demanding …….. “the Parliamentary franchise for women.”

In the early years of the last century many of the bog public meetings held in Alexandra Park were dominated by the demand for votes for women.

Alexandra Park, 1908

The press reported on a series of such rallies from 1908 through to 1912 with speakers ranging from Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, to Margaret Ashton and Mrs Annot Robinson.

One of the best documented was that held on October 24 1908 with a list of speakers which pretty much covered all the leading lights in the campaign both locally and nationally.*

There had been a public meeting the night before at the Free Trade Hall and on the Saturday the march set off from Albert Square and by degree made its way along Market Street, Deansgate, Peter Street, Oxford Street and then by way of Stretford Road, Upper Jackson Street to Upper Moss Lane and Alexandra Park.

Such was the distance and the expected numbers that the organisers planned for the march to start at 2.30 and enter the park by 4 o’clock.

Nothing had been left to chance. “A robbing room had been provided at 9 Albert Square where a maid will be in attendance between the hours of 1.p.m and 6.p.m., to take charge of hats &coats etc., for those who are walking in academic dress.”

 Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Wolstenholme, date unknown

On reaching the park there was provision in the shop to store the banners but societies wishing to take their banners in to the park were at liberty to do so with that ever so modern warning the “the Joint Demonstration Committee will not be responsible for their safety in any event.”

Today over a century and a bit since the demonstrators arrived at the park it is possible to create something of what happened.

Annie Briggs, Evelyn Manestra, Lillian Forrester, 1913

The march had been orderly and in the bright sunshine attracted a large audience of spectators and the “walkers acted on the crowd of watchers like a perpetual provoker of argument.  From Albert Square to the Park there were two miles of debaters for an and against the suffrage.  As one hurried one caught queer fragments of speech – ‘....they’ll never get it; If they pay rates, I say it’s only fair ....’ ‘What’ll they do wiv  it.’***

At the entrance to the park the first half of the procession entered by the man gate beside Hulme Lodge, while the second half made its way down Alexandra Road and entered by the side gate.

Both sections then converged on the large expanse of grassland to the north of the lake where there was the choice of those 35 speakers.

These were arranged on ten different platforms each with a theme, and with the help of the organisers map we can stand in that expanse of open space and choose who to listen to.

Platform one was given over to Housing and Health, two was Prison Reform, three Temperance, four Peace, and five Education.  The remaining platforms were devoted to the Protection of Children at number six, Social Ethics at seven, the Poor Law at eight and the remaining two were Labour Legislation at nine and Co-operation at ten.

Some of the people wandered between the platforms while others loyally stayed with their first choice and largest of all was the audience for Mrs Despard speaking from the Social Ethics platform.

I have a sneaking feeling I might have tarried for a while in front of platform number ten to listen to Professor Weis speaking on Peace more because of his involvement with the Cactus House and his support for women’s suffrage.

But despite the plan to keep the platforms far enough away from each other it would have been possible to pick out snatches of other themes.

Speaking on Prison Reform Miss Robertson “showed how great an influence women had had in securing prison reforms,” while Margaret Ashton on the Poor Law platform also spoke on the contribution of women on the boards of guardians [and] claimed the vote so that women may have more influence on the making of the Poor Laws, so that those laws really may be made by the people for the people.”

The speeches lasted just an hour and at the stroke of five announced by the sound of a bugle all ten platforms presented the same resolution to the listeners “calling on the Government to incorporate in their promised Reform Bill a clause granting the Parliamentary franchise to women.”

After which for those who had not yet availed themselves of the opportunity there was tea at the Refreshment rooms, price 4d., 6d., and 9d.

Sadly I have no idea what you got for the different prices but I might just have opted for the economy offer at 4d and spent another penny on one of the scarlet and white badges promoting the cause which were on sale in the park and no doubt also picked up a leaflet or two on the “rights of the women’s just claim to the vote.”

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Alexandra Park, 1908, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, group of Suffragettes including Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Wolstenholme, date unknown, m08239, and Annie Briggs, Evelyn Manestra, Lillian Forrester, 1913,m08224 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*The 35 speakers included Miss Margaret Ashton, Mrs Despard, Mrs Swanwick, Professor Weiss, and Mr Pollit,

**Women’s Suffrage.  Procession in the Manchester Streets; Manchester Guardian, October 26, 1908

In advance of International Women’s Week .................... a new set of records on those arrested for campaigning for the vote before 1914

Now as we head towards International Women’s Week it is fitting that a whole new set of records on those that participated in a range of activities that led to their imprisonment are now online.

Ancestry has made available a government data base of those women that had been arrested between 1906-1914.*

“Upon the outbreak of war in August 1914 some of the suffrage societies (but not all) declared a suspension to militant tactics. In response, the government granted an amnesty to all suffrage prisoners. The WSPU was one of the key societies to move away from suffrage campaigns to support Lloyd George’s government in the war effort, though they had fire bombed his house only months before.

At the outbreak of the amnesty the Home Office compiled a list of all suffrage campaigners they were providing amnesty to, and although the document is entitled ‘Amnesty of August 1914: index of women arrested 1906-1914’ it also includes the names of more than one hundred men. 

The Home Office actually began keeping indexes of suffrage supporters (male and female) prior to the amnesty, so that they could trace and link multiple convictions of the same person. 

Originally written on index cards, which were often out of order, in 1922 the records were copied into a book. Each record consists of the name of the person arrested, and the date and place of arrest. 

If a person was arrested more than once, the details of each arrest are documented. In the last half of the book were inserted letters, minutes, reports, and several news articles related to the activities of the suffragists and suffragettes. The value of the index was primarily for day to day office work in the Home Office. 

However, the clerk notes “should the history of the Suffragette Movement ever …. be written in detail, [it] would be a source of information not otherwise obtainable.”

The richness of this source is not in the story of the amnesty and the different reactions to war by many different suffrage societies. 

Instead, it is in the literal wealth of names to be found in the document - over 1000 male and female suffrage campaigners who were at some point arrested. It’s a document that moves away from viewing only the Pankhurst figureheads of the movement to look at the wealth of individuals who, for a cause they believed in, were prepared to risk their jobs, families, and sometimes their health by hunger striking.”*

So there you have it, but I can’t close without reflecting that all of this is only part of the story and in the preoccupation with the women who broke windows and set fire to the contents of pillar boxes another equally important story often gets over looked.

This is the history of those other working women who campaigned in their workplace, their trade union and within the Labour Party for the extension of the franchise to all women, but that is another story.


Pictures; Suffragettes, 1905, m48441, Annie Briggs, Lillian Forrester and Evelyn Manestra. who attacked pictures in Manchester City Art Gallery in April 1913. m08225, and Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Wolstenholme, date unknown m08239 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass


* About England, Suffragettes Arrested, 1906-1914, Ancestry.co.uk www.ancestry.co.uk