Linda McDonald explores the lives of four pioneers of the Women's Suffrage movement in Edinburgh, Sarah Mair, Louisa & Flora Stevenson and Dr Elsie Inglis.
Recorded on 7 January 2022 as one of the online events in connection with the City Art Centre exhibition: Reflections - the light and life of John Henry Lorimer (1856-1936).
One of the many portraits John Henry Lorimer painted was of Sarah Elizabeth Siddons Mair, a suffragist and campaigner for women’s education. Together with Louisa and Flora Stevenson and Dr Elsie Inglis, she worked tirelessly throughout her lifetime to bring about positive change for women. These four believed that girls should have the same access to higher education as their brothers. They believed that women should be given the right to vote in local and national elections. And they wanted to improve the health and education of the working classes.
Linda McDonald is a former teacher and a member of the Edinburgh Living History Group. Linda has taken part in informal presentations about the Women’s Suffrage movement in Edinburgh and is fascinated by the lives of the real women behind the campaign.