Region’s trailblazers are celebrated in exhibition
HIGH-FLYER Connie Leathart is one of the North East trailblazers whose lives are being celebrated to mark the centenary of what was a momentous occasion for women.
After many thousands of female workers had stepped in during the war years into a range of what had previously been men’s jobs, the Representation of the People Act was passed on February 6, 1918.
It gave women over the age of 30, subject to property and other qualifications, the right to vote in Parliamentary elections for the first time.
That watershed – and the changing role of women in society – is being marked by the Gateshead100 project.
It is part of the Imperial War Museum’s WomensWork100 celebrations, commemorating the centenary of the voting legislation and the working lives and achievements of women during the First World War and beyond.
Northumberland Archives, based at Woodhorn, is also showcasing notable women from the region.
The archives programme will include the life of Constance (Connie) Ruth Leathart, who was born in 1903 in Low Fell, Gateshead.
In 1925 Connie started flying lessons at Newcastle Aero Club and is said to have written her name as ‘C. R. Leathart’ on the application form in order to disguise her gender.
On February 24, 1926 she took her first solo flight but crashed on landing, but she was back in the air on March 1 for a 30-minute flight.
In 1927 she received her flying licence and became the first British female pilot outside London to do so.
Connie participated in many air races both in this country and Europe.
She later set up and ran Cramlington Aircraft with her friend Walter Leslie Runciman – later Viscount Runciman – overhauling machines for yearly certificates of air worthiness.
She escaped injury in two crashes, one at Cramlington in fog and another near Munich. During the Second World War, with the rank of flight captain, she flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying bombers and fighters to airfields in many countries.
Her final logbook, held by Northumberland Archives, covers the years 1943-1956 and gives her total flying time as a pilot to date as 1,283 hours and 30 minutes.
After the war, she worked with the United Nations on relief efforts in the Mediterranean. In 1958 she retired to a farm at Little Bavington in Northumberland.
Another of the women highlighted by Northumberland Archives is suffragette Norah Balls, based on a recording she made in 1975.
In the recording, held by the archives, Norah tells how her mother took her to a suffrage meeting. Later, she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union and remembered leading suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter, Christabel, coming to a by-election at South Shields.
She recalled how at meetings men would heckle them, shouting remarks such as ‘go home and darn your husband’s socks’ or ‘go and mind the baby.’
Norah was among women from Newcastle who took part in a march to the Houses of Parliament, where she was arrested.
During the First World War, Norah started a canteen for soldiers at Whitley Bay.
As part of Gateshead100, and with funding from Historic England, the town’s St Mary’s Heritage Centre has focused on 10 regional women in politics. An accompanying booklet has been distributed to every Gateshead school.
The women include:
Alice Mary Wicks (1862-1949)
In 1920, she became Gateshead’s first female councillor. She had previously been mayoress for her uncle Alexander Gillies during his six terms as mayor between 1900-1909.
Dame Annie Maud Burnett (1863-1950)
Elected to Tynemouth Council in 1910, she was the first woman to hold that position in the North of England. She was made a Dame in 1918 for her services during the First World War as president of the Tynemouth War Savings Association.
Later she became the first female mayor of Tynemouth, serving two terms in 1928–1930. There is a blue plaque on her house in Priors Terrace, Tynemouth.
Margaret Grace Bondfield (1873-1953)
Margaret worked as a shop assis-
tant and was so appalled at the working conditions that she joined the Shopworkers’ Union and helped found the Women’s Labour League in 1906.
She served as Labour MP for Wallsend, and became the first woman cabinet minister and first woman privy councillor.
Mary Gunn (1883-1959)
Born in Sunderland, her first job was as a servant. She was elected to Gateshead Council in 1921, became Gateshead’s first female mayor in 1942 and was the first woman to chair Gateshead Labour party.
Ellen Wilkinson (1891-1947)
From 1935 until her death in 1947, she was MP for Jarrow. She was heavily involved in the Jarrow Crusade and in 1945 became education minister in the Labour Government.
Dame Irene Ward (18951980)
Educated at Newcastle’s Church High School, she was elected Conservative MP for Wallsend.
She lost her seat in 1945 but was returned as MP for Tynemouth in 1950 – which she held until her retirement in 1974, aged 79. She was created Baroness Ward of North Tyneside in 1975.
Marjorie ‘Mo’ Mowlam (19492005)
Mo Mowlam, who worked as a lecturer at Newcastle University, was elected MP for Redcar in 1987. She served as secretary of state for Northern Ireland and oversaw the signing of the historic Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. On Thursday at 5.30pm in the Curtis Auditorium at Newcastle University there will be a public talk by Jane Robinson, author of Hearts and Minds: the Untold Story of the Great Pilgrimage and How Women Won the Vote.
In 1913 thousands of women from across the country set off on a sixweek ‘pilgrimage’ walk to London, with Newcastle one of its starting points. The Great Pilgrimage ended in a rally in Hyde Park attended by 50,000.
On Tuesday, Discovery Museum in Newcastle unveiled ‘intervention walls’ displaying infographics and statistics to encourage visitors to join the vote discussion while also asking what challenges women still face today.
The display is part of Tyneside Women, a two-year programme led by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM).
TWAM will work with Tyneside women and girls to identify and explore contemporary social issues which relate to women and gender equality, using the museum and gallery collections.
Sarah Cotton, keeper of contemporary collecting, said: “Museums are not just places where we learn about the past – we are also interested in exploring contemporary social issues.
“We have identified large gaps in narratives about women and their achievements in our collections.
“The anniversary of the Representation of the People Act has provided us with an opportunity to try to build future collections that are representative of women’s achievements and that is what we are aiming to achieve through the Tyneside Women project.”
At Beamish Museum, for half term between February 10-18, is Queens of the Machines: Women at War a commemoration of the contribution women in the region made to the First Word War effort.