Necessary Women

The Untold Story of Parliament’s Working Women

AvMari Takayanagi,Elizabeth Hallam Smith

Häftad, Engelska, 2025

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Beskrivning

When suffragette Emily Wilding Davison hid overnight in the Houses of Parliament in 1911 to have her name recorded in the census there, she may not have known that there were sixty-seven other women also resident in Parliament that night: housekeepers, kitchen maids, and wives and daughters living in households. This book is their story.Women have touched just about every aspect of life in Parliament. From ‘Jane’, dispenser of beer, pies and chops in Bellamy’s legendary refreshment rooms; to May Ashworth, Official Typist to Parliament for thirty years through marriage, war and divorce; and Jean Winder, the first female Hansard reporter, who fought for years for equal pay; the lives of these women have been largely unacknowledged – until now.Drawing on new research from the Parliamentary Archives, government records and family history sources, historians and parliamentary insiders Mari Takayanagi and Elizabeth Hallam Smith bring these unsung heroes to life. They chart the changing context for working women within and beyond the Palace of Westminster, uncovering women left out of the history books – including Mary Jane Anderson, a previously unknown suffragette.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2025-02-06
Mått:156 x 234 x 27 mm
Vikt:400 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:288
Förlag:The History Press Ltd
ISBN:9781803998770

Utforska kategorier

Biografi: historia, politik och försvar inom Biografier
Genusvetenskap inom Samhälle och politik
Biografier inom Biografier

Mer om författaren

Dr MARI TAKAYANAGI is a Senior Archivist at the Parliamentary Archives and has worked there since 2000. She is also a historian, currently researching Parliament, women and politics c. 1918-1945 with a view to celebrating the centenary of Equal Franchise in 2028. Dr ELIZABETH HALLAM SMITH was the first female Librarian at the House of Lords and before that was the Director of Public Services at The National Archives, Kew. Now attached to Parliament's Architecture and Conservation team, she is researching the history of the Palace of Westminster and the people who worked there across the centuries.

Recensioner i media

‘An excellent book. It was absolutely fascinating, and I learnt so much about the history of the Palace of Westminster and the unsung women who have helped to shape it.'

Innehållsförteckning

TitleCopyrightContentsList of IllustrationsPrologue1 The Chaotic World of the Old Palace of Westminster: Meet the Women2 Ellen Manners Sutton: Scandal at the Speaker’s House3 Woman in Charge: Jane Julia Bennett, House of Lords Housekeeper4 Catering for the Members: Jane, Goddess of Bellamy’s5 The Admirable Mrs Gully and her Gallery6 ‘Losing their Reason’: Eliza Arscot and her Fellow Housekeepers7 The Ever-Youthful Miss Ashworth: Typing Comes to Parliament8 For One Night Only? Emily Wilding Davison in the Cupboard9 A Wartime Innovation: The Girl Porters10 The Monstrous Regiment: Women Managers in the Lords11 Miss Bell and her Bell: The Later Housekeepers12 Expert Shots and Dragons: Parliament at War13 ‘Girl Clerk In Commons’!14 Hansard and the Battle for Equal Pay15 The Strain of Carrying Ladders: The Library and ArchivesEpilogueThanks and AcknowledgementsSources and Further ReadingNotes