Alice Hawkins and the Suffragette Movement in Edwardian Leicester

The campaign for the suffrage is perhaps the best-known aspect of women's political fight in the early part of the 20th century, yet little is known of the local women who engaged in this struggle. This is the story of one of them.

Previously, few investigations have been carried out into local organisations of the Women's Social and Political Union, and as a consequence our understanding of local women within the party has been limited.

This book, through the life and times of Alice Hawkins, seeks to redress add to our understanding of who the suffragettes were, and to show that it was not just wealthy women who were involved in the sufffragette struggle.

This book is about a woman who gave her life to the cause and, through her personality, shaped the lives of thousands of women.

The importance of this book is that it is now slowly being recognised that history cannot shut away the lives and experiences of thousands of women like Alice Hawkins to concentrate on what was, to all intents and purposes, the public sphere.

About the Author

Dr Richard Whitmore was born and raised in Leicester and after leaving school worked in a variety of occupations, before returning to full-time education in 1985

Richard studied for a History and Politics BA degree at De Montfort University, before transferring over to the University of Leicester to undertake an MA

It was during his time at Leicester University that Richard became interested in local women’s history and went on to complete a PhD on the Women’s Social and Political Union within the East Midlands.