The Martindale family were an extraordinary family of women. Louisa Martindale senior was a Women’s Rights activist and suffragist. Widowed early she brought up her two daughters, Louisa who became a pioneering doctor and Hilda who became one of the first Lady factory inspectors and then a Civil Servant.
Louisa Martindale senior was at the heart of Brighton’s political and social network. During her time in Brighton, she was one of the founders of the Women’s Liberal Association, Women’s Co-operative Guild and with her daughter, Louisa, a women’s dispensary that later became the New Sussex Hospital for Women and Children. She also engaged in a practical way to improve the situation of women by opening her house to shop girls on alternate Saturdays. Among them was the young Margaret Bondfield who went on to be a Trade Union leader, MP and the first woman Cabinet Minister and who praised Martindale for encouraging her in her work.
As a suffragist, she was involved in the Brighton branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and sat on its Executive Committee in 1906 and a vice-president of its Central Society. She was also involved with Women’s Emancipation Union which was campaigning for women to become councillors on county councils. In 1907 she spoke at a Women’s Social and Political Union meeting in Hove where Christabel Pankhurst was the main speaker. She later donated £5 (which in those days was a large donation) to the WSPU. Apart from her pioneering daughters, her great great niece is also a pioneer in Labour politics. She is Harriet Harman QC.
