HER campaigning helped win women the right to vote and today Sarah Reddish's image is portrayed on Parliament Square's first statue of a woman.

A founder member of Bolton Women's Suffrage Society, the cotton mill worker's name appears on the plinth of the 8ft 4 inch bronze statue of Suffragist leader Millicient Fawcett, which was unveiled at ceremony in Westminster this week.

Sarah's name and picture is among 59 people chosen who supported the fight of women's right to vote etched on the plinth.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced the names to appear on the centenary of the Representation of the People Act. The Act allowed some women over 30 and all men over 21 the right to vote.

"It is a great honour for Bolton to have Sarah's name on the plinth," said Julie Lamara, local studies librarian at Bolton Library, who along with volunteers, Margaret Koppens and Lois Dean, have been researching local women who fought for rights of women.

She added:"Sarah's name along with seven others from Bolton is on the list of 100 people chosen nationally to be celebrated for the work they did for the Suffrage movement.

"To have eight women on that list is quite significant."

Local women as one of the 100 Pioneers are Mary Elizabeth Barnes (1864-1942), Sarah Reddish (1849-1928), Florence Blincoe (1874-1932), Alice Collinge (1873-1957), Bertha Lizzie Agnew (1869-1930), Mary Haslam (1851 -1922), Hannah Mitchell; Elizabeth Ann Anderson (1890-1983)

Mrs Lamara and Mrs Koppens both said that Sarah's story stood out among the inspirational women who fought for equal rights in all aspects of society.

"The eight on the list were non-militant and were known Suffragists.

"Sarah has always been an enigma, she never married and devoted her life to to helping women and babies, opening a clinic. I have always wanted to find out more about her."

Mrs Koppens added: "I first came across her as a member of Halliwell History Society and thought she was amazing women and always been interested in her story."

All eight came were from very different backgrounds — working class and professional — and worked together to further the cause of the women, with Hannah being jailed but bailed out by her husband. The three volunteers are still researching the inspirational women of Bolton who were not scared to break with convention to campaign on different issues — welfare and education.

"These are the forgotten women, there is little reported in the papers of the time about them — but they were chipping away in the fight to win votes for women," said Mrs Lamara, "We are collecting this information for the future for young people who can read about the work of these local women and be inspired by them."

Mrs Koppens added: "We are so proud of these women, and we owe them a lot."

Read about the town's plans to commemorate the memory of the Mary Barnes in tomorrow's The Bolton News.