WHEN the votes were finally counted in the early hours of last Friday morning, Darlington discovered that 21 of the 50 members of its borough council were women.

Plus, of course, the town had re-elected its first female Member of Parliament, Jenny Chapman.

In an equation, it is difficult to say how many councillors equal one MP, but in Darlington, at least in terms of local representation, equality of the sexes is being reached.

The first stride towards this goal was taken exactly 100 years ago when the town’s first “lady councillor” was elected.

She was Miss Clara Lucas, but such was the windbaggery of the 27 male councillors and aldermen during her first, lengthy, council meeting that she said at the end: “If we’re going to be here all this time every month, I’ll bring my knitting.”

Despite her penchant for woolly relaxation, Miss Lucas was, according to the Darlington and Stockton Times, a “lady of advanced views...a pioneer in movements for the advancement of women politically and socially”.

She was born in Thirsk in 1853, but her father was chief stores superintendent for the North Eastern Railway. He moved to Gateshead, became a councillor and his daughter began her education there. She completed it at Polam Hall in Darlington, and became interested in improving educational opportunities in the town for other women. She ran her own nightclasses and became involved in the Cambridge University Extension Movement – from the 1870s, the university sent lecturers to provincial towns to give popular, public talks on academic subjects.

In 1894, women were allowed to vote for, and even stand for, the education boards that were attached to local councils and were responsible for running schools. Miss Lucas took her chance, and was immediately elected.

But she had bigger political ambitions. She was a founder member of the Darlington Women’s Liberal Association in 1882, and as the chairman – yes, chairman – of the Darlington Woman’s Suffrage Society, she was an “earnest and zealous advocate of votes for women”. The local papers of the day noted approvingly, however, that she was not a militant suffragette prone to throwing herself under horses.

In August 1907, the Qualification of Women Act was passed enabling women ratepayers to be elected as councillors. The first in the country was a Worcester hotel owner, Sarah Woodward, who was elected within weeks.

Miss Lucas had to wait until 1915 for an opportunity, when Darlington Town Council was turned into county borough. The change gave the council additional powers to run the police, to take charge of all education, to license everything from cars, cinemas and guns to dogs and midwives, and to provide allotments for gardeners and secure premises for “youthful offenders” and “pauper lunatics”.

The geographical area of the council was also extended – Harrowgate Hill and Cockerton became parts of Darlington.

Miss Lucas, 62, was one of the five candidates – the other four were male – who put themselves forward for the three seats in the Cockerton ward.

Polling, on Wednesday, March 31, 1915, finished at 8pm and the ballot boxes were taken to the Covered Market for counting. There were only 12,378 electors, so it took about 90 minutes.

“A huge crowd had assembled in the Market Place and there was much cheering and counter-cheering when the mayor declared the results from the top of the steps facing the Market Place,” said the D&ST.

In the Cockerton ward, a man topped the poll with 588 votes, but Miss Lucas came in third with 483 votes – 25 ahead of the chap in fourth. The mayor, Councillor JG Harbottle, “specially congratulated her as being one of the few women in England who was privileged to sit at the council table”.

Miss Lucas then took to the top step to make her victory speech. She “was well received”, said the Echo. “She felt it a huge honour and privilege to represent the Cockerton Ward. She thanked those who had worked and voted for her, and she hoped they would never have cause to regret sending a woman to the Darlington County Council.”

The arrival of the first lady councillor did not excite much fuss. It was commented upon, but only in the way that the failure of butcher George Zissler to hold his seat was remarked upon – Mr Zissler was a German immigrant who spoke with a thick accent, and his butcher’s shop had already been attacked by those hateful of his presence at the outbreak of the First World War.

Miss Lucas took her place on the education committee and was vice-chairman of the museum and library committee, although as the chairman was away on active service, she was effectively in charge.

Unfortunately, as peace came, Miss Lucas fell seriously ill, and was confined to the newly-built house – Fieldhead in Abbey Road – which she shared with her spinster sister, Alice. She appeared to recover, only to suffer heart failure at 12.30pm on April 14, 1919. She was 65.

Her body was cremated three days later in West Cemetery, her cortege through the streets from the Unitarian church behind Boots led by a posse of police and a phalanx of firemen, and attended by a large number of people from across the town.

The Northern Echo’s obituary said: “A woman of strong personality, holding advanced and independent views, she was essentially a pioneer, and in her advocacy of the women’s cause had to meet with a considerable amount of opposition, which, however, only strengthened her determination to win for her sex equal rights with those of men.

“In her later years she had satisfaction of seeing the fruit of these labours in the conferring on women of the Parliamentary vote and the opening of avenues of usefulness and work that had hitherto been closed to them.”

She really was a pioneer because 30 years later, when the Second World War was in full swing, only four other women had been brave enough to stand for election. None of them had been successful, “including Mrs Madge Taylor, the Labour worker with leanings towards ‘Keep Fit’ and hiking”, said the D&ST in 1942. “She made a determined but fruitless bid for the Cockerton ward.”

It wasn’t until the 1980s that women in Darlington began to follow in Miss Lucas’ footsteps in any numbers, and only 100 years after her is the battle for equality nearing a conclusion.