the first women councillors were elected in this country, at the elections of 1 November 1907, following the Qualification of Women Act. They started taking office at the first meetings of the new councils, 100 years ago this week.Paul also tells us that the pioneering woman doctor Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became Britain's first mayor in 1909 when she took office in Aldeburgh in Suffolk.
Incidentally, her father, Newson Garrett, built the Maltings at Snape, which are now the principal home of the Aldeburgh Festival.
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And there is the classic 1930's novel 'South Riding' by Winnifred Holt which has as a lead character a woman councillor on a then-fictitious council. Come to think about it, are there any other novels with local politicians as principal characters which are remotely authentic in feel for what councillors actually do?
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