Micro Monday

Secret Past

History matters

“Um, I’ve found a photo of your great-grandmother…”

I spend hours on genealogy research, because history is important: it tells us about ourselves, not just our past. He indulges the time I devote to my hobby, partly because he loves me and partly because I research his family too, so he doesn’t have to do the hard work of digging up records and connecting the dots.

“Edith?”

“Ye — es. It’s her mugshot, or whatever they were called back in the day.”

His family are proud of Edith and her criminal record. The story is, she was a suffragette before the Pankhursts; before anybody, really. She was arrested in 1902, at the Epsom Derby, for trying to sabotage the King’s horse, protesting for women’s right to vote. She served two months in prison, and became a family legend.

“Let me see!”

“I’m not sure you want to.”

He doesn’t listen.

“Oh. I hoped she’d be wearing a Votes for Women sash, or something. I suppose they took that away before they photographed her.”

“Yeah… no. She never had one. The records are handwritten, so they’re not always easy to decipher, but I think she was arrested for soliciting.”

“Like, giving out literature or something?”

“No. Giving out something, certainly, for ten shillings a go according to the charge sheet. Another document records her personal property record when she was arrested. She had thirty guineas on her, all in notes. Ten shilling notes.”

“Oh.”

“Should I add the photo to the tree anyway?”

“What will you write?”

“Edith Pargetter, arrested June 4, 1902, for demonstrating in support of women’s rights at the Derby.”

History is important. It tells us about ourselves.

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