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Minnie Baldock was a working woman from east London, active in left-wing politics, who became one of the earliest organisers of the Suffragette movement in the capital. As a girl Baldock worked in a shirt factory. She was a member of the Independent Labour Party, and her husband was a local ILP councillor to West Ham. Along with Keir Hardie, her local MP, she held a public meeting in 1903 to complain about the low pay of women in the area. She was also involved in the administration of the West Ham Unemployed Fund. In April 1905, Baldock became an ILP candidate in the election for the West Ham Board of Guardians.

In January 1906 Minnie became Chairwoman of the newly formed Unemployed Women of South-West Ham. Soon after the group went to Caxton Hall and joined Emmeline Pankhurst in lobbying the House of Commons and, by February, had become the Canning Town branch of the WSPU. Minnie Baldock became a salaried Organiser for the WSPU, travelling the country and spending time away from her husband and two sons, Jack and Harry. She also served two terms of imprisonment for militancy in 1906 and 1908. In 1909 she received the silver Holloway brooch, the first imprisonment 'medal' awarded to Suffragettes.

In 1911 Minnie was diagnosed with cancer and, although she survived, her illness curtailed her militancy and future involvement with the WSPU. She continued to be a member of the Church League for Women's Suffrage.  

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Further information

  • Suffragette

  • Born: c.1864

  • Died: 1954