Millicent Garrett Fawcett
When Tessa Blackstone moved in to 2 Gower Street, London, she was delighted to discover that a previous tenant had been Millicent Garrett Fawcett, the suffragist leader who dedicated her life to securing women’s right to vote. But Tessa could not find a recent biography of this impressive woman, as the historical narrative favoured the militant suffragettes over the suffragists, who campaigned within the law and disapproved of violence. Some years later, Tessa resolved to fix the omission herself and began to uncover Millicent’s life story.
Growing up in a large family in Suffolk, Millicent and her sisters challenged Victorian views about the role of women in their pursuit of education, employment and enfranchisement. Getting married at twenty did not deter Millicent from becoming a writer and feminist campaigner. Her husband Henry Fawcett, a blind academic and Liberal politician, shared her views and encouraged her. She was devastated by his early death, but her grit and determination kept her going. Over many decades, she battled against indifference and prejudice and was successful in not only winning women the vote but also fighting for improvements in their educational opportunities and employment prospects.
Brimming with charming anecdotes about Millicent’s life from cradle to grave, this is the definitive biography of an extraordinary activist and campaigner who changed Britain’s political landscape for ever.
Tessa Blackstone is a Labour member of the House of Lords and a former minister, first in education and then in the arts. She was an academic social scientist at the London School of Economics, headed Birkbeck College and was the University of Greenwich’s vice-chancellor. She has been the chair of many organisations, including the boards of Great Ormond Street Hospital and the British Library. She lives in London and for nearly a decade occupied 2 Gower Street, where Millicent Garrett Fawcett lived for over forty years. She has two children and five grandchildren.