BETWEEN 1993 and today, Basingstoke Heritage Society has put up 23 blue plaques as well as two interpretation signs, most of them within the central town area.

Our next project will be a blue plaque to note a significant figure in the life of the town.

Basingstoke’s first woman mayor lived in Crossborough Hill, and we think she should be better known.

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She was Cllr Edith Alice Weston who served as a town councillor from 1929 until her death in 1956 at the age of 72. She and her husband moved to Basingstoke in 1914 and by 1919 she was an active figure in the Labour Party.

She had also been a keen suffragette. Her belief in that cause inspired her to fight not only for its principles but for practically any project which would materially or culturally benefit the community.

She was a member of the county council from 1934 to 1946 and also stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party and, although not successful, considerably increased the party's vote in the Basingstoke constituency.

She was the first woman ever to stand for election to the town council, but by the time she was successful, she was the second to be elected.

Edith worked hard for the town and became chairman of the library and museum committee. She was a prime mover in the establishment of the Willis Museum in New Street, alongside George Willis and Thomas Allnutt.

The library had belonged to the Mechanics’ Institute, and both it and the museum came under Hampshire County Council control in 1945. Many older residents will remember the library and museum here.

The public library is now in Festival Place and the museum in Market Place is in what was once the Town Hall.

She was a member of all the school managers’ committees (far fewer schools then) and fought at the county level for the new building for the Boys’ Grammar School, which opened in 1940 on Vyne Road and is now The Vyne School.

Her interest in the welfare of women and children led to the much-needed achievement of a maternity home for the town. The Shrubbery. a large and suitable house, had been the home of Thomas Burberry Junior and his wife Mary Ann.

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The Shrubbery Maternity Home in Cliddesden Road opened in 1946 and served less well-off women who contributed whatever they could afford – until the day when the National Health Service took over on 5 July 1948.

Cllr Weston keenly supported the establishment of the Haymarket Theatre which opened in 1951 – the name ‘Haymarket’ deriving from the building’s foundation as a Corn Exchange.

Cllr Weston was a well-known figure as she cycled around the town attending committees. She was also a particularly keen sportswoman, playing both tennis and badminton and was a member of the Basingstoke Golf and Hockey Club.

She presented a cup each year to the youngest girl attending the high school who had learned to swim in her first year.

George Willis noted that when Mrs Weston was proposed as mayor, there was “in certain quarters an element of apprehension” – presumably because there had never been a woman mayor before.

Her year of office was very successful and Willis went on to write that “they [her fellow councillors] knew that Mrs Weston did enjoy the clash of ideals and that she could stand up to a buffeting without loss of dignity or temper …” That seems a fine accolade for any politician.

The plaque will go up in Crossborough Hill to remind us of a very hard-working and dedicated councillor with a place in the history of our town.  

This article was written by Debbie Reavell of the Basingstoke Heritage Society