Wigan Album

Martha Hogg, was one of the greatest figures to hail from Wigan, or given the circumstances, from anywhere in the country. I think she can fairly rank with the likes of Countess de Markievicz, the first women to be elected to the House of Commons in 1918, and Nancy, Lady Astor, the first women to take her seat in the chamber. Not wishing to undermine their commitment to suffrage, they operated from a position of great privilege, Martha on the other hand was born into poverty, leaving school at 13, to work in the cotton factory, like her Mother and Father before. On her Marriage to William Hogg she was forced to leave her employ, as many women in those day were forced to do, this arcane practise applied even to some of the professions, teachers for example had to leave their chosen calling on their nuptial. This also applied to the Civil Service. To my surprise, whilst doing research, I found the discrimination carried on until the nineteen-sixties Barclays Bank only relaxing the rule in 1961.

I should have pointed out in the short extract above that Martha Hoog was Wigan's first woman councillor elected 1920, she was appointed to The Watch Committee 1928 ,she beame a Magistrate 1932. Marha Hogg died on the16th of May 1934 ,aged 61.