Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 29 March 1913
I congratulate the Vicar of Conisboro’ on a very happy thought, and the parish of Conisboro’ upon the distinction of being one of surely very few parishes in England to boast a lady churchwarden.
The nomination by the Vicar of Mrs. G. T. Nicholson as his warden was not only a tribute to her husband, who was a tireless benefactor to the church, but to her personal devotion to its interests.
As the Vicar pointed out, there is nothing illegal about the appointment—indeed, it is perfectly amazing how many unconventional and unlooked-for things you may legally do—and now Conisboro’ has a similar claim to public attention to that which the neighbouring parish of Denaby has enjoyed for so many years.
People of the pastoral South, or the hill-men of Cumberland, who never heard of the Denaby and Cadeby Collieries, will say, ‘Denaby, why, that’s the place where they employ a lady as a parish clerk.’
And the same people, who never heard of Conisboro’ Castle, will become familiar with the name of Conisboro’ as the parish where the Vicar has a lady for his churchwarden.
It is an important, but not, I trust, a dangerous precedent which the Vicar of Conisboro’ has taken. After so generous an admission of the equality of the sexes, the Vicar’s goods and chattels should be immune from suffragist outrage, and that sense of security is worth a great deal in these troubled times.