Anna Munro
Anna Munro | |
|---|---|
 Scottish secretary | |
| Born | 4 October 1881 |
| Died | 11 September 1962 (aged 80) Padworth, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | campaigner |
| Employer | Women's Freedom League |
| Known for | Anna Munro-Ashman |
| Spouse | Sidney Ashman |
| Children | yes |
Anna Gillies Macdonald Munro (4 October 1881 – 11 September 1962) was an active campaigner for temperance and the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. Munro organised[1] and was the secretary of the Women's Freedom League campaigning in Scotland. She settled in Thatcham after the first world war.
Life and work
Anna was born in Glasgow, on 4 October 1881, to Margaret Ann MacVean, and Evan Macdonald Munro, a school master; following her mother's death in 1892 she moved to Dunfermline where she was cared for by an uncle and aunt.[2] She became involved with the Wesleyan Methodist Sisters of the People in London working with the poor. She then joined the Women's Social and Political Union and founded a branch in Dunfermline in 1906,.[3] and won support from socialist leaders and Labour's Keir Hardie.[1] In 1907 a row between the membership and the Pankhursts led to a split in the WSPU and as a result the more democratic Women's Freedom League was formed and Munro was elected to be the Secretary of the WFL Scottish Council.[4] She was briefly imprisoned in 1908 for her protesting. She accompanied Amy Sanderson, WLF executive committee member and fellow prisoner, on a speaking tour around the country, raising awareness and funds for the militant movement,[5] and with hunger strikers Alice Paul and Edith New at Arbroath.[6] Later Munro participated in the protests around the 1911 Censuswhich the suffragettes boycotted.[3]
She married Sidney Ashman in 1913, and though she legally took the surname Munro-Ashman she was still known as Anna Munro in her work, and she continued to be active working for women's rights throughout her life. She was also a socialist and temperance campaigner.[3] The Munro-Ashman's lived in Reading, but then moved to Thatcham where Anna was one of the first parish councillors in 1919 and they raised a family at Park Farm.[7]
Death and legacy
On 11 September 1962, she died in Padworth, Berkshire.[3] Homes in Thatcham are to be named Munro because she was one of the first two women Parish councillors in Thatcham.[7] In 2018 the Glasgow Women's Library commissioned Lucie Hearn to create a short film about Anna Munro to celebrate 100 years since some women got the vote.[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Pathfinder: Suffragettes: Women & the Vote". SCRAN. Scran ID: 001-000-101-855-L.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Roll of honour: Ten Scottish women who fought for the right to vote". The National. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ a b c d Virginia Russell, 'Munro, Anna Gillies Macdonald (1881–1962)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63880, accessed 13 December 2011
- ^ "TheGlasgowStory: Anna Munro". www.theglasgowstory.com. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ A., M. (19 March 1908). "Scottish Notes". The Vote. p. 444.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Browne, Sarah F. (2007). Making the vote count : the Arbroath Women Citizens' Association, 1931-1945. Abertay Historical Society. Dundee: Abertay Historical Society. p. 1825. ISBN 0-900019-45-X. OCLC 191091531.
- ^ a b Fort, Linda (13 August 2016). "Thatcham homes named after suffragette Anna Munroe". getreading. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ "Anna Munro". Lucia Hearn. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
Further reading
- The Women's Library Special Collections Catalogue, London Metropolitan University, NA1541, accessed 13 December 2011.
- Elizabeth Crawford, "Anna Gillies Macdonald Munro", in The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928, Routledge, 2001, pp 430–431.