Ladies of the Shoe Industry - Lady Margaret Manfield

 

 

Lady Manfield was the wife of Sir Moses Philip Manfield, owner of Manfield and Sons. Born Margaret Milne, Lady Manfield was the second wife of Sir Philip and was the daughter of James Milne who was the County Surveyor.[1] Her obituary in the Northampton Mercury makes mention of her “many kind and generous deeds” and describes her co-operation with her husband’s pursuits rather than that of her own altruism.[2] However, further research into her own activities suggests otherwise.

The involvement of Lady Manfield, as she was know from 1894 when her Husband was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours, can be seen as in keeping with the philanthropic nature of the Unitarian church that both she and her husband were members of. When the Unitarian church and school buildings on the Kettering Road in Northampton opened in 1897, Sir Philip Manfield attributed the inception of the church, reported to be circa £5000 (approximately £654,700 today[3]) together with a fund for perpetual maintenance, to his wife and partner saying that he “was only too willing and too anxious to do anything not only that would please and gratify her, but anything that would help to establish their [Unitarians] causes more in the town”.[4] From this it could be argued that the motivation for Philip Manfield was to appease his wife. It must also be considered that Rev. Ireson of the Unitarian Church was married to Lady Manfield’s sister and therefore it could be suggested that this also had an influence on a donation of this magnitude.[5] 

Stone laid by Lady Manfield at the Northampton Unitarian Church

 

The Municipal Franchise Act 1869 allowed women ratepayers to not only have the vote, but also allowed them to be elected as Poor Law guardians. Following on from this the Education Act 1870 introduced Board Schools and enabled women to become members of the Local School Board. Because of this Lady Manfield, was able to stand for election on the Northampton School Board in 1877.[6] As discussed by Patricia Hollis, School Board women were often loyally Liberal relations of prominent Liberal men and Lady Manfield was certainly no exception. Moses Philip Manfield, Alderman and future M. P. for Northampton, speaking on behalf of Lady Manfield at a meeting of Unsectarian candidate supporters on 5^th January 1877, described his wife as holding “very broad, earnest, and deep views on both politics and religion, and indeed had educated him a little on those points”.[7] Incidentally, Lady Manfield was represented by her husband at both this meeting as well as the election results, however, the newspaper reports do not suggest why. Further research of the minutes of these meetings may reveal this, however, it would be difficult not to surmise that this was because she was an unelected female trying to gain access to a male environment. Lady Manfield sat on the School Board from 1877 to the 1880 election, stepping down at the last meeting in 1879. However, this was not to be the end of her involvement in the School Board and she was to continue as a visitor after her time on the Board. To her own admission she felt that “she could do quite as well as if she was on the Board, and being there alone perhaps she had not always done her own nature justice, being too timid in saying that which would go before the public.”[8] However, this was not to say that as a woman she was unsuccessful as a member of the Board, and although another female did not stand until Marianne Hearn stood for election in 1886, Lady Manfield’s election result proved that the voters of Northampton were happy to accept a woman could stand for office.[9]

Before her death, a branch of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows was established in her name, the Lady Manfield Female Lodge in 1896. This branch continued to operate until 1980 and allowed female members to attend away from the public houses that traditionally held the male equivalent. [10]

Lady Manfield died on 12th July 1899 at her home, Redlands, Cliftonville, Northampton. She left two sons, James and Harry Manfield. [11] 

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[1] England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837 – 1915: 1854, 1^st Quarter, City of London, 1c/266

[2] Northampton Mercury, 14^th July 1899 

[3] Figure from Bank of England Inflation Calculator. www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator [accessed on 21st April 2021]

[4] N.M. 8^th October 1897. The Kettering Road Church opened on October 7^th 1897

[5] N. M. 14th July 1899

[6] N.M. 6th January 1877

[7] Patricia Hollis, Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government, (Oxford: Clarendon, 2007).

[8] N.M. 20th December 1879

[9] Marianne Hearn was a female writer under the pseudonym of Marianne Farningham. According to the 1861 Census she was living in Northampton. Her works include The Christian’s World and A Working Woman’s Life. For more see Marianne Hearn, A Working Woman’s Life: An Autobiography (London: J. Clarke, 1907) 

[10] Many references appear regarding this lodge but thanks goes to the Oddfellows Society for providing me with information about the establishment of the Lady Manfield Female Lodge

[11] N.M. 14th July 1899. Keep an eye out for blogs on James Manfield's wife and Harry Manfield's wife in the next few weeks