A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a real Manx hero, Nelly Brennan, known for her exceptional work during the cholera epidemic of the 1830s as ‘The Florence Nightingale of the Island’, who made a significant contribution to nursing.

This week, I am writing about another family who made an immeasurable contribution and led, through tenacity, personal sacrifice, and tragedy, to a more equal society across the water and beyond.

Sophia Jane Goulden (née Craine) was born in the island in 1833 during the second outbreak of cholera (referred to in relation to the impact of Nelly Brennan) to William and Jane Craine.

She was an only child, rare in those days.

Her baptism records show she was registered in Lonan. Her mother and father moved to Douglas to open a boarding house, and that is where she met her future husband, Robert Goulden.

He was from Manchester, where he worked as a factory hand and was delivering goods to the island.

They married in Braddan Church and went on to have 11 children, including Emmeline, although their first child died at two years old. Shortly after the marriage, they left to work in Manchester.

The Gouldens were both actively involved in fighting the Corn Laws and wanted an end to slavery. Sophia was an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage, taking her two eldest daughters, Emmeline and Mary, with her to listen to those who spoke for emancipation. Emmeline, at 14 years of age, was totally inspired by what she heard.

In the summer of 1880, Lydia Becker, leader of the suffragette movement in Manchester, visited the Isle of Man and addressed five public meetings. She awakened in her audiences, mainly women, a quiet determination to secure the franchise, and when the House of Keys addressed issues of franchise reform on November 5, 1880, the desire for change had taken hold across the island.

The reformist lead in the debate was taken by Richard Sherwood, MHK for Glenfaba, who adopted a deliberately low-key approach to catch any opposition unprepared.

He simply argued that the word ‘male’ should be removed from the proposed legislation since ‘as a principle of justice, taxation and representation should go together’.

He reinforced his case by naming several ladies well known to members who were, he contended, far more deserving of enfranchisement than many male householders.

Sherwood proposed not only enfranchisement but also that women should be eligible for election to the House of Keys.

When the vote was called, the House of Keys carried the historic proposition by 16 votes to 3, and success seemed assured.

However, the reform was too radical for Governor Loch.

Unwilling to set Tynwald at odds with Westminster, his council (officials, not elected members) forced an amendment that restricted the vote to spinsters and widows who owned property in their own right.

Although restrictions based on property ownership remained, the Isle of Man became the first jurisdiction in the world to extend the right to vote to females, securing its place in history in 1881.

The 1919 House of Keys Election Act introduced universal adult suffrage based on a residence qualification.

With its introduction, the entire electorate, except clergy and holders of office of profit, became eligible to stand for election to the House of Keys, with the first female MHK being Marion Shimmin in Peel, who took up the position in 1933.

Emmeline maintained her passion and went on to form the Women’s Social and Political Union.

In 1991, Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, stating: ‘She shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back.’

Undoubtedly, she learned her values from her Manx-born mother. Later in life, Sophia owned a house in Douglas on Strathallan Crescent, using it as a holiday home for the family.

She returned many times and eventually settled back on the land of her birth upon retirement. It is not known if she ever got to cast her vote on the Isle of Man, but she could not vote in Manchester, as she died on April 22, 1910 in Douglas.

Women were not allowed to vote in the UK until 1918. Sadly, she did not witness the changes that took place only a few years after her death, but her spirit lived on in her daughter.

Tragically, Sophia predeceased her daughter, Mary Jane Clarke, who died on Christmas Day 1910, two days after being released from prison, where she had been force-fed.

Activist Emmeline Pethwick-Lawrence described her as ‘the suffragettes’ first martyr’.

She had taken part in the protests where many women were assaulted by the police, known as Black Friday on November 18, 1910.

She was arrested a few days later for window-smashing after returning to protest on November 23 and was imprisoned for a month in HM Prison Holloway, where she was force-fed after going on a hunger strike.

She was released from prison on December 23, spoke at a suffragette event, then travelled to Brighton for another meeting before returning to London. She died two days later, aged 47, at her brother’s house from a brain hemorrhage.

Whenever I am in Manchester, like many others, I stop to look at the statue in St Peter’s Square of Emmeline, Sophia, and Robert’s better-known daughter.

We owe much to her and the family for the more inclusive society we generally have today.

Emmeline founded and became involved with the Women’s Franchise League, which advocated suffrage for both married and unmarried women.

In 1903, she founded the Women’s Social and Political Union, an all-women suffrage advocacy organisation dedicated to ‘deeds, not words’.

Independent from, and often in opposition to, political parties, it became known for physical confrontations.

In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst believed that years of moderate speeches and promises about women’s suffrage from members of Parliament in the UK had yielded no progress. Although suffrage bills in 1870, 1886, and 1897 had shown promise, each was defeated.

All three of her daughters - Christabel, Adela, and Sylvia - were active in the movement, engaging in direct action.

Emmeline was arrested for the first time in February 1908 when she tried to enter Parliament to deliver a protest resolution to Prime Minister Asquith.

She was charged with obstruction and sentenced to six weeks in prison. She spoke out against the conditions of her confinement, including vermin, meagre food, and ‘the civilized torture of solitary confinement and absolute silence’ to which she and others were subjected.

She would be arrested seven times before women’s suffrage was approved. During her trial in 1908, she told the court: ‘We are not here because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to become lawmakers.’

Once again, the Isle of Man, via Sophia Goulden (née Craine) and her daughters and granddaughters, played a role in long-overdue social change. Just as Emmeline and others have been officially recognised in the UK, we should continue to celebrate the impact of Sophia Goulden on her island home.

A sincere thanks to the research of Daphne Caine MHK, Dr Mike Hoy, and others.