Plea for information on women's suffrage campaigners from Hartlepool

Hartlepool Borough Council’s Museums Service is trying to research the lives of important local figures so that it can feature them in future events and exhibitions, as this year marks the 100th anniversary of women gaining the vote.

Individuals who the council is particularly interested in finding photographs of and artefacts from are:

• Amy Beatrice Norman (1874-1937) and her husband Fred Norman, who lived in Seaton Carew. Amy was the Secretary of the West Hartlepool Branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and was a close personal friend of Emmeline Pankhurst. She organised marches and lectures in the borough. Her husband Fred was the clerk in charge of the railway station at Seaton Carew.

• Elizabeth Eades (1856-1937) who was born in South Bank, Middlesbrough. A successful West Hartlepool businesswoman, she owned the S.S. Eades (also known as ‘Solomon Eades’) music shop at 43 Lynn Street, West Hartlepool from 1903 to 1937. She hosted a garden party for the Women’s Freedom League.

• Mary Ellen Ainsley, who was born in 1863 and lived in Langdale House, 17 Clifton Avenue, West Hartlepool. She was secretary of the local branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1913 and 1915.

• Margaret Bulmer Hunter, who was born in 1874 and lived at 1 Friar Terrace. In about 1911 she was the headteacher of a school in Hartlepool. She was secretary of the local branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1914.

Mark Simmons, the council’s curator (museum development), who is carrying out the research, said: “We would dearly love to track down items which could tell us so much more about them and the role they played.”

Mark can be contacted on 01429 284025 or email: [email protected]