Suzanne Lacore

Suzanne Lacore was born to a rather well-off family. In 1887, she was sent to a boarding school run by nuns, preparing girls to the Brevet élémentaire ((French), approximately equivalent to the present British "GCSE" (General Certificate of Secondary Education) / Scottish "Standard Grade"), while giving them a substantial catholic education. Having passed this examination, she then passed in the competitive entrance examination for the École normale d'institutrices ((French), a school specifically intended to educate future primary school teachers), where she studied for three years (1891–1894) and passed the Brevet supérieur. In early life, Suzanne Lacore was a teacher (as of 1894) and, later – uninterruptedly until she retired (in 1930) –, head teacher of a primary school in the Dordogne. She managed her political activities alongside her teaching career. She became a militant socialist in 1906. At that time, she was the only woman in her area to be a member of a political party. She was leader of the Comité national des femmes socialistes ((French) "National committee of socialist women") and wrote articles for local, regional and national newspapers.