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Lydia Ernestine Becker, (1827-1890)
Early woman's sufferage campaigner'
Lived in Accrington from the age of eleven to thirty eight.

Lydia Ernestine Becker was born in 1827. Her father was a calico printer
at Accrington, from 1838 to 1865, when the family moved to Manchester. In
October, 1866, she attended the meeting of the Social Science Association,
and heard the address of Madame Bodichon (Barbara Leigh-Smith). The
enthusiasm of Miss Becker was kindled to an extraordinary degree. She
formed a committee, wrote an article in the Contemporary Review for
March, 1S67, and established a society pledged to the cause of women, all
within a few months. By 1870 she was a member of the newly created School
Board of Manchester, and Editor of, and chief contributor to. The Women's
Suffrage Journal, probably the first periodical solely devoted to franchise
reform for women.

Miss Becker remained the fountain-head of the movement till her death
in 1890. The mantle of reformer then fell to another Manchester lady, of
Manx descent. The achievements of Mrs. Pankhurst, in the field of militant
agitation, were the history of our daily newspaper, until the War called for a
truce to internal strife.