Slave'

31

Married

22 Howard Street, off Pellon Lane, Halifax HX1 5RJ

WSPU

Complies

Born in Keighley in 1979, Dinah’s mother was unable to sign the birth certificate, just marking it with a cross. Dinah, who had been a woollen weaver, married Charles Connelly, a stone mason. They lived in the congested terraced housing of Halifax’s industrial suburbs ~ in 1901 just off Queen’s Road, and by 1911 at 22 Howard Street, by Pellon Lane. So Dinah lived at the heart of Halifax’s nest of suffragettes. At New Year 1907, Dinah was among the 22 Halifax women who signed the ILP Manifesto to the WSPU. Then in February 1907, Dinah went down to London to take part in the WSPU’s Women’s Parliament; she was arrested ~ and sentenced to 14 days in prison.

Dinah Connelly complied with the 1911 census, Charles signed the household schedule, and all the information is provided. However, a closer look at Dinah’s occupation reveals that it is given as ‘slave’ (the word is deleted, presumably by the census official). Why ‘slave’? It’s easy to see. In 1911, Dinah’s family consisted of herself, Charles (undoubtedly coming home with clothes covered in stone dust), and three sons, aged 9, 2 and 11 months. All five were squashed into a small 4-roomed terrace house. Domestic slavery indeed. Dinah's house is now demolished, but the photograph featured here is of similar houses that remain at the end of her street.

One of Dinah’s younger children, Laura Mitchell, later became Mayor of Halifax ~ and has an impressive Laura Mitchell health centre named after her in the town centre.