Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven
district of Lincolnshire, England. Located along the
course of the River Witham, twenty-four miles (39 km)
to the south-southwest of the city of Lincoln, it has
a total resident population of 34,592. in around 18,000
households, including the village of Great Gonerby.
The
town is best known as the birthplace and childhood home
of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and as the
place where Isaac Newton went to school. The town is
situated within short walking distance of an ancient
Roman road, and was the scene of Oliver Cromwell's first
advantage over Royalists during the English Civil War
at Gonerby Moor. Grantham is also notable for having
the first female police officers in the United Kingdom,
who began their role together on November 27, 1914,
during the First World War. Miss Mary Allen and Miss
E. F. Harburn reported for duty on the beat. Mary Allen
was a former suffragette and had been previously arrested
outside the House of Commons and later went on to be
the commandant of the UK's women's police force from
the 1920s up to 1940. She helped to set up women's police
forces in other countries, including Germany. Edith
Smith became the first female with powers of arrest
in August 1915.
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