Petticoat politicians: Women and the politics of the parish in England

Sarah Richardson, Historical Association, 2024.

This short article was published on the Historical Association’s website. It explains that before women could vote in national elections (1918/1928) they could exercise their right to vote in local elections and hold local offices such as sexton, beadle, overseer of the poor, constable and highway surveyor. Richardson lists a selection of parishes where this was the case, among them were:

1643 Upton by Southwell, Notts: constable                    1712 Woodland, Derbys: overseer

1750 Sutton Bonnington, Notts: highway surveyor        1854 Misson, Notts: parish clerk

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire are the furthest north of the examples given by Richardson. The examples it must be said are few and far between. She points out that women from all social backgrounds were able to participate in local politics as long as they were unmarried or widowed. Well before voting for MPs and becoming MPs was possible, women could gain experience of political participation and being office holders.

To what extent did this apply in Tickhill? It took some time here for women to participate in local politics (other than exerting influence behind the scenes). At last, by the mid-1950s two women were voted on to Tickhill Urban District Council: Mrs Olive Franklin and Mrs Hazel Fullwood. There is a photograph of them at a council meeting on the TDLHS website in the Articles-Local Government Services-Tickhill UDC 1950s section. By 1960 Councillor Mrs Franklin was chairing the Council.