Revealed: TV Michelle’s link to the Suffragettes
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SHOCK FOR EX-CORRIE STAR
SHE’S played a strong woman or two during her acting career.
But it turns out powerful, nononsense females are in Michelle Keegan’s DNA after it emerged her great-great-grandmother was involved in the early Suffragette movement.
The former Corrie star, 30, explored her family history as part of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?
As well as discovering she has Italian roots and her ancestors had been torn apart by the Second World War, Keegan found her grandfather’s side of the family had a special connection to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst.
Her great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth, married Jack Kirwan in 1901 and their daughter Norah’s birth certificate was registered by Pankhurst who was a registrar for Chorlton at the time. The 1911 census also revealed Elizabeth had entered her occupation as ‘suffragist,’ an important way of protesting women’s lack of representation in society at the time.
Another unearthed document found Elizabeth top of a voting list for her district in 1918, the first time she and many other women would have experienced voting.
Irlam-raised Michelle, who played Corporal Georgie Lane in Our Girl and Tina McIntyre on Corrie, said it was a proud moment – and particularly significant because 2018 marks the centenary of the first women being given the vote.
She said: “I could have done it four years ago or last year but the fact that it’s a hundred years this year makes it a little bit more special to me, and makes me think, oh, maybe it was fate.”
The Stockport-born actress added: “It’s very empowering. I bet a lot of these women would have been fighting for this for years. This day would have meant a lot to them.
“I’m sure my great-great-greatgrandkids would watch the show in 100 years from now and think no way were we part of the Suffragette movement and no way we got Italian roots, so it’s something that has dawned that is really special that all the family members can look back on.”
Who Do You Think You Are? Michelle Keegan is on BBC One on Wednesday, June 6.