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Descendants of a pioneering Wigan politician who was the first to take a stand for a woman’s right to vote travelled to the town to visit his final resting place and see a blue plaque mounted in his honour.

Thorley Smith is best known as the first candidate anywhere in the UK to stand on a women’s suffrage platform, which he did in Wigan in the 1906 general election, but he was also the first working man to be elected to Wigan Council and a leading trade unionist who was made an alderman in recognition of his public service.

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Descendants of Wigan suffrage pioneer visit his home town