Ross role in suffragette battle set for the spotlight

ROSS-shire’s role in the fight to gain the vote for women is set to come under the spotlight of a trailblazing new research project – and hopes are high local folk will be able to plug some of the gaps in the fascinating story.

In the years leading up to World War I, women and men throughout the Highlands campaigned vigorously to gain the vote for women.

However this story still remains to be researched and told – and now the spotlight is set to turn on Ross-shire.

Building on courses previously organised by the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) in Inverness, Nairn, Sutherland and Badenoch and Strathspey, Ross and Cromarty is the next focal point for research.

Today (6-8pm) at Dingwall Library, Susan Kruse of Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands (ARCH) will give a talk about suffrage in Ross and Cromarty, outlining a summer project probing the North Star’s sister paper, the Ross-shire Journal, to find out what was happening in this area.

The project is run by the WEA’s Women in the Highlands project and will be led by Susan.

She said: "When we first started looking at suffrage in the Highlands, I was amazed there was no book or article to consult. In fact some people told us that there had been no interest at all. But by looking at newspapers and suffrage journals we found the opposite to be true – many men and women were passionately involved. We are gradually collecting information to discover this forgotten story."

There were two waves of suffrage activities in the Highlands, from 1868 to 1874 and 1907 to 1914.

It’s understood the main suffrage group active in the Highlands, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) rejected militant action in contrast to the better known Women’s Social and Political Union suffragettes led by Emmeline Pankhurst.

Both groups held meetings in Ross-shire, and societies were formed in Dingwall, Fortrose, Invergordon and Tain.

Much remains shrouded in mystery and few pictures exist of meetings or people involved.

Susan is keen to hear stories of ancestors involved in the movement – and any photographs which might exist.

To find out more, contact her on 077888 35466 or email highlandsuffrage@gmail.com