Papers of ME Roberts

The archive consists of leaflets and press cuttings concerning the Women's Social & Political Union (WSPU), the Women's Freedom League and other suffrage organisations (c.1907-1918); postcard portrait of Mrs Despard (undated); WSPU postcard (undated); notebook of visit to Downing Street to present petition (1919); correspondence with the Suffragette Fellowship Reading Room (1937-1938).

ME Roberts (fl. 1881-1968) was born around 1881. She became a member of the Sheffield branch of the Women's Social & Political Union (WSPU) around 1906 before leaving this to join the local branch of the Women's Freedom League which came into being around Dec 1908 after Charlotte Despard and her associates followers broke away from the Pankhursts and other WSPU's leaders. Roberts seems to have taken part in the Pageant of Women that was held in Sheffield in 1910. She would later become the local secretary of the Sheffield WFL. In 1909 she took part in a deputation to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition to the Prime Minister. She kept an interest in the militant suffrage movement throughout the 1930s, keeping in correspondence with the Record Room of the Suffragette Fellowship. In 1940 she moved to Liverpool where she lived for the rest of her life. She retired to a home around 1968.

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

In 1968 Mrs Roberts, then aged 87, donated these papers to the Fawcett through her niece, Mrs Winifred Fisher.

Fawcett Library Catalogue

The papers of are also held by the Women's Library (2WFL). The Women's Library holds the records the Women's Freedom League (2WFL), as well as the records of a number of militant, Women's Social & Political Union members, including Emily Wilding Davison (7EWD) and Louisa Garrett Anderson (7LGA). The records of the Women's Social & Political Union are held at The Museum of London. The Women's Library Printed Collections also holds a number of publications by the Women's Freedom League and the Women's Social & Political Union.