Margaret Ashton (19 January 1856 – 15 October 1937) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

suffragist, local politician, pacifist and philanthropist, and the first woman City Councillor for

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Career

Margaret Ashton was the first woman to run for election to

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

, and in 1908 became the first woman City Councillor when she was elected Councillor for

Manchester Withington Manchester Withington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jeff Smith of Labour. Of the 30 seats with the highest percentage of winning majority in 2017, the seat ranks 25th with a 55.7% ma ...

. As a member of Manchester's public health committee and chair of the maternity and child welfare subcommittee, Ashton endorsed municipal mother and baby clinics and promoted free milk for babies and new mothers. In 1914 she founded the Manchester Babies Hospital with Dr

Catherine Chisholm Catherine Chisholm (2 January 1878 – 21 July 1952) was a British physician and the first female medical graduate of the University of Manchester. She was instrumental in founding the Manchester Babies Hospital, which was opened on 4 August ...

(1878–1952). With the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, Ashton was amongst the internationalist minority who split from the NUWSS and the suffragette movement. She was a signatory of the '

Open Christmas Letter The Open Christmas Letter was a public message for peace addressed "To the Women of Germany and Austria",Oldfield, 2003, p. 46. signed by a group of 101 British suffragists at the end of 1914 as the first Christmas of the First World War approa ...

', a call for peace addressed in sisterhood "To the Women of Germany and Austria", which was published in ''

Jus Suffragii ''Jus Suffragii'' was the official journal of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, published monthly from 1906 to 1924. History The International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), now called the International Alliance of Women, was formed i ...

'' in January 1915. She started a Manchester branch of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

. In 1920 the Women's Farm and Garden Union established a set of small holdings in 1920 for women in Surrey. The initial funders were Margaret Ashton who found £5,000 and Sydney Renee Courtauld who lent £4,000.

Legacy

In 1938, some friends and admirers of Ashton formed a memorial committee which funded two activities: * A seat in the

Manchester Town Hall Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments. The building faces Albert Square to th ...

for the use of the Lady Mayoress and other guests. On the reverse of the seat was a table recording her accomplishments. * A bi-annual memorial lecture series, organised by the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

, alternating between the university and the

Corporation of Manchester Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

. The first lecture, on the

Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

, was given by

Mary Stocks Mary Danvers Stocks, Baroness Stocks (née Brinton; 25 July 1891 – 6 July 1975) was a British writer. She was closely associated with the Strachey, the Wedgwood and the Ricardo families. Her family was deeply involved in changes in the Victoria ...

, the principal of

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

on 20 March 1941.Preview.
/ref> In 1982, the

Harpurhey Harpurhey ( ) is an inner-city suburb of Manchester in North West England, three miles north east of the Manchester city centre, city centre. Historically in Lancashire, the population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 17,652. A ...

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for Girls was re-opened as Margaret Ashton

Sixth Form College A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

. Her name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...

of the

statue of Millicent Fawcett The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline C ...

Parliament Square Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...

, London; it was unveiled in 2018. Margaret Ashton was one of six women on a shortlist for a new public statue in

, but lost out to

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

in the public vote. In 2022, a mural depicting Ashton, by artist Emma Bowen, was painted on a wall at Cavendish Community Primary School in West Didsbury. Ashton had laid the school's foundation stone in 1904.

Career

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading