A LETTER found in a book of poetry 30 years ago has strong links to the latest Hollywood blockbuster starring Meryl Streep.

Kathy Sohor, a 63-year-old grandmother from Lostock, was browsing in an antique bookshop at Last Drop Village in Bromley Cross when she found a book of poems by English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

She said: “It was leather bound and the pages were in lovely gold leaf so I thought it would look good on the book-shelf at home.

“Apart from that, Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shallot’ is one of my favourites.”

When she got home, Mrs Sohor immediately turned to this poem, and out fluttered a single sheet letter, dated January 25, 1931.

It was written by a woman named Maude Royden, thanking a friend called Harry for introducing her to the poet’s work. It was tucked away in the book — a gift to him.

Mrs Sohor added: “It was obviously written by an educated woman but, although I tried to find out who she was, this was in pre-internet days and I never did.”

She thought no more of it for decades, but a couple of months ago, she was listening to Radio 4 as she was driving and heard Maude Royden’s name mentioned.

She added: “They were talking about the new film Suffragette and mentioned her as one of the women the film was about.

“When I looked her up, it turned out she was one of the pioneers of the Suffragette movement and very influential. It was so exciting to finally find out about her.”

Agnes Maude Royden was born in a Liverpool family whose fortune was built on ships.

She graduated from Cheltenham Ladies College in 1896 and the following year went to Oxford to read history.

A committed Christian, she became actively involved in Women’s Suffrage — votes and equality for women — and forged a reputation as a gifted speaker, lecturer and author.

She travelled to America in 1923 for the Women’s International League and her writing is often quoted.

When she sent her gift and thank you note to her friend Harry, it was just three years after the passing of the Representation of the People Act giving women over 21 the vote.

In Suffragette, Meryl Streep takes the part of Emmeline Pankhurst — one of Maude Royden’s famous contemporaries — and Carey Mulligan is Maud Watts, a working woman who becomes a Suffragette.

Mrs Sohor said: “It’s wonderful to own this little link to such an amazing woman.

“It makes me mad to think of women today not voting when these women went through so much to ensure we could.”