And how did you spend Valentine’s Day?
I visited Manchester for the day with my new partner. We went to the People’s History Museum to join a special tour of the main galleries and hear about love stories through history – an event billed as “a perfect date for romantic radicals”.
Mary Wollstonecraft strongly disagreed with the treatment of women within the institution of marriage, even though she would go on to marry her lover William Godwin. Friedrich Engels discovered love when he was researching the lives of the working class in the slums of Manchester, meeting Irish immigrant Mary Burns with whom he had a relationship for over 20 years. Beatrice and Sidney Webb, who as a couple played a huge role in the formation of both the Fabian Society and the Labour Party, did not marry until after the death of Beatrice’s father, and after much persuasion.
If you’ve never come across the People’s History Museum – also known as the national museum of democracy – you’ll find more information here.