Necessary Women

Dr MARI TAKAYANAGI is a Senior Archivist at the Parliamentary Archives and has worked there since 2000. She is also a historian, currently researching Parliament, women and politics c. 1918-1945 with a view to celebrating the centenary of Equal Franchise in 2028. Dr ELIZABETH HALLAM SMITH was the first female Librarian at the House of Lords and before that was the Director of Public Services at The National Archives, Kew. Now attached to Parliament's Architecture and Conservation team, she is researching the history of the Palace of Westminster and the people who worked there across the centuries.

• TitleCopyrightContentsList of IllustrationsPrologue1 The Chaotic World of the Old Palace of Westminster: Meet the Women2 Ellen Manners Sutton: Scandal at the Speaker’s House3 Woman in Charge: Jane Julia Bennett, House of Lords Housekeeper4 Catering for the Members: Jane, Goddess of Bellamy’s5 The Admirable Mrs Gully and her Gallery6 ‘Losing their Reason’: Eliza Arscot and her Fellow Housekeepers7 The Ever-Youthful Miss Ashworth: Typing Comes to Parliament8 For One Night Only? Emily Wilding Davison in the Cupboard9 A Wartime Innovation: The Girl Porters10 The Monstrous Regiment: Women Managers in the Lords11 Miss Bell and her Bell: The Later Housekeepers12 Expert Shots and Dragons: Parliament at War13 ‘Girl Clerk In Commons’!14 Hansard and the Battle for Equal Pay15 The Strain of Carrying Ladders: The Library and ArchivesEpilogueThanks and AcknowledgementsSources and Further ReadingNotes

‘An excellent book. It was absolutely fascinating, and I learnt so much about the history of the Palace of Westminster and the unsung women who have helped to shape it.'