“We are driven into a shed, iron-barred from end to end, outside of which a foreman or contractor walks up and down with the air of a dealer in a cattle market, picking and choosing from a crowd of men, who, in their eagerness to obtain employment, trample each other underfoot, and where like beasts … Read more
Margaret and Norah O’Shea were sisters and suffragist activists. They were the children of Rodney and Elizabeth O’Shea. Margaret, the third child, was born in 1860 and Norah, the sixth child, was born in 1865. From looking at the census returns it is clear that both sisters lived privileged lives before the First World War. … Read more
Although accounts of the suffrage campaign often focus on major cities, such as London and Manchester, it was a national movement. All three of the most prominent societies: the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), and the Women’s Freedom League (WFL) had branches across the country. Gravesend … Read more
At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were several organisations campaigning for women’s right to vote in Portsmouth. The most prominent one was the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), with the local branch established in 1909. Other local societies also involved in the suffrage movement included the Women’s Labour League, the Conservative … Read more
Although there were a number of organisations fighting for women’s suffrage in Portsmouth, the area was also home to branches of the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League (WNASL). This organisation was formed in July 1908 in response to the perceived growing threat of support for the suffrage cause. The newly-elected (and anti-suffrage) Prime Minister Asquith challenged … Read more
Following an insurrection in Canterbury in December 1647, the accused leaders were put on trial in May 1648. However, the Grand Jury refused to indict. The events that followed culminated in the Kentish Rebellion: one of the most significant uprisings of the Second English Civil War. After the jury failed to reach a verdict, they … Read more
In 1647 the celebration of Christmas was declared by Parliament to be a punishable offence. In Canterbury, attempts to enforce this led to discord, rebellion, and violence that erupted in a series of riots. On Wednesday 22nd December 1647 the Canterbury Town Crier declared that Christmas Day would be a normal market day. The mayor … Read more
John Morton was a preacher and farmer who, in the nineteenth century, saved Bucklebury Common in Berkshire from enclosure, and therefore ensured it continued to be accessible to all. Morton was born into a poor family in 1788. His father died when he was eight years old, and he moved with his mother to Hope … Read more
For nineteen years, a group of women maintained camps around the perimeter of an American base at Greenham Common in Berkshire, protesting the storage of nuclear weapons. The actions were part of a wider movement, spearheaded by CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). The American military eventually withdrew from Greenham and in 2002, a memorial garden … Read more
Pat Wilson was a stalwart campaigner for people’s rights to use our network of public footpaths and rights of way. She was for many years the Ramblers’ Association representative in North-West Kent. As Local Correspondent, and later Vice President, of the Open Spaces Society (the oldest conservation society in the country), she also campaigned for … Read more
