International Women’s Day
Last Friday was International Women’s Day and to mark the occasion, a group of women led by Stevenage MP Barbara Follett laid flowers on the tomb of local suffragette Constance Lytton (right) in Knebworth Park.
International Women’s Day celebrates the achievements of women the world over. It came into existence at the beginning of the last century in America and Europe when most women did not have the right to vote.
Lady Constance Lytton was born in 1869. The daughter of Robert, the first Earl of Lytton and Edith Villiers, she spent some of her early years in India where her father was Viceroy.
In 1908 she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union and was arrested for her part in the many demonstrations by women demanding the right to vote. Her health was damaged by hunger strikes in jail and after a stroke in 1911 she concentrated her efforts on writing articles and leaflets on women’s rights.
She lived with her mother in Park Lane, Knebworth from 1901 until she died in 1923.
Speaking on Friday, Mrs Follett said "I hope that women of the area will remember what Constance suffered to get us the vote. We must use it. It is a right hard fought for, and hard won."
Barbara Follett MP laying flowers at Constance Lytton’s mausoleum (top)
Barbara Follett and group of women walking across Knebworth Park to the mausoleum (above)
Issued: 12.03.02
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