Hello!
We're the 'Blue Plaque for Lady Rhondda' project group; Julie, Jayne, Kate, Amy, Lorraine, Gwen & Gideon. We're fundraising for a memorial to Lady Rhondda, AKA Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda and Margaret Haig Mackworth in Newport.
Photo left to right: Jayne, Julie, Kate, Amy & Lorraine.
Who's Lady Rhondda?
Well in 2013 Julie discovered that it was the centenary of the year that Lady Rhondda, AKA Margaret Haig Mackworth, set fire to letters in a local postbox as part of the national WSPU (suffragette) campaign for votes for women, and was arrested; she was imprisoned and went on hunger strike. Then Julie found out that this was just the beginning of this amazing Newportonian's life story, so she put up some bunting to celebrate the centenary of the post-box incident.
The celebration made the news; thanks to the involvement of lots of local people, including Jayne and Amy, who brought flowers to add to the decorations in the suffragette colours of purple green and white.
After that a few of us thought we needed a more permenant memorial to Lady Rhondda in Newport, and so this project was born. We want to gather funds to buy a blue plaque and raise the profile of this amazing woman.
We aim to put up the plaque on the house next to the postbox, and also put on a lecture by Lady Rhondda's biographer Professor Angela V John, in June 2015.
Please get involved, donate what you can, and spread the word.
