Alderman Mrs. Catherine Buchanan Alderton MBE, JP, CC (1869 – 9 November 1951), was a Cheshire-born British Liberal Party politician and suffragist. She was the first woman elected as Mayoress of Colchester. Background She was the daughter of the Reverend Thomas Robinson, minister of Lion Walk Congregational church from 1886 to 1902. She was educated at Milton Mount College for Girls in Gravesend Kent, an educational institution for the daughters of congregational ministers. She qualified as a secondary-school teacher and taught maths until 1897. She married, in 1897 Archibald William Alderton. They had one son. Politics National political career Alderton joined the Liberal party. She was an active advocate of the campaign to give women the vote for parliamentary elections. She was a suffragist who believed in non-violent protest as advocated by the NUWSS. She opposed the actions of the suffragettes (WSPU) describing their tactics as "disgraceful and disreputable". In 1912 she became a national executive member of the Women's Liberal Federation. In 1913 she was a founding executive member of the Liberal Women's Suffrage Union. The organisation was created as a rallying point for women in the Liberal party to press for votes for women. She opposed the decision of the NUWSS to extend their Elections Fighting Fund policy of campaigning against Liberal by-election candidates who supported votes for women. In 1920 she became Honorary Secretary of the national Women's Liberal Federation. After women were permitted to stand for parliament in 1918, Alderton considered standing herself. Colchester had been a Unionist seat since 1910. The constituency included more than just the borough of Colchester and was not thought to be a particularly good prospect for a Liberal. She was deeply interested in improving labour conditions for the working class and especially women. Given that she was born in Scotland of Scottish parents, a seat in Scotland seemed appropriate. In October 1922, very much at the last minute, Alderton was adopted by Edinburgh South Liberal Association as their prospective parliamentary candidate. (There is some uncertainty about her exact affiliation. She was described at the time as an independent 'Asquith' Liberal, but subsequent Liberal Year Books described her as a 'Lloyd George' National Liberal.) The Liberals had not won the seat since 1910 and at the 1920 Edinburgh South by-election the Unionist majority was still a reasonably comfortable 3,000. In another straight fight with a Unionist she encountered a swing against