Earlier this month, Nus attended an event at the Bridge Cottage Heritage Centre in Uckfield about the campaign for women’s suffrage in Uckfield, Crowborough and across Wealden.
At the event, the author Frances Stenlake gave a talk about the part local women and men played in securing votes for women.
Much of the local campaign for women’s suffrage was organised by the Cuckfield and Central Sussex Women’s Suffrage Society. This campaign was law-abiding and non-violent, as it was elsewhere in rural Sussex and it was aided by several high profile suffragists who lived locally.
Commenting on the event, Ms Ghani said: “This year marked the 99th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, which enabled all men and some women over the age of 30 to vote for the first time. I was delighted to be able to spend the evening with many other local women at an event which celebrated this achievement.
Frances Stenlake provided us with a fascinating insight into the important part Wealden had to play in the national struggle for women’s suffrage and I very much look forward to reading her book, ‘Edith Bevan and the Mid Sussex Suffragists’.
I am proud to live in an area that was home to so many inspiring women who campaigned as suffragists in the Edwardian era. Alongside the suffragettes, we must not forget the significant impact that the peaceful, legal, suffragist campaign had in securing the vote for women in this country.
I look forward to hosting an event for Wealden’s schools in the new year on the theme of the suffragettes and suffragists in order to mark the centenary anniversary of women being allowed to vote in UK parliamentary elections for the first time.”