Do you have a piece of Hartlepool Suffragette history in your attic?

Published Monday, 16th July 2018

An appeal has been made for photographs and artefacts to help tell the stories of the people who played a key part in the women’s suffrage movement in Hartlepool over a century ago.

In this hundredth anniversary year of women gaining the vote, Hartlepool Borough Council’s Museums Service is trying to research the lives of these important local figures so that it can feature them in future events and exhibitions.

The Council is particularly interested in finding photographs of and artefacts relating to:

Amy Beatrice Norman (1874-1937) and her husband Fred Norman, who lived in Seaton Carew. Amy was the Secretary of the West Hartlepool Branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and was a close personal friend of Emmeline Pankhurst. She organised marches and lectures in the borough. Her husband Fred was the clerk in charge of the railway station at Seaton Carew.

Elizabeth Eades (1856-1937) who was born in South Bank, Middlesbrough. A successful West Hartlepool businesswoman, she owned the S.S. Eades (also known as ‘Solomon Eades’) music shop at 43 Lynn Street, West Hartlepool from 1903 to 1937. She hosted a garden party for the Women’s Freedom League.

Mary Ellen Ainsley, who was born in 1863 and lived in Langdale House, 17 Clifton Avenue, West Hartlepool. She was secretary of the local branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1913 and 1915.

Margaret Bulmer Hunter, who was born in 1874 and lived at 1 Friar Terrace. In about 1911 she was the head teacher of a school in Hartlepool. She was secretary of the local branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1914.

Mark Simmons, the Council’s Curator (Museum Development), who is carrying out the research, said: “Although we have found out some information about these people from newspaper accounts and other reports, we would dearly love to track down items which could tell us so much more about them and the role they played.

“These are things like photographs, letters, diaries, items of clothing, rosettes, badges, medals and maybe even the banners and placards they carried.

“We very much hope people will look through their attics and check the items which their grandmothers and great grandmothers passed down to them, and if they have anything, we’d ask them to please get in touch with us as we’d be really interested to see those items.”

Mark can be contacted on 01429 284025 or email mark.simmons@hartlepool.gov.uk