Adela Pankhurst
we also learn that: ‘Miss (Adela) Pankhurst, was undaunted as she took the opportunity, now hatless and from a position clinging onto a drainpipe, to address a huge crowd that stretched across Barkers Pool.’ Many key figures in the
Suffragette movement found their way to Sheffield and helped to influence the cause.
illustrate a topic through all its many twists and turns. The main challenge the task presents to her is how to drag herself away.
A Sheffield policewoman in uniform
delving deep into official archives, newspaper cuttings and anything else Margaret can lay her hands on to paint a colourful picture filled with comedy and tragedy in roughly equal measures. She’s never happier than spending hours on end thumbing through pages of official records and minutes and looking at grainy images to research and
Among the stories Margaret uncovers are many that leave a lasting impression, both good and bad, such as the image of suffragettes being unceremoniously ejected from yet another gate-crashed meeting. With such a wealth of historical facts at her fingertips, it’s easy for readers to imagine the unfolding scene. You can be transported, for example, to 1907 and a visit from the Secretary of State to Sheffield’s Albert Hall. It was here that the offending women were literally manhandled by police constables who ’pushed, dragged and finally carried them from the room’ but
‘‘Margaret believes that the struggle for equality made some great strides in Sheffield during the 100 years in question and her book celebrates such notable milestones’’
“These women were heroes but we’ve barely known anything about them,” says Margaret. Likewise, the Women of Steel who worked tirelessly in the Sheffield steelworks but were dismissed, unacknowledged, when the men returned to reclaim their roles. Margaret believes that the struggle for equality made some great strides in Sheffield during the 100 years in question and her book celebrates such notable milestones as the election of the first female Lord Mayor, Mrs Ann Eliza Longden, in 1936. However, it also notes that newspaper reports of the time focused less on Mrs Longden assuming civic office and more on what kind of reception she was likely to receive at the Cutlers Feast where men had always reigned supreme. With a stark reference to her treasured first book, Margaret admits she was recently thinking that, had she been alive in 19th century Rotherham at the age of 72, the workhouse is very likely where she would be now. Happily, she’s here in the 21st century to tell us the tale Instead. And it seems that there are plenty more tales to be told. Even with so many titles now under her belt, Margaret has new ideas in the pipeline and several writing projects on the go. Her latest list includes the potentially spine-chilling Murderous Sheffield and an A to Z of Rotherham Crimes.
Although the more gruesome aspects of these real life crimes terrify her, Margaret thrives on discovering the details and piecing together a vivid picture. Perhaps the chosen topics should come as no surprise as she can still recall the thrill of telling night-time ghost stories to her sisters as a child. Nowadays the thrills come in the shape of seeing her books
Aroundtown MEETS
reach fruition and sharing the stories she unearths. She says that having her 30th book printed was just as exciting as her first which is presumably another incentive to do more – that and being able to work at home in your dressing gown if you happen to feel like it.
Margaret’s two youngest sons, Chris and Steven, are among her biggest fans although she knows they haven’t necessarily read her books. And she doesn’t expect them to because “they’re not really interested in history.”
What they do instead speaks volumes; they tell people what she does for a living and Chris helps with some of the IT elements and photography, sharing selected images on Facebook on his mum’s behalf including shots of her books lined up on the bookseller’s shelves. And the best thing for Margaret about the entire experience of being an author? It isn’t seeing her work in print, her name on the front covers or even receiving the royalties. “The very best thing about it is that my kids are proud of me. That’s better than any other part at all.”
Struggle and Suffrage in Sheffield is available from publisher Pen and Sword. All Margaret’s books are also available to buy or download from Amazon.
Aroundtown Competition
To win a copy of Margaret’s latest book ‘Struggle and Suffrage in Sheffield’, simply answer this question correctly:
Who was the first female Lord Mayor of Sheffield? Send your answer along with your name, address and contact number to: Aroundtown Magazine, Unit 26, Moorgate Crofts Business Centre, South Grove, Rotherham, S60 2EN or email:
cheryl@aroundtownpublications.co.uk
Closing date: Friday, March 1st, 2019
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