Just over 100 year ago women were granted the vote, or at least some women were. Jane Crozier will talk about the Suffragettes through the experiences of her grandmother, Eleanor Beatrice Higginson, who, as a militant from Preston, was arrested for throwing stones through windows, twice went on hunger strike and was force fed in Holloway prison. After the provocative unfurling of a ‘Votes for Women’ banner at a political meeting in Manchester’s Free Trade Hall, militant protest spread across the country, involving women of all classes. The story of ‘Red Nellie’, as she was known by other members of the Higginson family, is one of the many stories of ordinary women who campaigned – often at great personal cost – to make a difference to everyone in Britain by giving women a voice in Parliament. In the period of greatest militant activity, 1903 – 1914, ‘Deeds not Words’ became the rallying cry, because words alone had fallen on deaf ears. Thus, Dr Crozier will use a piece of family history to unfold aspects of the bigger picture in the fight for women’s suffrage.
Jane Crozier holds several degrees in English and American Literature. She spent much of her career teaching adults in Further Education. Working in Tower Hamlets, she became Head of Programme for Access to Higher Education Studies and Coordinator of Teacher Training courses. She was also a visiting tutor at the Institute of Education and a Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London. Since moving to Somerset, Jane has enjoyed seven years as an Adult Education Tutor, creating and delivering courses and lectures across a range of subjects, from the poetry of the Romantic movement, to the literature of landscape, Garden History, pioneer women writers and the women’s suffrage movement.
