Nottinghamshire lives: those who brought others together

Helen watts was born in 1881 and lived in Lenton, Nottingham. In 1909 she attended the ‘Women’s Parliament’ and was inspired to join a protest for ‘Votes for Women’ in London. Helen was second to be arrested outside the House of Commons. She was charged with obstruction and passionately refused to improve her behaviour. She was sentenced to one month's imprisonment.

On release she was greeted at Nottingham station by many local suffragettes and a celebration supper was held at Morley's cafe on Wheeler Gate. She later attended another meeting in Leicester where Winston Churchill was speaking. This time Helen was charged with 'disorderly conduct' and in Leicester jail she went on hunger strike for 90 hours. She also smashed 2 windowpanes in her cell to let in fresh air and was released after 5 days. Helen was awarded the Holloway prison medal and the Hunger strike medal. After these experiences, Helen was in demand as a speaker and there are notes for a number of her speeches in the Nottingham archives.

Helen’s contribution to the Suffragette movement is undeniable and is an amazing example of people coming together to fight for a common cause. A Juniper tree has been planted at Nottingham Arboretum Park, to honour Helen Watts.

One of the other people being celebrated this Nottinghamshire Day is Eric Irons. Eric Irons OBE was born in Jamaica in 1921 and settled in Nottingham following his RAF service in World War Two. Eric was passionate about equality and this led him to enter public life. He worked at the Chilwell Ordnance Depot during the 1950s and began campaigning there for better employment opportunities, health, and education for black workers. He took up the issue of racial discrimination in employment with the Nottingham and District Trade Council, and successfully negotiated to have more black workers taken on in the depot, as well as by other employers in the city.

Importantly, he also set up a black community group in his own house which went on to form part of the Consultative Committee for the welfare of black people in 1955. The idea of the group was to discuss local issues faced by black people as well as prejudice that they faced. Eric Irons helped improve Nottinghamshire in many ways, one of which was helping the city council with problems that followed the 1958 race riots in the St Ann's area of Nottingham and he made national headlines by acting as a peace maker.

He made history in 1962 when he was appointed Justice of the Peace to Nottingham bench of Magistrates, becoming the country’s first black magistrate. Unfortunately, Irons’ position on the bench drew a large amount of media scrutiny and he was chased down the street by reporters hoping to catch a word with him and hounded on his doorstep.

Since then, Eric Irons has been awarded the Badge of Honour from the Government of Jamaica for his community work and was made an OBE in 1977. He was also awarded a Citizen of Honour certificate from the Council in 1996 and there is a plaque dedicated to Eric Irons at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham. Eric’s work in bringing the black community of Nottinghamshire together is an incredibly significant example of unity in Nottinghamshire’s history and his help following the 1958 riots was similarly significant in bringing the people of Nottinghamshire together in a time of division.