Scrapbook [of Dr Helen Wilson]

This scrapbook consists of press cuttings, leaflets, posters and other ephemera relating to the suffrage campaigns in Sheffield and the activities of the Sheffield Women’s Suffrage Society.

Helen Mary Wilson (1864-1951) was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. She was the daughter of Henry J Wilson (1833-1914), MP for Holmfirth, and Charlotte Cowan. Helen was educated at Sheffield High School for Girls, Bedford College London and the London School of Medicine for Women. She became House Surgeon to the London Temperance Hospital in 1892 and then entered private practice in Sheffield where she worked from 1893-1906. In addition to her medical career, Helen Wilson carried on her father’s campaigning work against the state regulation of prostitution and was Honorary Secretary and President of the Association for Moral & Social Hygiene. Her other voluntary activities included settlement and probation work and serving as a JP. In addition, Helen Wilson was President of the Sheffield Women’s Suffrage Society, which was a branch of the North of England Suffrage Society. She died in 1951.

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

Fonds Description (1 folder only)

The Autograph Letter Collection held by The Women’s Library includes the following material relating to Helen Wilson: letters to her parents, 1881-1887; account of her expenditure, 1882-1883; account of social activities, 1887-1888; notes written for a speech on women’s emancipation, 1909; correspondence as Honorary Secretary of the International Federation of the State Regulation of Vice, 1909-1913 (9/02 and 9/05). The Josephine Butler Letters Collection held by The Women’s Library also includes related correspondence (3JBL). The Women’s Library also holds the papers of Helen’s father Henry J Wilson (3HJW). Sheffield Archives holds papers relating to Henry J Wilson, including family correspondence.