Louisa Martindale (feminist)

Louisa Martindale, née Spicer (25 June 1839 – 15 March 1914) was a British activist for women's rights and suffragist.

[1] She assisted her brother, Albert Spicer, a Liberal MP for the Monmouth Boroughs (1892–1900) and Hackney Central (1906–18),[1][2] who himself worked on issues such as the admission of women into county councils.

In the 1880s, she opened her house for shop girls on alternate Saturdays, and took a number of underprivileged young women under her wing, among whom was Margaret Bondfield, later the first female Cabinet member of the United Kingdom.

The history of her work in Horsted Keynes, as a founder of the Congregationalist "Free Church" there, as a community leader, and as an advocate of women's religious rights, is maintained in the Martindale Centre, in the heart of the village.

[8] Perhaps her legacy is best symbolized by her brother James Spicer's great-granddaughter, Harriet Harman QC MP, a Labour politician who has attained high-ranking functions such as Deputy Leader, and Party Chair of the Labour Party, Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal, and Minister for Women and Equality.