Millicent Garrett Fawcett

Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett was an English political leader, activist and writer, known primarily as a campaigner for women's suffrage.

Fawcett was born on 11 June 1847 in Aldeburgh, to Newson Garrett, an entrepreneur, and his wife Louisa (née Dunnell). She was the eighth of their ten children.

As a child, Fawcett's elder sister Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who became Britain's first female doctor, introduced her to Emily Davies, an English suffragist. In the biography, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Davies is quoted as saying to Elizabeth, "It is quite clear what has to be done. I must devote myself to securing higher education, while you open the medical profession to women. After these things are done, we must see about getting the vote." She then turned to Millicent: "You are younger than we are, Millie, so you must attend to that."

Aged 19, although unable to sign as a minor, Fawcett collected signatures for the first petition for women's suffrage and became secretary of the London Society for Women's Suffrage. In 1897 Fawcett became President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and remained so until 1919. She focused on improving women's chances of higher education, serving as a governor of Bedford College, London (now Royal Holloway) and a co-founder of Newnham College, Cambridge.

Fawcett lived to see British women win the right to vote. She died in 1929, aged 82.