Emma Sproson (13 April 1867 – 22 December 1936), was a suffragette, then a suffragist, socialist, politician and women’s rights activist. Active in the Midlands and from a working class background, she became Wolverhampton’s first female councillor, gaining the nickname “Red Emma” in the process.
She was ridiculed and abused in the street, imprisoned and suffered violence, but never gave up the fight – indeed, she went on to become the first woman elected to Wolverhampton Borough Council in November 1921. Sproson was born Emily Lloyd on 13 April 1867 in West Bromwich in the West Midlands, England. She was one of seven children of Ann, née Johnson, and her husband, John, a builder of canal boats; he was a heavy drinker, and the family lived in extreme poverty. In the mid-1870s the family moved to Wolverhampton and, at around the same time, Emma began to work part time, running errands or picking coal off the local tips and slag heaps. In around 1876, at the age of nine, she left home and went into domestic service, although she was able to attend school four days a week. When she was thirteen she obtained a position working in a shop, although she was dismissed after accusing the owner’s brother of making sexual advances towards her. Unemployed, she moved to Lancashire to find work; she taught at a Sunday school and joined a church debating society. Sproson was also a member of the Women’s Tax Resistance League, who refused to pay tax in protest against disenfranchisement; tax resistance was also a policy of the WFL. In May 1911 she was sent to prison for seven days for refusing to pay for a dog licence. She went on hunger strike and was reclassified as a political prisoner. Her dog was shot by the police..[1]
Agi Ch, a specialist fine art photographer from the West Midlands and Sara Trayers Townswomen’s Guilds visited Dave Sproson, Emma Sproson’s grandson in his home in Dudley, West Midlands to look at his memorabilia and talk to him about his Grandmother Emma.
” Emma sneaked into Moxley Isolation unit via the back doors as she had heard that the patients were not getting the food that the relatives were leaving, this caused an almighty raucous.
Aunt Polly on hearing that Emma was moving to Castle croft (the house is still there but at the time it was 4 houses surrounded by fields) exclaimed that there are Wolves over there, the front door came from Wolverhampton Girls High School.
Emma’s dad was a big drinker at the Bacchus that Emma mentions is the name of the pub. Emma was pregnant with George Herbert when incarcerated , my Dad. ”
Dave Sproson
Photographs by Agi Chi
Thanks to Wolverhampton Archives and Dave Sproson for kind permission to use photographs.
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