Struggle and Suffrage in Norwich

A local historian explores the lives of women—both ordinary and extraordinary—who fought for change in Norwich, England, from 1850–1950.

Norwich has been home to notable women, such as Mabel Clarkson, the first female sheriff in England who went on to serve as Lord Mayor of Norwich in the 1930s. But the history of Norwich has also been shaped by many other women whose stories too often remain in the shadows.


In Struggle and Suffrage in Norwich, local historian Gill Blanchard sheds light on the lives of Norwich women who fought poverty, campaigned for voting rights, and had a lasting impact on their city.


Blanchard tells the stories of divorcee Elizabeth Gurney; suffragette Miriam Pratt; nurse Philippa Flowerday, blacksmith Elizabeth Sabberton; economist and writer Harriet Martineau; abolitionist and writer Amelia Opie; Dorothy Jewson, the first female MP in Norwich and East Anglia; and numerous schoolteachers, clerks, tradeswomen, weavers, WWI munitionettes, and more.