Burning Passions. The Story of the Struggle for Women’s Suffrage in Leicestershire by Jess Jenkins

Jess Jenkins, archivist and author, will give a talk on “Burning Passions. The Story of the Struggle for Women’s Suffrage in Leicestershire” at the Hoby & District Local History Society on Wednesday May 15th, 7.30pm, Hoby Village Hall (LE14 3DT). All are welcome; the price for non members is £2.00 (pay on door) or visit www.hobyanddistricthistory.co.uk for more information.
Many in Leicester and the county were committed to the fight to secure votes for women. All faced violence and intimidation. Several were even prepared to face the threat of imprisonment and the hunger strike. A few were even prepared to commit arson… Although suffragettes like Alice Hawkins are well known today, other significant players have been largely forgotten. This is the tale of some of the women -and men – who were prepared to sacrifice everything in the face of the government’s intransigence over the issue.  
Jess Jenkins worked as an archivist at Leicestershire Record Office for over thirty years. She accidentally volunteered to prepare an exhibition to mark the centenary of the local branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union in 2007 and was amazed at the array of interesting characters who were active locally. Her book on the subject – ‘The Burning Question’ appeared in 2008 and she is currently updating the work with all that she has learnt since then. The new book will be published shortly. She is the author of several books on local history and most recently of ‘Nursing in Serbia with Lady Paget in 1915’ which tells the story of a Leicester woman who went out to Serbia during the First World War.
The Hoby & District Local History Society is a voluntary organisation. The Society brings together people from all walks of life who are interested in the local history of the Leicestershire villages of Hoby, Rotherby, Ragdale and Brooksby and the District around them. The society was founded in 2013 as part of a village First World War research project for which it received a National Lottery Grant.