“Deeds, not words, was to be our permanent motto,” wrote Emmeline Pankhurst in her memoirs.

Perhaps the most famous suffragette of all, Pankhurst – along with her daughter, Christabel – set up the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, calling on passionate, like-minded women to take increasingly militant action as they campaigned for women to be granted the right to vote.

It wasn’t until 1918 that they saw their efforts rewarded, at least partly: partial women’s suffrage was secured in the UK in the 1918 Representation of the People Act.

This landmark legislation extended voting rights to all women in Britain and Ireland over the age of 30 who were property owners, had graduated from university, or were married to a homeowner.

But, while we know an awful lot about the likes of Pankhurst, Emily Davison, Flora Drummond and Millicent Fawcett, there were countless others who fought to secure freedom and autonomy for womankind.

With this in mind, and to celebrate our right to vote in the 2019 General Election, we’ve teamed up with FindMyPast to help you find out more about these incredible women – and track down your suffragette ancestors.

FindMyPast has brought together a historically significant collection of records (which they have aptly dubbed the Suffragette Collection) from the National Archives related to the women who supported women’s suffrage in the early 20th century.

Perhaps more excitingly, they’ve create a clever little tool for Stylist readers, which allows you to search for your female ancestor: all you have to do is type in both the surname she was given at birth and the surname she took after marriage.

Once you’ve done this, FindMyPast will scroll through arrest records, parliamentary papers, personal statements, reports of force-feeding, transcripts of speeches and a government ‘watch list’ of over 1,300 suffragettes, in order to find out what your relative did for the suffragette cause – and tell you more about her, too.

Use it for yourself below:

If you’d like to delve deeper into your past and get to work on your family tree, visit FindMyPast now.

This widget was originally created for Stylist to celebrate the 100th anniversary of some women getting the vote. See more of our commemorative content here.

Images: Getty