Diane Atkinson


Diane Atkinson is a British historian and author who lives in Shoreditch, London.
She has written many books about the Suffragettes, and about women in history, most recently in the centenary of women getting the vote in the UK, covering the detailed experiences of campaigning women in Rise up, women! : the remarkable lives of the suffragettes, Bloomsbury "A thrilling and inspiring read! For too long these extraordinary women have been hidden from history. Rise Up Women! should be a standard text in all schools. And will be a treasured handbook for today's feminists -- Harriet Harman MP"
Atkinson also wrote about The Criminal Conversation of Mrs Norton, for Random House. The legal case that George Norton brought against his free-thinking wife Caroline Sheridan for criminal conversation – adultery, that is – in 1836 was a scandal of the Georgian era, that drew in Lord Melbourne and other leading figures. Atkinson's book is "the liberating life story of the first feminist legislator", according to Kathy Lette.
"In this fascinating book, Diane Atkinson does a lot more than simply remind us of a story that deserves to be more widely known", wrote Kathryn Hughes about Atkinson's Elsie and Mairi Go To War: "She also given us a ripping yarn about two plucky English gels who performed miracles while also having the time of their lives." She narrated the stage presentation Elsie and Mairi Go To War at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival.
Atkinson's book Love and Dirt about the marriage of Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick was and Atkinson contributed to , a Channel Four drama documentary based upon it that was screened on 16 June 2008.
Atkinson was a curator at the Museum of London and prepared their Suffragette exhibition in 1992.
She is a graduate of the University of East Anglia. She married the artist Patrick Hughes in 1986.

Publications