22 Facts About Sarah Reddish

Sarah Reddish was a British trade unionist and suffragette, who was active in the co-operative movement.

Sarah Reddish ran for office as a Poor Law Guardian, and was successful, but was defeated in her attempt to become a member of the borough council.

Sarah Reddish was both a socialist and a radical feminist, urging women's equality in the public sphere.

Sarah Reddish was born in 1849 in Westleigh, Lancashire, England into a working-class family.

Sarah Reddish's father was a prominent member of Bolton Co-operative Society, serving as the honorary librarian and secretary of the society's Bolton branch.

In 1879, Sarah Reddish joined the Bolton Co-operative Society and developed a reputation in both local and national organisations.

Between 1889 and 1891 and then again between 1895 and 1898, Sarah Reddish was elected to serve on the central committee of the Guild.

Sarah Reddish served as national president of the Guild in 1897.

Sarah Reddish brought suffrage speakers into the organisational meetings and campaigned for wage improvements of women employees.

Sarah Reddish joined the Clarion Movement and the Independent Labour Party in 1896, travelling with the first women's Clarion van tour.

Two years later when the Independent Labour Party fused with the Social Democratic Party, Sarah Reddish urged members to join the Bolton Socialist Party.

Sarah Reddish urged in her union reports for men to become more active in home duties and for women to develop their civic roles.

Sarah Reddish's focus with the Trade Union League was to improve both wages and conditions for working women.

Between 1900 and 1901, Sarah Reddish helped circulate petitions for women's voting rights among factory workers and she was the one chosen to present the final compiled petition, which contained nearly 30,000 signatures, to Parliament.

Sarah Reddish pushed the Guild to support enfranchisement and in 1904 at its annual conference, the Women's Co-operative Guild voted in favour of backing the pending franchise bill.

Sarah Reddish served as an organiser for the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage between 1903 and 1905 and occasionally worked as a paid organiser for the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in London.

Sarah Reddish wrote articles, including Women and County Borough Councils: a Claim for Eligibility and Women and the Franchise: A Claim for Its Extension which put forward her views and were distributed in local newspapers.

In 1905, Sarah Reddish ran for office as a Poor Law Guardian, having served on the committee of the Bolton Association for the Return of Women as Poor Law Guardians since 1897.

Sarah Reddish won the election and served as a Guardian until 1921.

Sarah Reddish ran for borough council for the Halliwell Ward of Bolton in 1907, though she was unsuccessful.

Sarah Reddish served as a delegate to the 1915 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom conference in The Hague and then in 1919 Reddish organised the Bolton Women's Citizens Association.

Sarah Reddish died on 19 February 1928 at Townleys Hospital of Farnworth, Lancashire and was buried in the Heaton Cemetery on Bolton Wood Road.