Suffragette Susan Flatman, better known as Ada, joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1907-8 and worked in by-elections in Bristol, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Cheltenham and Hereford.
Ada was a salaried WSPU Organiser from 1908 and served one term of imprisonment for militancy in October 1908 for taking part in the 'raid' on the House of Commons. From 1909 she was appointed Organiser in Liverpool and opened the first Votes for Women shop in the city that proved to be highly profitable. This vital fundraising allowed the Suffragettes to campaign nationally, to take care of members who suffered poverty due to their militancy, and to spread their message to the masses.
By February 1911 Ada had been appointed WSPU Organiser in Cheltenham where she adapted her organisational skills to the requirements of the local membership by organising a programme of drawing-room meetings with guest speakers from Head Office. In 1912 Ada worked as Organiser for the WSPU by-election campaigns in Hereford & Crewe. Her work is chronicled in the many tickets, leaflets and flyers that Ada kept in three scrapbooks, now in the museum collection.
However in July 1912 Ada resigned from her role as salaried WSPU Organiser for unknown reasons. She continued to be involved in the broader cause of Votes for Women, publishing articles in British and American suffragette newspapers during the First World War.