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150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST WOMAN TO VOTE SHOCK: TOUR SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBER

On 26 November 1867 something very strange happened. A woman, Lily Maxwell, voted, can you believe, in a by-election at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall. She cast her vote for Jacob Bright, the Liberal. He won. Her vote was then deemed illegal.

How did she get to vote, given women weren’t allowed to? She was accidentally sent a voting card in her guise as a householder and shopkeeper selling, according to the Guardian, “crockery, red herring and suchlike”.

Well, why weren’t women allowed the vote? Ah, you’ll have to come on the tour which delves into the fascinating story of the suffragettes.

* 11am from St Ann’s Church, Sun 26 November.