A look back to Bury St Edmunds in 1921, the year it elected its first woman councillor

The census of a century ago –1921 – in Bury St Edmunds confirmed the tragic depletion of the population through the consequences of World War One and the Spanish flu pandemic as numbers fell from 16,785 recorded in 1911 to 15,937.

Bury and its environs were still reliant on agriculture, but this year saw a terrible drought, so bad that the River Lark by Eastgate Bridge dried up.

The influx of cheaper foodstuffs from the USA affected the prices farmers could get for their products and this situation continued until the outbreak of World War Two.

1921 saw the inevitable slowing down of production of flax for linen for aeroplane wings at the Bury flax factory, which shut down permanently a couple of years later, the Hand Laundry eventually taking over the site.

A major connection to World War One was the unveiling of the war memorial on Angel Hill by General the Lord Horn, in the form of a Celtic Cross, the names of the fallen in a book of remembrance held in the Cathedral.

There were deaths of notable people this year. On February 28, Dr Henry Bernard Hodgson died – he was the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in 1914. Also, George Gery Milner Gibson Cullum of Hardwick. This cultured man, mayor in 1913, had the foresight to ensure his wonderful collection of art and books were bequeathed to Bury St Edmunds Council, though his home Hardwick House was demolished in 1925 through an entailment clause of his step-grandmother’s will. To date he is the only honouree mayor of the town as he was not an elected councillor.

But not all was doom and gloom – Bury saw the election of its first woman councillor in 1921, Eva Wollaston Greene, the wife of local solicitor John Wollaston Greene.

Eva would later become the town’s first woman mayor in 1927 and again in 1931.

Eminent local artist Rose Mead painted her noble portrait.

Martyn Taylor is a local historian, author and Bury Tour Guide. His latest book, Going Underground: Bury St Edmunds, is widely available.