Stop Press: The best books on women's history that inspired me

Why am I passionate about these books? I am a feminist author, having written about women's history for nearly half a century. Living in Oldham, I began researching the history of the radical suffragists across industrial Lancashire. Later, moving across the Pennines to Halifax, I learnt of Anne Lister – and became gripped by her diaries. Read more

Book Events: autumn 2024

This is a hybrid programme. Although there'll be no 'Gentleman Jack' series 3, Anne Lister certainly isn't going away! As Good As A Marriage, the sequel to Female Fortune inspiring 'Gentleman Jack', came out in paperback in July.

Meanwhile, the centenary is looming of women winning equal political rights with men - in 1928. At long last! And given our intrepid Halifax suffragettes, it's never too early to celebrate this heroically fought victory. All part of Calderdale's Year of Culture 2024!

October 2024

Friday 4: How suffrage campaigners took their message right across Yorkshire – to Whitby. Doors 6pm, talk 7pm.

Author Storm Jameson, born 1891, grew up in Whitby and her Journey from the North vividly conjures up the remoteness of the fishing port then. Yet suffragists in the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS, led by Mrs Fawcett) were determined. From August 1908, their horse-drawn caravan wended its way across rural North Riding and down to the fishing port. Poignant postcards record the rigours of 'vanning it' and speaking by the water's edge to a crowd in Whitby.

Whitby Museum, Pannett Park, Whitby YO21 1RE. Bookstall and book signing, proceeds to the Museum. Pre-booking essential. Tickets £15 (£12 for members) includes glass of wine. Book here

Wednesday 9: Anne Lister: what did she ever do for Calderdale? Ryburn 7.30 pm.
Anne did lots! First, she wrote a 5-million-word diary, much of it in her own secret code, detailing her romantic and sexual relationships with other women. Decades later, her magnificent diaries fell to the possession of Halifax Borough (which became Calderdale in 1974 under local government reorganization).

Second, in 2011, Anne's diaries were included in UNESCO's UK Memory of the World register. International recognition indeed! Finally, in 2019 Sally Wainwright's drama 'Gentleman Jack' aired on BBC1 and in the US via HBO. A global audience, many of whom head for Halifax to celebrate. So yes, Anne's done lots for Calderdale!

Stone Roses Women's Group, Ryburn WI, Function Room, The Malthouse, Rishworth. Bookstall and book-signing, cash only; proceeds to Stone Roses. Book here

As Good As A Marriage – paperback edition now out, Manchester University Press £18.99. Order here

Town Festival of Music And Words:
10-20 October: curated by the Book Corner & Grayston Unity.

Saturday 12: Suffragettes and Slaves: Votes for Women in Halifax. 11.30-3.30.

A 4-hour walk from Skircoat Green across Savile Park, visiting the homes of Halifax's own 'nest of suffragettes'. Our route goes along Queens Road and then down Pellon Lane to the Mechanics' Institute where in 1911 Emmeline Pankhurst's fiery oratory urged women to boycott the census.

Meet Jill Liddington and David Glover (President, Halifax Antiquarians) at the Standard of Freedom, New Lane, HX3 0TE. Please bring packed lunch and flask. After a cup of tea/cake and Q&A in Halifax, we return to Skircoat by bus about 3.30 pm.

Pre-booking essential. Tickets here - (£7) via Eventbrite (and also at the Book Corner).

Sunday 13: Rebel Girls: their Fight for the Vote. Halifax 4.30 – 6 pm.

Drawing on brand new evidence, Rebel Girls (Virago 2006), tracked the thrilling tale of campaigners taking their Votes for Women message right across across Yorkshire. In Halifax, suffragette heroines included Poor Law Guardian Mary Taylor of Skircoat; Dr Helena Jones from Wales; and Lavena Saltonstall, tailoress from Hebden Bridge - who moved up to Halifax to join its 'nest of suffragettes' So why was their dramatic story neglected for so long?

Industrial Museum, Square Road, Halifax HX1 1QG. Tickets £5. Pre-booking essential. Eventbrite link for booking - (and also at the Book Corner).

This is part of the Town Festival of Music and Words - with some grassroots politics thrown in. Running 10th – 20th October, it is, of course, part of Calderdale's Year of Culture. Don't miss it!


November

Tuesday 5: Lavena Saltonstall: local tailoress turned suffragette.
Todmorden, 7.30 pm.

Lavena Saltonstall was born in 1881 in the valley below Heptonstall; and around her tenth birthday she became a half-time tailoress in a Hebden Bridge clothing factory. Then in 1906 Lavena got caught up in the dramatic swirl of labour and suffrage politics. She moved to Halifax and here, along with other local suffragettes, she went down to Westminster, was arrested and sentenced to 14 days.

Lavena also wrote about the stultifying expectations of working-class Edwardian women: 'As I am a tailoress many people think it is my bounded duty to make trousers and vests…and thank God for my station in life… The exceptions are considered unwomanly and eccentric people'. Yet, despite her compelling writings, Lavena remained virtually forgotten - till Rebel Girls (2006 Virago).

Todmorden Antiquarian Society, Stoodley Room, Calder College, Todmorden Learning Centre & Community Hub, Burnley Road, Todmorden.

Tickets £3 for non-members. Book stall and book-signing; proceeds to the. Antiquarians.
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