Edith Key

Edith Key (1872-1937) was a British suffragette.

Edith was born in January 1872 in Ecclesfield, Bradford. Her mother was Grace Procter, a mill worker. Her father was most likely Joseph Fawcett, a local mill owner, who signed an 'Agreement to a Child' to pay Grace a weekly allowance until Edith was thirteen years old. Raised by her aunts, Edith moved to Huddersfield some time before her 10th birthday. She worked in a mill from age 10 and left school at age 13.[1]

Edith married Frederick Key, a blind musician, in March 1891. Together they opened a music shop in Huddersfield, which they lived above.[2] Frederick was active in socialist politics,[1] and Edith soon became involved in the women's suffrage movement. She was the secretary-organiser of the Huddersfield branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU),[3] formed in 1906 at a meeting chaired by Emmeline Pankhurst.[1]

Edith's diligent record-keeping ensured a complete record survives of this period of local suffragist history in the form of her minutes book, deposited in the West Yorkshire Archives Service by Edith's granddaughter.[1] It is one of only three WSPU minute books known to have survived, and the only one outside of a London branch,[4] and provides a valuable insight into how local branches interacted with the WSPU, and of the concerns of WSPU members far removed from the militant actions which mostly took place in London.[5]

The Key's home above their music shop served as regional headquarters for the Huddersfield WSPU. According to Edith's son Archibald, it also became "unofficial headquarters for the ILP [the Independent Labour Party, of which Frederick was a member] and plotting room for suffragette militancy".[1] From 1913-14, Edith used her home to hide a number of suffragette "mice", women who were evading prison under the Cat and Mouse Act. Among those she offered shelter to was Adela Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst.[6]

Edith died in 1937 aged 65, and was buried in Edgerton Cemetery.[2] Her name is commemorated in Huddersfield through two organisations: the Edith Key Centre, a base for community and campaigning organisations, opened in 2014;[7] and the Edith Key building at the University of Huddersfield, which houses the Human and Health Sciences Research department.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 1946-, Liddington, Jill, (2006-01-01). Rebel girls : their fight for the vote. Virago. ISBN 9781844081684. OCLC 63401142.
  2. 1 2 "LocalSuffragettes - Edith Key". localsuffragettes.wikispaces.com. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  3. ↑ Stanley, Jo (2006-09-21). "Suffrage History Made in Huddersfield, 10 May 2006". History Workshop Journal. 62 (1): 344–346. ISSN 1363-3554. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbl020.
  4. ↑ Cowman, K. (2002-01-01). "'Minutes of the Last Meeting Passed': The Huddersfield Women's Social and Political Union Minute Book January 1907-1909, a New Source for Suffrage History". Twentieth Century British History. 13 (3): 298–315. ISSN 0955-2359. doi:10.1093/tcbh/13.3.298.
  5. ↑ Andrew., Rosen, (1974-01-01). Rise up, women! : the militant campaign of the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903-1914. Routledge and Kegan Paul. ISBN 9780710079343.
  6. ↑ "Most famous Yorkshire names you’ve never heard of". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  7. ↑ Zientek, Henryk (2014-06-24). "Edith Key Centre provides base for five charities in Huddersfield town centre". huddersfieldexaminer. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
  8. ↑ "April - University of Huddersfield". www.hud.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
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