Blue Plaque campaign launched for Hove’s pioneering political heroine

A campaign to secure a commemorative blue plaque for the political pioneer Margaret Bondfield is being launched by Labour’s Peter Kyle this weekend in Hove.

Peter, Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Hove & Portslade, will be joined by Jacqui Smith, the country’s first woman Home Secretary, and female activists for the launch.

Margaret Bondfield is an important figure in women’s political history – in the 1920s she became one of Labour’s first female MPs and in 1929 she became the country’s first female cabinet minister.

The role Hove played in her early political career has been overlooked by many and the location where the seeds of Margaret’s politics and feminism were sown has been a secret until now.

Margaret left home, aged 14, to serve an apprenticeship at a drapers shop in Hove and it was here she became friendly with one of her customers, Louisa Martindale, a strong advocate of women’s rights.

Louisa introduced Bondfield to other radicals and books which were an important influence on her political development.

When Peter Kyle heard the story he tried to locate the shop. Local records, historians and experts were consulted but the only information available was that the owner of the shop was called Mrs White and that the store was on Church Road.

Nine months later a local party member and former councillor, John Warmington, found a Mrs White, ladies’ outfitter, recorded at 14 Church Road in a street directory for 1888.

In 2014 the shop is still there at number 14 – except it is a Londis convenience store.

Peter Kyle now wants a commemorative blue plaque to be placed outside the building of 14 Church Road to mark the importance of the site.