Edith travelled the country in her role as an organiser in the Women’s Social and Political Union and in February 1909 she was on the campaign trail at a by-election in the Scottish border town of Hawick. The by-election was called following the resignation of the Rt Hon Thomas Shaw who had held the Border Burghs seat since 1892, beating his Liberal Unionist opponent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, at the 1906 General Election. On Friday, February 26, 1909 the Hawick News reported the presence of the campaigning women in Hawick as a ‘novelty.’ The newspaper was slightly less patronising in its description of Edith ‘a lady of attractive personality, an eloquent speaker, and has the knack of keeping herself on the best of terms with her audiences.’ As was the usual practice the women had set up a temporary campaign headquarters in a shop in the High Street from which they sold their political literature, encouraging voters to vote against the Liberal cand...