her and was out-polled by 2 to 1; In 1923 she became Vice-Chairman of the Women's Liberal Federation. Upon becoming Mayor of Colchester, she decided not to contest public elections for the duration of her term. This meant that she decided not to run as a parliamentary candidate in the 1923 General Election. The following year when she served as Mayoress she also chose not contest the 1924 General Election. In March 1929 she was adopted as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for Hull North West. This made her the first woman to stand for parliament in Hull. The general election soon followed at which she came third, only managing to retain the Liberal vote from 1924; However, it was felt that Alderton had done remarkably well at such short notice. In 1931 she was elected President of the National Women's Liberal Federation serving from 1931 to 1932. When the Liberal Party joined the National Government in 1931, there were few opportunities for Liberals to stand as candidates at the ensuing general election, and Alderton did not stand. In Colchester as in many other places, the Liberals decided not to oppose the sitting Conservative Oswald Lewis and Alderton went to the extent of publicly supporting him against his Labour challenger. Although she did not stand for parliament again she remained committed to supporting the Liberal Party, even after it left the National Government in 1933. She was the first woman to serve on the Executive Committee of the National Liberal Federation. Local political career In 1916 she was elected to Colchester Borough Council, the first woman to be elected to the town's council. She was appointed a Justice of the peace, serving as a Magistrate of the Borough of Colchester. In 1923 she was appointed Mayor of Colchester to serve for a year. She was the first woman to serve in this role. Colchester historians noted that this made her the most significant woman in the history of Colchester since Boudica (who led the destruction of Camulodunum — Colchester's predecessor — in AD 60). In 1924 she agreed to serve for a year as Mayoress to her widowed successor. In 1928 she shifted her interest in local government from Colchester to the Essex County Council being the first woman to be elected to that body. She served on the county council first as an elected member then much later as an