The Women's Cooperative Guild was formed in 1883 and by 1910 had 32,000 members. It supported wome's suffrage and argued that women should have full equal rights with men.
Sarah Reddish, a trade union organiser in Bolton’s cotton mills, was regional organiser for the Guild in the north of England from 1893 to 1895 and its national President in 1897.
She went on two delegations to parliament in support of votes for women.
She toured the country as a speaker on the Clarion van and in March 1900 was the first woman to be elected to the Bolton School Board, striking a blow for both socialism and feminism.
Sarah died in 1928 and her grave is in Heaton Cemetry.