Before the advent of what was the prime example of a battle-axe a radical member of the temperance movement?
Battle-axe (woman) A battle-axe is a term, generally considered pejorative, for an aggressive, domineering and forceful woman. The prime example was the militant temperance activist Carrie Nation, who wielded a hatchet and made it her symbol, living in "Hatchet Hall" and publishing a magazine called "The Hatchet". She became involved in the suffragette campaign for votes for women and this campaign further established the archetype.
Birmingham Political Union The Birmingham Political Union was a political organisation in Great Britain during the early nineteenth century. Founded by Thomas Attwood, its original purpose was to campaign in favour of extending and redistributing suffrage rights to the working class of the kind set out in the Reform Bill of March 1831 which when passed became the 1832 Reform Act. It included both middle-class and working-class members.