Kathryn Atherton – författare

At the beginning of the 20th century Morris dancing had all but died out in much of England. It was militant suffragettes and slum girls who kick-started the revival that returned the forgotten dances of the countryside to towns and villages across the nation. As a result of their commitment to preserve and pass on the dances, the Morris survived as a living tradition that is still performed to this day. And the impetus to do so came from the women’s aspiration to change society for the better, the same impetus that drove them to militant action and to prison.The Morris revival and the militant suffrage movement were inextricably linked. The leader of the dance revival, Mary Neal, was a life-long radical campaigner for the rights of women and children. With her friend Emmeline Pethick she ran the Esperance Girls’ Club in one of London’s most deprived areas. She and Emmeline both sat on the national committee of Mrs Pankhurst’s militant Women’s Social and Political Union, the most notorious of the groups campaigning for the vote for women.The women’s embrace of traditional dance was rooted in Mary’s aspirations for equality and her commitment to social and political reform. The beginning of the dance revival and the launch of the militant suffragette campaign in London coincided almost exactly. Launched by a rather forlorn band of rebels, the WSPU grew into a movement capable of inspiring loyalty and loathing in equal measure. The Morris revival developed from an entertainment in a club for impoverished girls into a nationwide initiative. Mary and Emmeline’s associates in the dance revival ranged from young girls who worked in the militant campaign’s offices to hunger-striking daughters of the aristocracy.Mary and Emmeline provided the leadership and commitment that enabled two radical movements to flourish in the early years of the 20th century, but both found themselves marginalised after policy disagreements – with the folklorist Cecil Sharp and Mrs Pankhurst respectively - led to devastating splits in their respective organisations. Both then found themselves misrepresented and written out of the histories of movements which might never have got off the ground without them. Only in recent decades have women begun to reclaim their place in the Morris dance movement, the very existence of which is a legacy of the militant campaign for the vote.

At the beginning of the 20th century Morris dancing had all but died out in much of England. It was militant suffragettes and slum girls who kick-started the revival that returned the forgotten dances of the countryside to towns and villages across the nation. As a result of their commitment to preserve and pass on the dances, the Morris survived as a living tradition that is still performed to this day. And the impetus to do so came from the women’s aspiration to change society for the better, the same impetus that drove them to militant action and to prison.The Morris revival and the militant suffrage movement were inextricably linked. The leader of the dance revival, Mary Neal, was a life-long radical campaigner for the rights of women and children. With her friend Emmeline Pethick she ran the Esperance Girls’ Club in one of London’s most deprived areas. She and Emmeline both sat on the national committee of Mrs Pankhurst’s militant Women’s Social and Political Union, the most notorious of the groups campaigning for the vote for women.The women’s embrace of traditional dance was rooted in Mary’s aspirations for equality and her commitment to social and political reform. The beginning of the dance revival and the launch of the militant suffragette campaign in London coincided almost exactly. Launched by a rather forlorn band of rebels, the WSPU grew into a movement capable of inspiring loyalty and loathing in equal measure. The Morris revival developed from an entertainment in a club for impoverished girls into a nationwide initiative. Mary and Emmeline’s associates in the dance revival ranged from young girls who worked in the militant campaign’s offices to hunger-striking daughters of the aristocracy.Mary and Emmeline provided the leadership and commitment that enabled two radical movements to flourish in the early years of the 20th century, but both found themselves marginalised after policy disagreements – with the folklorist Cecil Sharp and Mrs Pankhurst respectively - led to devastating splits in their respective organisations. Both then found themselves misrepresented and written out of the histories of movements which might never have got off the ground without them. Only in recent decades have women begun to reclaim their place in the Morris dance movement, the very existence of which is a legacy of the militant campaign for the vote.

At the beginning of the 20th century Morris dancing had all but died out in much of England. It was militant suffragettes and slum girls who kick-started the revival that returned the forgotten dances of the countryside to towns and villages across the nation. As a result of their commitment to preserve and pass on the dances, the Morris survived as a living tradition that is still performed to this day. And the impetus to do so came from the women’s aspiration to change society for the better, the same impetus that drove them to militant action and to prison.The Morris revival and the militant suffrage movement were inextricably linked. The leader of the dance revival, Mary Neal, was a life-long radical campaigner for the rights of women and children. With her friend Emmeline Pethick she ran the Esperance Girls’ Club in one of London’s most deprived areas. She and Emmeline both sat on the national committee of Mrs Pankhurst’s militant Women’s Social and Political Union, the most notorious of the groups campaigning for the vote for women.The women’s embrace of traditional dance was rooted in Mary’s aspirations for equality and her commitment to social and political reform. The beginning of the dance revival and the launch of the militant suffragette campaign in London coincided almost exactly. Launched by a rather forlorn band of rebels, the WSPU grew into a movement capable of inspiring loyalty and loathing in equal measure. The Morris revival developed from an entertainment in a club for impoverished girls into a nationwide initiative. Mary and Emmeline’s associates in the dance revival ranged from young girls who worked in the militant campaign’s offices to hunger-striking daughters of the aristocracy.Mary and Emmeline provided the leadership and commitment that enabled two radical movements to flourish in the early years of the 20th century, but both found themselves marginalised after policy disagreements – with the folklorist Cecil Sharp and Mrs Pankhurst respectively - led to devastating splits in their respective organisations. Both then found themselves misrepresented and written out of the histories of movements which might never have got off the ground without them. Only in recent decades have women begun to reclaim their place in the Morris dance movement, the very existence of which is a legacy of the militant campaign for the vote.

From Zeppelin raids to housing refugees and evacuees or from men volunteering to fight or women working in the local Gunpowder factory, Dorking in the Great War looks at how the experience of war impacted on the town, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German Kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Dorking were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. 

The Great War affected everyone. At home there were wounded soldiers in military hospitals, refugees from Belgium and later on German prisoners of war. There were food and fuel shortages and disruption to schooling. The role of women changed dramatically and they undertook a variety of work undreamed of in peacetime. Meanwhile, men serving in the armed forces were scattered far and wide. Extracts from contemporary letters reveal their heroism and give insights into what it was like under battle conditions.

This true story about the British fight for women’s suffrage “looks at the tumultuous relationship between two couples who led the militant movement” (Publishers Weekly).   In early twentieth-century England, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence was treasurer of the Women’s Social and Political Union, founded by the famed militant Mrs. Pankhurst. Emmeline’s husband, Fred, was the only man to achieve leadership status in the organization. Without their wealth, determination, and skills we might never have heard of the suffragettes—yet the couple has been largely forgotten while Mrs. Pankhurst and her daughters are still renowned.   Emmeline was always at Mrs. Pankhurst’s side, while Fred was the ‘Godfather’ who stood bail for a thousand women. Both were imprisoned and force-fed. They provided the militant movement with its home and much of its vision, and it was their associates who initiated the hunger strike and who brought force-feeding to national attention. But in 1912, the couple was dramatically ousted from the organization by the Pankhursts in a move that has often been misrepresented. This book is the first in-depth portrait of the couple and their relationship with the Pankhursts—and of their inspirational fight not just for the vote for women but for freedom and equality across the world.