Probably assisting in Haberdashery business

30

Married

8 Ebers Grove, Nottingham

WSPU

Evades

Edith Annie was born in 1881 at 37 Derby Rd, Nottingham. She married John Lees in 1902 and they had 3 children. The family ran a haberdasher’s business situated at 28-30 Carlton Street. Edith became involved in women's suffrage and her scrapbook has a newspaper report in it of a Resolution in favour of women's suffrage passed by Nottingham Council from 6th February 1911. It also contains a photograph of a production of the 'Pageant of Great Women' performed at the Mechanics Institute in May 1911 with, we believe, her son John Lees Jnr. In 1911, she was living at 8 Ebers Grove, Nottingham, with her husband John, two children and a servant. However, she is absent from the 1911 census and so was likely evading as part of the suffrage census boycott. Given this, and that she was arrested on the 4th March 1912 for wilful damage, after breaking windows in London, Edith was probably a member of the WSPU. She gave a false name Annie Baker - her mother's maiden name and was bound over to keep the peace at Bow Street Magistrates Court. She was tried at Kensington on 19th March and appears to have been discharged on 26th. She was at that time pregnant with her third child so perhaps therefore she was discharged. Edith is on the Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914. Later, she became a founder member of the Nottingham branch of the National Council of Women as did many ex-suffragists and suffragettes seeking to further the cause of women. At a meeting of the 'Nottingham Efficiency Club on 8th December 1920, she speaks on the subject of 'Women in Business' emphasising the benefits having women in business brings saying 'When they have more lady members of Parliament they will be able to use their influence in the right way.' She died in 1964 aged 82 and is buried in Wilford Hill Cemetery in Nottingham. Researched and contributed by Nottingham Women's History group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Sources: No Surrender! Women's Suffrage in Nottinghamshire, Rowena Edlin-White (Ed.) Nottingham Women's History Group ISBN:978-1-900074-31-5