Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government 1865-1914

Fifty years before British suffragettes fought to have the parliamentary vote, women in late Victorian and Edwardian England were able to elect and be elected to local district councils, school boards, and poor law boards. Based on the records of over twenty towns and ten rural districts, this pioneering study explores the world of the women who held office on behalf of other women, children, the elderly, and the sick in mind and body. A remarkable study of the clients they fought for, the victories they won, and the hostilities they faced, Ladies Elect shows how, in many cities and counties, these women were a stronger political presence in 1900 than in modern times.