Lavena Saltonstall

Lavena Saltonstall was born in September 1881 in Rawholme, just outside Hebden Bridge to Mary and John Saltonstall, a fustian dyer.[1] When she was around 10 years old, she left school to work half-time in the local clothing factories.[1][2][3][4]

When she around 23 years old, she moved to Halifax to become a weaver after finding the small-town of Hebden Bridge restricting.[2][3] While living in Halifax, Saltonstall became involved with the Women's Labour League and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and suffragette Laura Annie Willson.[2][3][5]

In March 1907, she travelled to Westminster and was arrested and imprisoned for 14 days.[2][5] During 1907 and 1908, Saltonstall invited the founder of the WSPU, Emmeline Pankhurst to give speeches locally.[6] In February 1908, Saltonstall was again arrested in London after refusing to be bound over to keep the peace for 12 months and was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.[2][5]

From 1908, she started to distance herself away from the WSPU and instead focusing more on the working class and Labour movements.[2][6] She turned to the Women's Education Association (WEA) to catch up on the education she missed due to leaving education at a young age.[2] At the WEA, she studied economics and later wrote a WEA corner column for the Halifax Guardian.[5]

In 1917, Saltonstall married a soldier, George Baker at the Unitarian Chapel, Halifax and moved with him to Bradford, where she died in September 1957.[2][3]

A blue plaque is displayed in the window of the house on Unity Street, Hebden Bridge where Saltonstall used to live.[7]