Linford was the only female editor for 25 years. She was promoted to the editorial team at a young age, but she had already proved her talent as a reporter from war-torn Europe.
Madeline Linford and women journalists
Madeline Linford (1895 - 1975) has been called one of the most remarkable newspaperwomen of her time.
She was the founder and first editor of the Manchester Guardian’s women’s page, launched in 1922. Her successful career as an editor helped to pave the way for today’s women journalists. In 2015 the Guardian appointed its first female editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner.
Linford invited established contributors to write for her page, including suffragette Evelyn Sharp. She wrote this letter to the Manchester Guardian’s editor from Bow Street Police Court, where she was prosecuted for window breaking. She and Scott disagreed over the militant tactics of the suffragettes
Ref. GDN/332/52
31 January 1939
Former heiress, activist and journalist, Nancy Cunard (1896 –1965) was hired by the Manchester Guardian to report on the closing moments of the Spanish Civil War. This telegram records an unfolding humanitarian crisis - ‘half a million starving Spanish refugees. Situation catastrophic’.
Ref. GDN B/C290a/19
In this short video, Archivist Janette Martin looks at a report sent by Nancy Cunard from Perpignan on 9 Feb 1939.