Struggle and Suffrage in Peterborough

Women's Lives and the Fight for Equality

Abigail Hamilton-Thompson

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781526716750
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Women in History
• Index: History

'Votes for Women. Handle with Care' was the message left on a hoax bomb found under the Oundle railway bridge in 1913, just two years after the leading suffrage campaigner Mrs Pankhurst visited the city. Notable women of Peterborough include Florence Saunders, a selfless dedicated nurse who regularly visited the poorer areas of Peterborough and set up the District Nursing Health Service at the Soke. Another well known nurse, Edith Cavell, spent some time at the Laurel Court School, which was run by a leading female character. The Women's United Total Abstinence Council (WUTAC) set up a coffee wagon to encourage male workers to avoid drinking, thus helping families in the war against alcoholism. The WUTAC also set up a tea room at the railway station during the First World War to discourage sailors and soldiers from the public houses. This book explores the lives of women in Peterborough between 1850 and 1950 by looking at home life, the taking on of men's roles during the First World War, the land army, nursing, the accommodating of evacuees during the Second World war, the eccentric first Freewoman of the city and the first female mayor. Struggle and Suffrage in Peterborough uncovers the stories of the leading women in the city who helped change women's lives forever.

Table of contents

• Cover
• BookTitle
• Copyright
• Introduction
• CHAPTER ONE Famous women of Peterborough
• CHAPTER TWO Education in Peterborough
• CHAPTER THREE Working in Peterborough
• CHAPTER FOUR Home life in Peterborough
• Plate
• CHAPTER FIVE Women and the Wars
• CHAPTER SIX Health and Poverty in Peterborough
• CHAPTER SEVEN Women’s Leisure Timein Peterborough
• CHAPTER EIGHT Active Citizens in Peterborough
• Afterword
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover