THE lady seated third from the left in the garden of her home at Wildfell, Oakworth, was Miss Sarah E Cockshott.
Described as “an advocate of women taking part in the affairs of the day”, Miss Cockshott served on the Keighley Board of Guardians – one of the few public bodies open to women at the time – from 1892 to 1900. From 1919 to 1922 she was an early woman member of the West Riding County Council, and served on both the West Riding and the Worth Valley education committees.
From 1903 to 1934 she was a governor of Keighley’s Drake and Tonson’s School, and was deemed “an energetic member” of the local Women’s Liberal Association. She died in 1940, aged 87.
A note on the back of this original print evokes the Edwardian flavour of Oakworth society: “Left to right: Mrs Hanson, Mrs Newsholme, Miss S Cockshott, Mr Hanson, Miss Patty Cockshott, Mrs Bettison (Colonel Sugden’s sister), Lady Haggas (The Manor), Mrs Bettison’s companion, Colonel Sugden”. The writer didn’t bother to identify the children!
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