Remembering Maria: The plaque dedicated to a pioneering Darlington woman

The plaque is dedicated to Maria Swanson, who is one of the great unknowns of the local suffrage movement.

Maria Swanson, Darlington suffragist. Picture courtesy of the Darlington Centre for Local Studies

For a provincial town, Darlington played a surprisingly lively role over many decades in the campaign, and Miss Swanson was one of the most prominent local leaders.

However, perhaps because these campaigners were ordinary working class women, their activities are not recorded, and once the vote was won in 1918, they stepped back into the daily business of running their households.

The plaque was unveiled in Waverley Terrace by Cllr Heather Scott, the leader of Darlington Borough Council, and Wendy Richardson, who has lived in Miss Swanson’s house for the last 20 years.

Cllr Scott said: “I’m delighted to see Maria Swanson commemorated in this way because we know so little about the grassroots members and how they were involved in such an important campaign. This will ensure that the memory of their movement is preserved for future generations.”

Cllr Heather Scott pictured at the home of Wendy Richardson from Darlington where Suffragist Maria Louisa Swanson once lived and her grandson  Marc Farrington has had a blue plaque made for the house Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Miss Swanson was born in 1853 and lived in the terrace near Bank Top station with her sister, Thomasine. They were the daughters of John, a coach-builder, who is said to have built one of the first carriages to run on the Stockton & Darlington Railway when it opened in 1825.

Miss Swanson first comes to history’s attention in 1909 when she took the post of secretary of the Darlington Society for Women’s Suffrage. This Darlington branch was affiliated to the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) which was the group formed by Millicent Fawcett in 1897 to peacefully campaign for the vote.

They were “suffragists”, and in 1903, the “suffragettes” led by Emmeline Pankhurst broke away from their movement to form the Women’s Social and Political Union and campaign more aggressively and violently.

Perhaps because of her Quaker friendships in Darlington, Miss Swanson, who was “an assistant dance teacher”, was committed to peaceful change.

She is known to have travelled to London on suffragist business, and she must also have organised the Darlington branch which was very active in holding public meetings in places like Central Hall.

She was clearly a national figure because her name is on a letter that has recently emerged in Manchester, written at Christmas 1914 to the “women of Germany and Austria” at the start of the First World War. It was signed by 100 leading suffragists, who probably all had socialist, pacifist leanings, and who called themselves the “sisterhood of sorrow”.

Maria Swanson, Darlington suffragist. Picture courtesy of the Darlington Centre for Local Studies

The letter begins: “The Christmas message sounds like mockery to a world at war, but those of us who wished and still wish for peace may surely offer a solemn greeting to such of you who feel as we do. Do not let us forget that our very anguish unites us, that we are passing together through the same experience of pain and grief.

“Caught in the grip of terrible circumstance, what can we do? Tossed on this turbulent sea of human conflict, we can but moor ourselves to those calm shores whereon stand, like rocks, the eternal verities: love, peace, brotherhood.”

The letter reassures the German women that the women of Britain will ensure that their sons, if captured, will be taken care of in prisoner of war camps in this country.

The open letter says: “Though our sons are sent to slay each other, and our hearts are torn by the cruelty of this fate, yet through pain supreme we will be true to our common womanhood. We will let no bitterness enter into this tragedy, made sacred by the lifeblood of our best, nor mar with hate the heroism of their sacrifice.”

Clara Curtis Lucas was Darlington's first female councillor, elected in 1915

As well as Maria and Thomasine’s signatures on the letter, it also contains that of Clara Curtis Lucas, who in 1915 became Darlington’s first elected female councillor. She was the chairman – yes, chairman – of Maria’s society, and we would love to see a plaque on her home in Abbey Road, as well.

The plaque in Waverley Terrace has been put up as a belated Christmas present by Wendy Richardson’s grandson, Marc Farringdon.

“It was a privilege to meet Wendy at the unveiling because she has championed the cause of women throughout her long life, both as a Soroptimist and as a member of the National Council of Women,” said Cllr Scott.

Wendy Richardson at her home in Darlington where Suffragist Maria Louisa Swanson once lived and her grandson has had a blue plaque made for the house Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

Mrs Richardson said: “The plaque reflects the fact that this important woman lived here and she had such a positive effect in getting things going here in Darlington in her lifetime.”

Miss Swanson died in 1923, aged 70, and is buried in West Cemetery beneath a headstone she shares with her parents and her two unmarried sisters, Sarah and Thomasine.