15 Facts About Anna Munro

Anna Gillies Macdonald Munro was an active campaigner for temperance and the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom.

Anna Munro settled in Thatcham after the First World War but was living in Aldermaston by 1933 and died in Padworth, Berkshire in 1962.

Anna Munro had affordable housing named after her in Thatcham.

Anna Gillies Macdonald Munro was born in Glasgow, on 4 October 1881, to Margaret Ann MacVean, and Evan Macdonald Munro, a school master; following her mother's death in 1892 she moved to Dunfermline where she was cared for by an uncle and aunt.

Anna Munro became involved with the Wesleyan Methodist Sisters of the People in London working with the poor.

Anna Munro then joined the Women's Social and Political Union and founded a branch in Dunfermline in 1906,.

In 1907 a row between the membership and the Pankhursts led to a split in the WSPU and as a result the more democratic Women's Freedom League was formed and Anna Munro was elected to be the Secretary of the WFL Scottish Council.

Anna Munro was briefly imprisoned in 1908 for her protesting.

Anna Munro accompanied Amy Sanderson, WLF executive committee member and fellow prisoner, on a speaking tour around the country, raising awareness and funds for the militant movement, and with hunger strikers Alice Paul and Edith New at Arbroath.

Later Anna Munro participated in the protests around the 1911 Census which the suffragettes boycotted.

Also in 1911, Anna Munro was involved in a demonstration regarding the Conciliation Bill, speaking from a lorry in Princes Street along with Elizabeth Finlayson Gauld and Alexia B Jack.

Anna Munro married Sidney Ashman in 1913, and though she legally took the surname Munro-Ashman she was still known as Anna Munro in her work, and she continued to be active working for women's rights throughout her life.

The Munro-Ashmans' lived in Reading, but then moved to Thatcham where Anna was one of the first parish councillors in 1919 and they raised their children, Donald and Margaret, at Park Farm.

In 2018 the Glasgow Women's Library commissioned Lucia Hearn to create a short film about Anna Munro to celebrate 100 years since some women got the vote.

Jean Hunot, niece of Ella Woodall, a contact of Anna Munro's, was interviewed in January 1977.