Rochdale Observer

Vicar’s wife was global pioneer of women’s rights

- Damon.wilkinson@menmedia.co.uk @DamonWilki­nson6

IT probably isn’t widely known that the wife of a former vicar of Calderbook in Littleboro­ugh was an internatio­nal pioneer of women’s rights, peace and socialism.

A blue plaque at St James’s, Calderbook, honours the memory of the renowned and indomitabl­e Enid Stacy, who, in a short life spanning only 35 years, campaigned at home and abroad for women’s rights and social reform.

On Monday, 150 years on from her birth in Gloucester­shire, the Mothers Union at St Andrew’s, Dearnley, opened its doors for a meeting at which Rae Street told the remarkable story of this young girl from Bristol.

She rose through the ranks to rub shoulders with the Socialist topbrass of Victorian England and to become a great orator in her own right, travelling the length and breadth of England addressing meetings and socialist gatherings.

Her local connection was triggered when she met and later married the Rev Percy Widdringto­n, with whom she spent a few years living at Calderbroo­k vicarage and worshippin­g at St James’.

In 1903, aged 35 and at the height of her pioneering for women and workers, she returned to her little boy and to her husband Percy in Littleboro­ugh after two exhausting tours of the USA only to die suddenly from an embolism.

Rae has herself been an activist for women, peace and environmen­tal issues for more than 30 years.

She said of Stacy: “She achieved more in her few years of activism than many do in a long lifetime.

“We need to remember the campaignin­g of those who struggled in earlier times and we should redress the fact that many of them, especially women, have been forgotten.”

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? ●●Enid Stacey was an internatio­nal activist for women’s rights, peace and socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
●●Enid Stacey was an internatio­nal activist for women’s rights, peace and socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
 ??  ?? ●●Early purple orchids
●●Early purple orchids
 ??  ?? ●●Littleboro­ugh campaigner Rae Street told Enid’s story at St Andrew’s Church, Dearnley
●●Littleboro­ugh campaigner Rae Street told Enid’s story at St Andrew’s Church, Dearnley
 ??  ?? ●●A green hairstreak butterfly was spotted
●●A green hairstreak butterfly was spotted

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