AN interesting glimpse into the state of affairs concerning bygone Salisbury is given in the book, What I Remember (1924), by Millicent Garrett Fawcett.

Millicent campaigned for women's right to vote and is seen as one of the most influential women of the past 100 years. She was the wife of the Right Hon Henry Fawcett, the Salisbury man who became Postmaster-General in Mr Gladstone’s administration.

Mr Fawcett was the son of William Fawcett, a north country man who had settled in Salisbury and was running a business in the Blue Boar Row, opposite the statue, which in later years was erected in memory of his distinguished son.

Upon William fell the pleasant task of reading the Gazette which had been brought by coach to the town and told the story of the victory of Waterloo. William Fawcett was a great radical as was his wife, their son Henry and his wife.

In her book, Millicent says: “Mrs Fawcett, my husband’s mother, was a very able and capable woman... She was a keen politician and her Liberalism was on strictly party lines – she never gave an ounce of sympathy to any cause before ‘the party’ had done so. There were, as in most country towns, rigidly defined political barriers between the shops in the city – Liberal drapers, fishmongers and so on, and Tory drapers, fishmongers and so on. Mrs Fawcett would never have dreamed of going into any but those in sympathy with the Liberals. I remember her indignation with me on one occasion because I had shown myself more intent on getting what I wanted than enquiring into the politics of the shop in which I had found it.”

How gratifying that Millicent Garrett Fawcett’s statue was unveiled in London earlier this year – perhaps Salisbury should show her the same respect?