The great Miss Lydia Becker

Williams, Joanna M.2022

Books, Manuscripts

Find it!
Remove The great Miss Lydia Becker from your current list Save The great Miss Lydia Becker to your current list

Total copies: 2

Available: 2

Availability by location

Place reservation

Summary

50 years before women were enfranchised, a legal loophole allowed a thousand women to vote in the general election of 1868. This surprising event occurred due to the feisty & single-minded dedication of Lydia Becker, the acknowledged, though unofficial, leader of the women's suffrage movement in the later 19th century. Brought up in a middle-class family as the eldest of 15 children, she broke away from convention, remaining single & entering the sphere of men by engaging in politics. Although it was considered immoral for a woman to speak in public, Lydia addressed innumerable audiences, not only on women's votes, but also on the position of wives, female education & rights at work. She battled to gain academic education for poor girls, & kept countless supporters all over Britain & beyond abreast of the many campaigns for women's rights through her publication, the Women's Suffrage Journal.