[originaltext]INTERVIEWER: I’m going to talk to you now about the suffragette m

INTERVIEWER: I’m going to talk to you now about the suffragette movement. Were you yourself ever a suffragette?
INTERVIEWEE: No, I did not approve of suffragettes. I did not want to have the vote. I felt the man of the house should be in charge of that section. And the woman, of course, to look after the home and children. I thought that voting was unnecessary, at that time.
INTERVIEWER: What was your attitude at the time when the suffragettes were being militant?
INTERVIEWEE: Oh, I was very much against them. I’d be highly insulted if anybody called me a suffragette.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think it would matter very much if women didn’t, hadn’t achieved the vote, if they hadn’t got the vote at all and still didn’t have it?
INTERVIEWEE: I don’t think it would’ve made a great deal of difference, no, but there are certain things Members of Parliament have done that have been very useful in helping women in their jobs, in other vocations. I think it’s good that it had happened. But I wish it had happened a little bit more peacefully, perhaps.
INTERVIEWER: What sort of things can you remember, what other sorts of demonstrations do you remember?
INTERVIEWEE: Marching, they were marching. But of course those were much more peaceful days, nobody interfered with their marches. There were a few boos here and there and a lot of clapping.
INTERVIEWER: Did you actually know any suffragettes yourself?
INTERVIEWEE: Well, my friends, my close friends were. And we used to have great arguments and I used to say I didn’t want the vote.
INTERVIEWER: How did they react to that?
INTERVIEWEE: They didn’t like that. They said I ought to join the movement.
INTERVIEWER: You’ve done so many things that in your day were probably the exclusive preserve of man.
INTERVIEWEE: Well, yes. But voting didn’t make any difference because that’s a political thing. I don’t care about women entering into politics particularly.
INTERVIEWER: So you don’t mind actually joining men in their world of work but you’re happy to leave politics to them.
INTERVIEWEE: Right. I would rather really leave politics to them.