As the industrial revolution and the coming of the railways transformed the Wiltshire countryside Swindon women were on the front line of change, shaping the new industrial town and transforming the old market one.
Incomers arrived from the great railway centres across the country to create a welcoming, tolerant and creative community with women's contribution at its heart.
Following the incorporation of Old and New Swindon in 1900 innovative women stepped up to the plate; women like Swindon born suffragette Edith New who challenged political conventions and Emma Noble, Swindon's first female councillor, who campaigned to improve living conditions in the town.
The story of Swindon women includes artists and actresses, political activists and social reformers and the ordinary women who worked in the factories, raised their children and made a difference.
Discover how development at the Great Western Railway factory almost stalled due to a lack of female employment in the town.
Learn how a housemaid at Lydiard House became Viscountess Bolingbroke.
Two murdered young women. Why does one have an ornate memorial and the other lie in an unmarked grave?
Join me at the launch of my book Struggle and Suffrage in Swindon: Women's Lives and the Fight for Equality. There will be an opportunity to buy the book at an introductory offer of £10. This event will take place before our regular guided walk at Radnor Street Cemetery on Sunday June 23 meet at the chapel for 1.45 pm.
