international Womens day
8th march 2021

celebrating the lives of women represented in the sankey Family PHOTOGRAPHIC collection.

As part of international women’s day we want to celebrate and highlight the lives of women who are represented in the Sankey Photographic Collection, directly or indirectly. 

We’ve written about a photographic portrait, a place they called home, or an area in which they lived. The women we have chosen to write about, or an image of a place they may have had a connection with, has allowed us to develop a new understanding of the women workers, the philanthropists and the mothers who worked in and around a thriving industrial town. In some cases you will see that much of their story is gleaned from what is in the historical records – i.e. the census records or newspapers of the time – as opposed to what the woman or woman said in their own words. This reflects the fact that many working class women’s histories have been hugely unrepresented in our historical record.

If you want to gain a first hand account into the lives of women in Barrow in the early 20th Century we recommended that you visit the Elizabeth Roberts Working Class Oral History Archive.

We thank all the women who are taking part in the Seeing the North With Sankey Project for taking the time to share their feelings, thoughts or research about a woman or women they have found interesting, inspirational, knew or wanted to shine more of a light upon! Thanks also to the men who are supportive of this work.

3935 Women War Workers Enrolling At Labour Exchange. 1914 - 1918. © The Sankey Family Photography Collection.
Winifred Langton campaigning against poll tax rises in 1990. © North West Evening Mail Archive.

Winfred Langton – campaigner 

1909 – 2003

Charlotte Davies

Peggy Braithwaite Portrait © Cumbria Archive Service. BDX 650.

PEGGY BRAITHWAITE – Lighthouse keeper

1919 – 1996

RACHEL CAPOVILA

Isabella Sankey C.1911 © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

ISABELLA SANKEY 

1840 – 1917

Julia Parks

Nella Last in her Women's Voluntary Service Uniform. Photo Credit: North West Evening Mail

NellA LAST – diary writer

1889 – 1968

enid milligan

9876, Kirkstone Pass © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

Mary Cicely Fair

1874 – 1955

Lynn Belither

3405, Mikasa Street © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

THE GIRL IN THE MIDDLE

Early 1900’s

Jean McSORLEY

3020 Paper Mill Counting Paper In Reams © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

paper factory workers

Early 20TH CENTURY

SUSAN BENSON

7278. Vickers Ltd. Barrow. New Shell Shop Gallery. © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

WORLD WAR ONE MUNITION WORKERS

1916 – 1918

Wendy Kolbe

3934, Women War Workers Enrolling at the Labour Exchange. World War One. © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

Dorothee pullinger and the munition workers

1916 – 1918

Wendy Kolbe

Womens Munition Workers Football Team 1918 by Herbert Bentley.

Munition workers football team

1916 – 1918

Vanessa Allen

© Museum of London

SELINA MARTIN – SUFFRAGETTE 

1882 – 1972

WENDY KOLBE

© Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved

ELIZABETH GREW – SUFFRAGETTE 

Date of birth and death unknown

Dr Peter Schofield 

Win Langton remembers Hiroshima on August 6 in 1990 at Ulverston war memorial. North West Evening Mail.
A portrait of Dorothee Pullinger. Photo credit: Scottish Hall of Engineering Fame.
Ulverston war memorial © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved
Nella Last with her son Clifford. Photo Credit: North West Evening Mail.
Alice Wilkinson Recalls working in the Munition Works during WW1. 1982.
An advertisement for the Galloway car designed by Dorothée Pullinger. Image Credit: Britain by Car.
1016, Walney Lighthouse. Early 20th Century. © The Sankey Family Photography Collection. Can we see Peggy as a young women in the background?
Isabella Sankey © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved
Peggy Braithwaite THE NEWS, December 23rd 1980
A photograph by Mary Cicely Fair and printed by the Sankey’s. Photo Credit: Thanks to David Simpson from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society.
Political propaganda, Women's Social and Political Union
Mary Cicely Fair with a group of children
4290, Corner Of Bolton St & Crystal Road, Blackpool. 1913. Edward Sankey © Sankey Family Photography Collection. All rights reserved. Look carefully at the newspaper articles!

Thank you to everyone involved in the project. If you would like anymore information please contact julia@signalfilmandmedia.co.uk.

Our project is kindly funded by...