First published in Great Britain in 2021 by
PEN AND SWORD HISTORY
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Yorkshire Philadelphia
Copyright Beverley Adams, 2021
ISBN 978 1 52677 390 6
eISBN 978 1 52677 391 3
Mobi ISBN 978 1 52677 391 3
The right of Beverley Adams to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Acknowledgements
Writing a book is definitely not a one woman show. There have been a lot of people who have come together to help me get this book to the point it is at now, and I owe them such a debt of gratitude.
Firstly, to my wonderful publisher Pen and Sword History for giving me the opportunity to tell Ediths story. Especially to Jonathan Wright for offering me the chance to write this book, and Aileen Pringle, whose friendliness meant asking the daftest of questions was so much easier. She offered some very encouraging and supportive words way back at the beginning of this journey and has been a point of contact who kept me reassured that everything was ok. Thanks also to my editor, Claire Hopkins, for your patience and for answering my questions, and for offering lots of encouragement and guiding me through this process. I would also like to thank Laura Hirst for all her hard work in bringing everything together.
To my mum and dad for providing me with copious amounts of information about Preston, and for filling in the blanks to explain what the town was like in their younger days. Trying to imagine a Preston different from what I know now was not easy. To my brothers Chris and Paul for instilling in me that Preston North End FC was the club for me; pride in my club instils pride in my city.
To my wonderful friends: firstly, Leona Steel, who really was the person who suffered the most during the early stages of this project. She listened to me talk for a long time about my desire to write a book about Edith, and her encouragement gave me the push I needed and the enthusiasm and excitement when I got the go ahead was fabulous!
My Laydeez: Gill Parker, Carol Worster and Pat Palmer you three are always on hand to provide the laughs, and I do laugh every time we get together. We may be far apart but you are always close by. Lorraine Mawdsley, never have I met a more optimistic and positive person, always on hand to bat away any negative comments. Nothing is an obstacle and there is always a positive spin to be had; she has always said I could do it, and she was right. Kathryn Baxendale, thank you for joining me on my research schlep around Preston and for reading snippets throughout the process, I royally thank you for your time and encouragement; despite not knowing you for that long I consider you to be a very good buddy.
Finally, the best of them all is Emma Powell. She provides everything I need when I need it: support, encouragement, reassurance, understanding, many, many laughs and the best scrambled eggs known to man. Never have I met someone as kind, thoughtful and generous as you and I consider myself extremely lucky to call you my friend. Out of all my friends I think you are the one who embodies Ediths spirit the most her determination, kindness and ability to sort out any tricky situation with a calm head.
Lots of thanks go to all my wonderful colleagues who have been with me all the way, in particular to my good pal Marie Drelincourt for the endless support, belief and archive trips; Chris Smith for your endless ability to tell it like it is and the reminders of what I am actually capable of and Gary Huzzey for dropping fascinating little bits of inspiration my way. Lots of thanks to Lisa, Liz, Lynn, Win, Tracey and Nicky for reassuring me that I could do it, and to all of you who have taken an interest and listened, encouraged and supported me from the start. A special thank you to Chris Summerton, sadly no longer with us, but he always said I would write a book and I have proved him right. I know if he was still with us he would have been so pleased that I had achieved my dream.
Thank you to all the wonderful women who very kindly offered to take part in my suffragette survey. I am eternally grateful to you for taking the time to give thoughtful and considered answers and for being honest in your views. To all the wonderful bookish friends that I have made on Twitter for your excitement and reassurance. Even though we have never met in person, you have provided me with some essential pick me ups when I have needed them, and some cracking book recommendations!
Immense thanks go to the wonderfully talented Catherine Curzon, this book would almost certainly not have happened if she had not reached out and offered me some much-needed guidance and advice. The kindness of a stranger gave me the hope and determination that my dream could in fact become a reality, and if I am half as good a writer as you I will be very happy.
Thank you to the patient people at the Lancashire Archives for trawling through various documents and papers, and to the wonderful people at The Friends of Winckley Square organisation for providing such a wealth of material and for the kindness you showed me at one of your talks on Edith; I was having a writing wobble but I left walking on air.
This book definitely could not have been written without the information provided by Phoebe Hesketh in her book My Aunt Edith . Edith did not leave a lot of information about herself behind, there are not many pictures or stories of her life so this resource has been utterly valuable. I am very conscious that my book is not simply a retelling of her work and I hope I have given my own voice to Ediths life story and I thank her for giving me Ediths words to work from. A thank you goes to all the wonderful female writers that have written about the suffragettes over the years, your knowledge is phenomenal and one day I hope I can achieve the level of success you all have.
