For much of the nineteenth century, the women of Northumberland had
occupied crucial, though largely underappreciated and acknowledged,
roles within society. Aside from the hard life of raising families in an
area where money was often hard to come by, and where much of the
available work was labor intensive and dangerous, women were also
expected to play a role in bringing money into the household.
In what was a largely agrarian county, female laborers, who were known
as bondagers, were widely respected for their contribution to the local
economy although there were those who criticized the system for forcing
women to undertake hard manual labor. The farming economy in
Northumberland depended so much upon female labor that many men found
that it was far easier to be taken on by a prospective employer if they
could assure that employer that they would be able to bring a suitable
female worker with them.
The period was also one of considerable upheaval. There were a number of
prominent Northumbrian suffragists and the local radical suffragettes
launched a number of attacks in the area. Morpeth was a very early
supporter of women's suffrage and the Mayor and local council actively
gave their support to the cause, although they remained largely opposed
to the actions of the suffragettes. Although born in London, Emily
Wilding Davison's mother was Northumbrian and she had a wide network of
relations in Morpeth and throughout the county. After her father's death
her mother had relocated to the Northumberland village of Longhorsley
and Emily spent long period with her, recuperating after her numerous
hunger strikes. Famously losing her life after being struck by the
King's horse at the 1913 Derby, Emily was buried with great ceremony in
a quiet Morpeth churchyard and to this day she remains one of Morpeth's
most famous (adopted) daughters, with her grave remaining a site of
pilgrimage for many supporters of women's rights.
