Agency by William Gibson 
A Congleton author said she hoped to inspire a new generation by telling the tale of a woman who was “written out” of history, despite having changed the lives of women and girls everywhere.
“Justice is a Woman”, the debut novel by Susan Munro, is a dramatisation of the life of former Buglawton resident Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy.
It is based on historical facts, including interactions Mrs Elmy – dubbed “the scourge of Parliament” – had with important figures of her day.
Mrs Munro, who is chair of the Elizabeth Group, which successfully funded the creation of a bronze statue of Mrs Wolstenholme Elmy, erected in the centre of Congleton – said she felt like the book “flowed through” her, after having “lived, breathed, eaten and drunk Elizabeth” throughout the writing process.
A pioneer for women’s rights, Mrs Wolstenholme Elmy lived and owned three mills in Congleton and fought as part of the suffragist movement to secure votes for women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1870, she was part of a campaign that led to married women having the right to own property, and later won a legal case, which was a watershed ruling against marital rape.
Mrs Munro said: “She was a fascinating woman; she just did so much. I imagined myself in her place and how she was feeling during the incidents of her life.
“I’ve put fiction around the facts – I call it faction!”
References
The book covers Mrs Wolstenholme Elmy’s life from childhood in Manchester through to her death in 1918 and is peppered with references to locations in Congleton where she made her mark, including Buxton House on Buxton Road, where she lived and which now sports a blue plaque.
Mrs Munro said: “Her way of protesting was to write letters, 300 a day at one point, and all by hand. She was gifted one of the first typewriters ever made by the family of Oscar Wilde.
“One of the stories in the book, which is a part of Congleton’s history, is that she was sat in the window of Buxton House teaching herself how to use it and people were filing past her window to have a peep.
“In the end, she opened the window and said, ‘Oh, come and have a look then!’ and everyone walked past to have a look at the new typing machine!”
The book also delves into the Clitheroe abduction case, a turning point in history. Mrs Wolstenholme Elmy, who had not received more than two years’ formal education, defended a woman in court who was being held prisoner by the man she married.
Emily Hall was abducted by her husband, Edmund Haughton Jackson, in Clitheroe in 1887, as she was leaving church one Sunday morning and was imprisoned in his house.
Mrs Munro explained: “She had understandably refused to live with him after he’d gone to South Africa for several years and when he came back, he wanted to pick up where they had left off.
“The family tried to get her back, but the police wouldn’t let them anywhere near, because that was his right; he owned that woman, he could do what he wanted.” After an initial court case, the judge ruled that the wife had no choice but to stay with her husband, but then Mrs Wolstenholme Elmy was made aware of the case.
Mrs Munro will also be attending a book-signing event between 2pm and 4pm on Friday, 4th October at Higher Ground café on High Street, Congleton.
