early leader of the British movement for the emancipation of women.

In 1859, when her family moved to London, she became interested in the cause of woman suffrage. In 1874 she became secretary of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, which had been formed in 1867. She wrote Women's Suffrage: A Record of the Movement in the British Isles (1902). One of the first to recognize the significance of women in industry, Blackburn wrote important studies of The Condition of Working Women and the Factory Acts (1896) and Women Under the Factory Acts (1903). She edited The Englishwoman's Review from 1881 to 1890.