Book: ‘Suffrage Stories – Tales from Knebworth, Stevenage, Hitchin and Letchworth’

Description

Including two chapters about Letchworth suffragettes written by Vicky Axell.

200 pages, with photos & illustrations throughout.

Published by Stevenage Museum as part of a National Lottery Heritage Fund-funded project celebrating the centenary of the Representation of the People Act in 1918.

Price includes free UK postage

About the publication:
In 2018, in celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the Representation of the People Act that granted votes to some women for the first time, a group of museums in Hertfordshire launched a project working with young people to celebrate our local stories of the women’s suffrage campaign. The culmination of this was the book: Suffrage Stories: Tales from Knebworth, Stevenage, Hitchin and Letchworth.
In 1912, Letchworth Suffragette, Jane Short , alias Rachel Peace, was tried for willful damage to Baldock Post Office. This was in protest of women not having the right to vote. Later she would take the more radical step of arson, for which she was force-fed without trial for over a year. This resulted in her mental health declining and she ended up in an asylum.

This story and other stories relating to the Suffrage Movement in Letchworth Garden City and across North Hertfordshire can be discovered in this new publication ‘Suffrage Stories’.

The author of the chapters on Letchworth, Vicky Axell, Learning and Engagement Manager for the Letchworth Heritage Foundation, believes that: “It is so important that people understand the passion and length that so many people were willing to go through in order that we might enjoy the equality we have today. I was so moved by the stories from this town and wanted to share them”.

“The history of the women’s suffrage movement has not been extensively researched before and it was necessary to visit other archives including the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics.”

The information held at the Garden City Collection, who hold microfilm versions of the Letchworth forerunner of The Comet, The Citizen, was also invaluable.

Copies are available at the low price of £10.00 thanks to the project funders, the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

All proceeds from the sale of this product (and all of our gifts & souvenirs) go to help fund Letchworth’s heritage & museum service – which comprises of the Garden City Collection (an ACE-accredited museum & archive); the Museum at One Garden City (a special micro-museum exploring the social history of the town); and The International garden Cities Exhibition (a museum & visitor centre which explores the history of Letchworth and the Garden City Movement worldwide in an original 1907 Arts & Crafts building, designed by Letchworth master-planners & architects, Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker).

By purchasing this product you are directly supporting heritage & museum provision in the town.