Largely forgotten today, a remarkable group of some two to three hundred women achieved positions of significant political influence and power in British local government in MADAM THE FIRST WAVE OF LIBERAL WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP 1918–1939 the period before the Second World War. A substantial number of them were Liberals. lection to the office of of the new listed by party This article examines mayor or to the aldermanic every November throughout the 1 this first generation of Ebench is taken as the yard- interwar years. These lists provide stick of achievement of influence the principle source for determin- Liberal women pioneers, and power. Appointment to these ing individuals’ allegiance. Some offices recognised the status and listed by the press as Independents where they came to capacity of the recipients, their or ‘party not specified’ have also acceptance into the local politi- been counted as Liberals because of prominence, what their cal elite, and their public profile in their known Liberal links or back- social and economic the community. Typically it went grounds. Of course the degree of with service as chair or vice-chair Liberal commitment varied – rang- background was, what of council committees and other ing from active officers of the party important local roles in public and to others who were only loosely political outlook they political bodies and organisations. connected – and over time some had, and why there Details of all the female mayors gravitated to the Tories or Labour. and most of the aldermen during were not more of them. the period have been collected for the English and Welsh County and Female participation in local Their story sheds light Municipal Boroughs, the government on an important issue Metropolitan Boroughs and the Although women’s electoral rights Scottish burghs (which had prov- at Westminster level were only con- of women’s history osts and bailies instead of mayors ceded at the end of the First World and aldermen). The County Coun- War,5 the history of female partici- in Britain: how far cils are not included.2 Even if not pation in local authorities goes back the campaigns of the every prominent female figure in a half-century before that. The local government met these crite- right to vote and to become a mem- previous decades for ria, the vast majority of them are ber of different branches and levels caught.3 of local government was granted women’s political rights Defining who amongst them piecemeal at various stages well and participation bore was a Liberal is not always simple. before 1918. Large stretches of local government Single women ratepayers gained fruit in the interwar at this time were non-political, or the vote in local authority elections operated on a Labour-versus-the- from 1869 and soon constituted period. It also teaches rest basis, with candidates standing between one-eighth and a quar- as non-party or Independents or ter of the electorate.6 They could us much about the using some other invented label.4 vote for county councils from 1888. character of the Liberal The line between Liberals and Women could be elected to the Conservatives was often blurred school boards from 1872, until these Party at local level and became increasingly so over were replaced in 1902 by the edu- Top: Ethel time as the Liberal Party declined cation committees of county and during the years of Colman, Annie and entered into alliances with county borough councils, to which decline. By Jaime Helme the Tories. Nevertheless the party women could be co-opted. They Bottom: Florence alignment of most mayors was suf- could also, from 1875, be elected to Reynolds. Keynes, Juanita ficiently clear forThe Times and the boards of guardians that admin- Phillips other newspapers to publish details istered the Poor Law and remained

6 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 MADAM MAYOR THE FIRST WAVE OF LIBERAL WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP 1918–1939

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 7 madam mayor a separate branch of local govern- terms in the decade 1919–28 and three times after completing her ment until 1930. Women ratepay- 157 in the decade 1929–38. Even husband’s term. Elizabeth Kenyon ers both married and single were in the best year, 1937, the propor- was mayoress to her husband seven allowed to vote for urban and rural tion of women mayors in times and to her son again shortly district councils from 1894, as well and Wales reached only about 6 per before her death in 1935. Miss as stand for election to them. It is cent. Gwenllian Morgan’s status derived estimated that by the late 1890s Some ninety women aldermen from ‘old wealth’, her family being some 1,500 women were holding who sat between the wars have local landowners for more than elected local office and probably been identified; about half of them three hundred years and promi- some 3,000 women were elected to also served as mayors. In addition nent churchmen and philanthro- the various bodies between 1870 some twenty Scottish women- pists in Brecon. Lavinia Malcolm’s and 1914.7 Many post-1918 women bailies have been identified. background was more modest. Her mayors and aldermen first entered family were tradesmen and she local government in this way. married a teacher. They were heav- The key breakthrough as far Women Liberals in local ily involved in the small- elite as the subject of this article is con- government of Dollar, with both her grandfa- cerned came in 1907. Women rate- The majority of women active in ther and husband serving as provost payers secured the right to stand local government before 1914 were before her. for election to borough councils in Liberals, but many were Conserva- After the First World War, Lib- Britain, and thus to become mayor tives; very few were Labour. All six erals continued to be prominent or alderman. Nevertheless shortly pre-1918 women-mayors14 can be amongst the female local govern- before the First World War the classified as Liberals. ment elite, though their numbers Local Government Board identi- Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was declined as the party weakened fied just twenty-four women out of the first, in tiny Aldeburgh in 1908, nationally. As Table 1 shows, 11,140 councillors. followed in 1910 by Sarah Lees in almost 30 per cent of women- It might have been expected that the large county borough of Old- mayors in the 1920s were Liberals female participation in local gov- ham, and Miss15 Gwenllian Morgan and about 12 per cent in the 1930s. ernment would mushroom after in Brecon. Lavinia Malcolm served Looking at the terms served (Table 1918, but in fact progress remained as provost of the small burgh of 2), almost one-third of terms served very modest. Only 278 women Dollar in Clackmannanshire from by women in the 1920s were by councillors were elected in the 1913 to 1919. Mary Alice Parting- Liberals and 16 per cent of the terms boroughs in 1919.8 Anne Baldwin ton served as mayor of Glossop in served in the 1930s.17 identifies some 950 women who Derbyshire from May 1916 to 1920; Amongst the aldermen, fifteen were elected to London and county and Elizabeth Hannah Kenyon for were Liberal or Liberal-inclined borough councils between 1919 Dukinfield in Cheshire between The key Independents, ten of them also and 1938.9 Perhaps another cou- May and November 1917, both suc- serving as mayor. In all, then, some ple of thousand were elected in the ceeding their deceased husbands. break- thirty-plus Liberal women held municipal boroughs in England and Garrett Anderson was the first prominent office in local govern- Wales and the burghs in Scotland. woman to qualify as a doctor and through ment between the wars. Baldwin estimates that the pro- the first woman to be elected to a portion of councillors who were school board, and was one of the … came in women rose in London, where it grandes dames of the women’s move- Where did they come from? was by far the greatest, from 8 per ment. She came from a wealthy 1907. Women One of the most striking features cent in 1919 to 17 per cent in 1938, Liberal family of corn merchants. of the entry of women into local but only from about 3 per cent in Her sister, Millicent Fawcett, was ratepay- government after 1918 is its very 1922 to 7 per cent in 1938 in the founder and leader of the suffra- uneven geographical spread, and county boroughs.10 The proportion gist movement. Sarah Lees was a ers secured this was particularly pronounced as of women councillors in the Eng- fabulously wealthy widow from a regards our leadership cohort. lish and Welsh Municipal boroughs mill-owning dynasty. She devoted the right to There was a marked divide and the Scottish burghs was, it her very long life to progressive between southern and eastern Brit- seems certain, even less than this. causes and philanthropy in Old- stand for ain, where many more women The number of women who ham, where she was a lynchpin of came to the fore, and northern and entered the local government elite the town’s Liberal Nonconform- election to western Britain where far fewer was much smaller. Six women ist elite. Such was her munificence did. In fact some 80 per cent of served as mayor or provost before and status that her fellow local borough women-mayors came from south- 1918 and a total of 147 more as Congregationalists treated her ‘as councils ern and eastern England including mayor during the years 1918–39,11 if of royal blood’.16 The Parting- London. Scotland was strikingly plus four more as provosts in Scot- tons of Glossop and the Kenyons of in Britain, under-represented with 35 per cent land. As some of them served more Dukinfield were lynchpins of Lib- of the local authorities but less than than one year-long term, the total eralism and Nonconformity their and thus 3 per cent of the women-mayors. number of terms served by women , running, respectively, very The same pattern is evident among was greater: 217.12 For England successful family paper-manufac- to become women-aldermen and bailies. and Wales this was less than 3 per ture and rope-making businesses. The variation partly reflected cent of the overall total.13 Further- Both families were very active mayor or the local strength of the emerg- more, the trend was only mod- in local government. Mary Alice ing Labour Party and the extent estly upward. Women served 61 Partington was re-elected mayor alderman. to which it practised positive

8 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 madam mayor

Table 1: Women mayors by party in the 1920s and 1930s – individuals who served18 working-class women, joined Liberal Conservative Labour Independent, Total increasingly from the 1930s by a unspecified small but growing number from the Labour Party. But the great 1919–28 16 24 4 10 54 mass was middle-class, ranging 1929–38 11 32 30 20 93 from the upper middle class with gentry or extremely wealthy indus- trial plutocratic backgrounds, Table 2: Women mayors by party in the 1920s and 1930s – terms served19 through a large number of com- (Figures in brackets give the number of male mayors elected) fortably affluent wives and daugh- Liberal Conservative Labour Independent, Total ters of professionals, businessmen unspecified and farmers, to a growing num- 1919–28 20 (1083) 24 (1673) 3 (321) 14 (466) 61 (3543) ber of working women in educa- tion, nursing, clerical and business 1929–38 25 (683) 64 (1494) 32 (693) 36 (961) 157 (3831) jobs often of a lower-middle-class character. discrimination in favour of women. activities that flourished in many As previously noted many of The London region, where Labour towns across the Home Counties the Liberal women were connected made big gains in the early 1920s and beyond. Activism in apoliti- with local Nonconformist eco- and 1930s, and where George Lans- cal women’s organisations such as nomic and political elites, some of bury, and others the Mothers’ Union, the Women’s them very wealthy. These families, actively encouraged the advance- Institute, the Townswomen’s Guild often from the north of England, ment of women in the party, pro- or the Girl Guides was but one step were the ‘success-stories’ of the vided nearly half of the Labour to involvement in local govern- Victorian industrial boom. Such women-mayors. In the industrial ment and overwhelmingly such wives and daughters of this indus- districts of the north of England, recruits were Conservatives or trial and commercial plutocracy, south Wales and Scotland, even Independents. often driven by deep religious com- where Labour was strong, the cul- The Liberal women pioneers mitment, dedicated themselves to ture of local Labour parties seems also often came from parallel Lib- philanthropy and progressive social to have held women back. Thus eral cultures: the Nonconformist and political causes. Sarah Lees outside the Home Counties, East churches; socially improving phi- of Oldham was very much in this Anglia and Midlands only two lanthropy, especially in the health mould. Her husband, a mill owner, female Labour mayors were elected and education fields; temperance died in 1894 when she was 52, leav- before the Second World War.20 In work; and the League of Nations ing her the modern equivalent of many rural areas Labour was still Union. They also came from the £0.5 billion.21 She dedicated the very weak and the party had few more political women’s movement rest of her long life (she lived to the mayors, let alone women-mayors. – from suffragism and the vari- age of 93) to charitable and public The Liberals only partly com- ous organisations associated with causes, supported by her daughter pensated for the uneven Labour the advancement of female politi- Marjory who was also an Oldham performance. In the north-west, cal engagement such as the Wom- Liberal councillor. where the party remained rela- en’s Local Government Society Mary Partington of Glossop tively strong between the wars, (WLGS) and the National Union (paper), Ada Summers of Staly- it provided seven out of the fif- of Women Workers (NUWW) bridge (textiles, iron and steel), teen women-mayors. But in the and their post-1918 successors, Miss Christiana Hartley of South- north-east and south Wales, Liberal the Women Citizen’s Association port and Miss Ethel Colman of women-mayors were almost as rare (WCA) and the National Coun- (food-processing), Violet as Labour ones The Liberals pro- cil of Women (NCW). Often this Markham of Chesterfield (coal and vided very few women-mayors/ culture was closely associated with engineering), Annie Helme of Lan- provosts from their strongholds in local economic elites that continued caster, Alys Hindle of Darwen, Ada the ‘Celtic fringe’: the far south- to support the Liberals. Though Edge of Lytham St Annes (textiles), west, mid- and north-Wales, and in decline, where these forces and Miss Edith Sutton of Reading rural Scotland. remained resilient they sustained a (seeds), were of the same type. Apart from the London region, significant Liberal presence in local A few Conservatives also fell in almost everywhere the bulk of government and continued to pro- this category, though interestingly female local government leaders vide a route for some women to they often had Liberal connec- were Conservatives or conserva- enter local politics. tions: Miss Janet Stancombe-Wills tive-minded Independents. This of Ramsgate (Wills’s tobacco) was reflected the domination by the the step-daughter of a Liberal MP; Conservatives of local government What was their social and Grace Cottrell of West Bromwich between the wars, even in many economic background? (insurance) ran for office as a Liberal working-class towns and in The first wave of women that Unionist; and Lady Hulse of Salis- the North and Midlands. It also gained prominence in local govern- bury (press) was also from a Liberal resulted from the widespread par- ment was overwhelmingly mid- Unionist family. ticipation of middle-class women in dle-class. There were also a couple This elite sat above a very the local infrastructure of church, of Tory aristocrats and a hand- affluent if somewhat less pluto- social, charitable and political ful of Liberal and Conservative cratic layer. Although some in

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 9 madam mayor

this stratum were Conservatives, Margaret Beavan, transformation. While many of the However several came from the majority of these beneficiar- Violet Markham, Conservatives were linked with relatively modest middle-class and ies of Victorian economic progress Christiana the declining world of the landed lower-middle-class backgrounds. inclined to the Liberals. Liberal Hartley elite and its various offshoots in The father of Mary Ann Edmunds women-mayors who came from – the Church, Law and Army, and (Merthyr Tydfil) was an iron mer- or in some cases married into – this a number of the Labour women- chant who later worked in various prosperous business milieu included mayors came from poor labour- parts of the country as a man- Mary Duckworth of Rochdale and ing backgrounds including rural ager in iron works and collieries. Phyllis Brown of (both ones, few of the Liberal women She lived in a large house and was retailing), Miss Alice Hudson of clearly belonged in this category. known locally as ‘Lady Edmunds’, Eastbourne (trade), Miss Maud Bur- The Liberals are thus pretty much but seems not to have been particu- nett of Whitehaven (chemicals, unrepresented in the small army larly wealthy.22 May George (Swin- ships), and Miss Elsie Taylor of Bat- of middle-class wives and daugh- don) was married to an elementary ley (textiles). ters of clergymen, local solicitors school teacher, a decidedly lower- By contrast, few Liberal and doctors and army officers that middle-class occupation. Lucy Hill women-mayors came from the provided female local politicians in (Harwich) was the daughter of a social classes that were ‘losers’ from the ‘spa, spire and sand’ and market St Pancras auctioneer and mar- the nineteenth-century economic towns of rural England. ried a Harwich coal merchant. The

10 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 madam mayor husband of Mary Hodgson (Rich- strongly influenced by Noncon- Work Society. She was also active mond, Yorkshire) ran a drapery formism. Deeply concerned about in the British and Foreign Bible shop in the town. Miss Mary Short social issues, they generally saw Society. Such was her generosity (Eye) lived very modestly, for many philanthropy and voluntary work, that she became known as ‘Lady years looking after her widowed individual effort, temperance and Bountiful’. Ada Summers was one father, a minor artist dedicated to improved education and health as of the early women councillors, civic duties whose service she con- the solutions. elected in 1912, and was the first tinued. Finally, Elizabeth Smart Miss Christiana Hartley of post-war female mayor in 1919. She (Brackley) was married to a Cus- Southport typified this strain of was the first woman magistrate to toms and Excise officer. Liberalism. She was born in 1872, preside in an English court. As a general rule the middle- the daughter of the self-made jam Miss Ethel Colman was a third class Liberals – like the great tycoon, Sir William Pickles Hart- example. She was born in 1863 majority of middle-class women ley of Colne and Southport in Lan- into the mustard family of Nor- at the time – were not in paid cashire. She was brought up in great wich, which in the second half of employment. Quite a number of wealth (Hartley’s fortune ran to the nineteenth century had grown women-mayors had careers but hundreds of millions in modern into a large food-processing con- they were almost all Conserva- values) and fervent commitment cern with some 2,500 employees tive/Independent or Labour. The to Primitive Methodism and phi- in the , thanks to free trade exceptions were rare. Catherine lanthropy. The Hartleys gave away and buoyant consumer demand. Alderton (Colchester) qualified huge sums to social causes and to The great Her father was a Lord Mayor, a as a secondary-school teacher, their sect and the wider Method- Liberal MP, and a leading Baptist. and Anne Bagley as a certifi- ist church. Christiana Hartley tried majority He died in 1898 leaving an estate cated schoolmistress, but they do hard to understand the lives of the worth several hundred millions not seem to have continued their poor, even spending some time of the Lib- of pounds in modern values. The careers after marriage, presum- living in a common lodging house family became much involved ably because of the marriage-bar to experience their conditions. eral women with the Prince’s Street Congre- that applied to women in much When she became mayor in 1921 gational Mission, where Ethel of education. Miss Dorothea she decided to donate her salary of pioneers became one of the first female dea- Benoly (Stepney) was a kindergar- £500 to the unemployed, and her cons. The mission was the focus of ten teacher. Miss Miriam Moses father matched this sum. However were born the Colmans’ philanthropic activ- (Bethnal Green) worked for a time she turned to the Labour Party ity and also served as the hub for as a nurse and became a leading to arrange the distribution of the before 1875 the Nonconformist business and social worker among poor East End money, tacitly acknowledging the professional elite which dominated Jewish children and their families. social distance that separated her and so were the Liberal Party in Norwich.24 Only a couple of the Liberal world from the working-class. Her brought up Ethel remained a staunch Liberal, women came from a working-class individualistic, religious and back- unlike her brother Russell, also a or at least low-income background. ward-looking view of the world in the era of Lord Mayor, who switched to the Ethel Leach was the eldest of ten was also on show in her welcoming Conservatives. children of a labourer and carter speech to the 1922 TUC conference Gladstone Barry Doyle, referring to and worked as a servant girl until held in Southport: the 1920s, has commented that she married at the age of 19. Annie rather than ‘although religion was itself no Bagley was the daughter of a house- Why all this unrest? What ails longer an issue at elections, the cul- painter who died when she was a the workers? It seems that, in of Asquith tural world of the chapel still per- child. Although her mother remar- the rebound from the anxieties vaded the Liberal Party and the ried she seems to have been left to of the war, we are all trying to and Lloyd culture of dissent was still essen- bring up the children alone and get something for nothing. Too tially Liberal’.25 As the examples worked as an office cleaner. How- much selfishness exists; that is George. above indicate, Nonconformity ever they were upwardly socially the result of all evil. We must loomed large in the lineage and mobile. Leach married into com- not ask for the impossible.23 Many shared outlook of many of the Liberal fortable affluence and political con- women. Catherine Alderton (Col- nexions. Bagley, as already noted, Ada Summers was another exam- a traditional chester) was the daughter of a Con- qualified as an elementary school ple. She was born in 1861 the gregationalist minister and was teacher, and she married a success- daughter of an Oldham mill owner Victorian educated at Melton Mount Col- ful small businessman. and married one of the Summers lege, Gravesend, a school for the brothers of Stalybridge, ironmas- middle-class daughters of the Congregationalist ters who were building up one of Liberal out- clergy. The father of Mary Hodg- What was the political the largest steel-making companies son (Richmond, Yorks) was a Prim- outlook of the Liberal women in the UK. They were Radicals and look, often itive Methodist minister and that pioneers? philanthropists. Her husband, John of Florence Keynes (Cambridge) a The great majority of the Liberal Summers died in 1910 leaving her a strongly Baptist preacher who became chair- women pioneers were born before fortune worth about £90 million in man of the Congregational Union. 1875 and so were brought up in today’s values. She poured money influenced by Religion played a central role in the the era of Gladstone rather than of into local causes such as maternity lives not only of Hartley and Col- Asquith and Lloyd George. Many and child welfare clinics, an unem- Nonconform- man but also Miss Margaret Hardy shared a traditional Victorian mid- ployment centre, and the Mechan- (Brighton), who was president of dle-class Liberal outlook, often ics Institute and founded a Ladies’ ism. the national Free Church Women’s

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 11 madam mayor

Council and Miss Clara Winter- movement was common to many a national reputation for her work botham (Cheltenham) who came Liberal women in local govern- in the voluntary movement for from a renowned Baptist/Congre- ment, whether of the older genera- child welfare and in 1927 became gationalist family on her father’s tion or the younger progressives. a high-profile Conservative Lord side but followed in the convictions Some notable examples include Mayor of – by far the of her devout Church of England Annie Helme who came from a largest authority to have a woman mother.26 very wealthy Baptist mill-owning as a mayor before the Second World Beyond the moneyed elite, family and was a founder and first War. She had only joined the Tories there were other Liberal women chair of the Lancaster Suffrage in 1924 having first been elected whose outlook owed less to Vic- Society, Catherine Alderton who to the council as a Lloyd George torian individualism and more to was a founder of the Liberal Wom- Liberal.29 the advanced radical and progres- en’s Suffrage Union in 1913, and There were also departures to sive ideas of the 1890s and 1900s. Miss Miriam Moses who was active Labour. Ada Salter () Ethel Leach (Great Yarmouth), in the Jewish League of Women’s and Miss Florence Farmer (Stoke- though one of the oldest women in Suffrage. on-Trent) made this shift before the the cohort – she was born in 1850 The Liberals had been less First World War, while others such – was among this group. Encour- attracted to the militant suffra- as Miss Mabel Clarkson (Norwich) aged by her Radical husband, she gettes (WSPU) and only Eva Har- and Miss Edith Sutton (Reading) had been drawn into local gov- tree (Cambridge) seems to have joined Labour in the early 1920s. ernment as an early school board been a supporter. Active suffra- Miss Dorothea Benoly went over in member and Poor Law guardian as gettes were rare amongst post-1918 the 1930s. well as becoming closely involved female politicians and especially Others remained Liberal stal- in secularist, suffragist, Irish home mayors/alderman, although the warts. Miss Elsie Taylor and Miss rule and Fabian circles. Catherine Tories had one or two and Labour Clara Winterbotham were still Alderton (Colchester) who was had a handful including some activ- active in the party in the 1940s.30 born in Scotland in 1869, was a ists of Sylvia Pankhurst’s East Lon- However a common response progressive deeply interested in don Federation of Suffragettes.27 to the party’s decline was continu- improving labour conditions for The Liberal suffragists tended ing commitment to Liberal values the working class and especially to be critical of the militants. Cath- and causes but a detachment from women. She was a strong sup- erine Alderton described their active work in the party itself. porter of the 1920 progressive Lib- tactics as ‘disgraceful and disrepu- Florence Keynes came from a Lib- eral Programme. She table’. 28 Miss Edith Sutton (Read- eral Nonconformist background twice stood for parliament and was ing), a Liberal until she joined and continued to mix in Liberal president of the National Women’s Labour in the early 1920s, studi- Beyond circles, but like her son John May- Liberal Federation in 1931–32. Sev- ously avoided giving her support to the mon- nard Keynes, the economist, she eral of the younger women born the suffragettes. Violet Markham had only a loose connection with after 1875 were progressive and (Chesterfield) was unusual, how- eyed elite, the party. She mostly stood as an stood for election under this label ever, in vigorously opposing votes Independent in local elections, in London; Miss Miriam Moses for women as a member of the there were though with Liberal support. Her (Bethnal Green), Miss Dorothea Women’s National Anti-Suffrage fellow mayor of Cambridge, Eva Benoly (Stepney) and aldermen League, although she reversed her other Lib- Hartree, was classed as a Liberal by Frances Warren Reidy (Step- views during the First World War the press but by the 1930s seems to ney) and Cecilia Lusher-Pentney and stood for parliament in 1918. eral women have had little formal involvement (Shoreditch) fall in this category. As the Liberals lost ground in with the party and stood for elec- The traditional Liberals could the 1920s and ’30s, anti-socialism whose out- tion as a Women Citizens’ Associa- come across as old-fashioned and inclined some towards the Tories. tion candidate. Nevertheless, she straight-laced. Miss Christiana Miss Maud Burnett was a Liberal look owed and others like her such as Lady Hartley, who refused to serve alco- until the early 1920s, but was classi- Emily Roney (Wimbledon) were hol at her mayor-making celebra- fied as a Conservative byThe Times less to Vic- much involved with liberal causes, tions in 1921, was still focused on in 1928, when she became mayor. such as aiding refugees. The ex- the temperance battles of an ear- Christiana Hartley remained a torian indi- suffragette, Juanita Phillips, eleven lier era, and Miss Maud Burnett Liberal, but in the absence of a Lib- times mayor of Honiton, seems to (Whitehaven) and Miss Elsie Tay- eral candidate in Southport at the vidualism have been another Liberal-minded lor (Batley) were also of this school. 1935 general election, she publicly woman who remained outside But others were more attuned to supported the Conservative. Ada and more to the party. She was classified a ‘no the times and socially liberal in Edge (Lytham St Anne’s) had an the advanced party specified’ byThe Times and their outlook. Among the 1930s impeccable Radical pedigree and no link with the Liberals has been mayors, Phyllis Brown (Chester) was married to the Radical Lloyd radical and found. However, the Liberals were spoke out against corporal pun- George-ite MP, Sir William Edge. very strong in the area, she was ishment, Miss Margaret Hardy But the family later became Lib- progressive not a Conservative (she contested (Brighton) poked fun at protests eral Nationals. Annie Bagley from an election against a well-known against wearing swimwear in the Stretford where the Liberals and ideas of the Tory), and her commitment to the town, and Miss Miriam Moses sup- Conservatives fused in the 1930s National Council of Women and ported birth control. was also a Liberal National. 1890s and campaigning for working-class A record of support for the Perhaps the biggest loss was Miss housing indicated a progressive constitutional women’s suffrage Margaret Beavan, who established 1900s. outlook.31

12 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 madam mayor

Clara novelty of having a woman-mayor, councils. Labour was also ready to Winterbotham, voices against their nomination on abandon traditional seniority con- Miriam Moses, the grounds that the office should ventions to promote its councillors Maud Burnett be reserved for men were very not least because the system worked rare after 1918 and very much in a to its disadvantage by enabling minority. Subtler discrimination Conservative and Liberal veterans remained, but it was offset by the to dominate the aldermanic bench widespread acceptance that women and inflate the strength on councils had much to contribute to local of those parties. government especially in the tradi- The second case was where indi- tional ‘female’ spheres of maternity vidual women because of their and child welfare, education and status, ability or charisma were housing where many of the women allowed to jump to the head of the pioneers chose to focus their queue. Such leapfrogging was most work. Many of the female may- common where councils invited ors accepted this limited view of ‘elite women’ to take office. A num- their role. On becoming mayor of ber of Liberal women, well con- Lytham St Anne’s in 1937, Ada Edge nected with wealthy and politically commented that ‘while men could powerful local elites, advanced guide the interests of the town in in this way. Thus Miss Christiana most matters, women were very Hartley was on the council for only necessary to give their advice on one year before becoming mayor matters of vital interest to women and Miss Clara Winterbotham was ratepayers’.32 Moreover, it became mayor within three years of co- quite fashionable to have a female option to the council and an alder- mayor. Some councils saw it as a man within four. Violet Markham way to enhance the forward-look- was first elected a councillor in ing image of their boroughs. As Chesterfield in 1924 and was made Miss Clara Winterbotham put it at mayor in 1927. Mary Duckworth her mayor-making: ‘Why appoint (Rochdale), who completed her a woman to such a position?’ late husband’s term as mayor in [Because] ‘it is an excellent adver- 1938, was not actually elected to the tisement and it costs you nothing’.33 council until afterwards. The main obstacle was more Ability and charisma shot the institutional: the traditional stress ex-Liberal Miss Margaret Beavan to on seniority in assigning offices the mayoralty in Liverpool over the on local authorities and the lack of heads of her male colleagues thanks women coming through the elec- to the patronage of Sir Archibald toral system and building up suf- Salvidge, the city’s Conservative ficient years to qualify. Firstly, boss. She was also parachuted into the pool of female local council- a Tory-held Westminster seat but lors after 1918 was small. Too few was unexpectedly defeated in a women were nominated as candi- vicious campaign. dates in winnable seats and amongst However the majority had to those who were elected, many wait their turn, which could be a withdrew, were defeated or oth- long time coming in large authori- erwise left politics before they had ties, as the example of Manches- come to the fore on their councils. ter, which had 140 members and Why were there not more Only a few accumulated the years applied the seniority rule rigor- Liberal women in local of experience and seniority that ously, shows. The city was a cradle government leadership? moved them up the queue for sen- of the suffrage movement and the The same obstacles that prevented ior office, and especially in large prominent Liberal suffragist Miss women generally from advanc- boroughs with many council mem- Margaret Ashton was elected as a ing in local government also faced bers the queue could be very long. councillor there as early as 190834 most of the Liberal women, but For the Liberals, as their strength followed by another Liberal, Jane with the added factor that the party declined, and for Labour while it Redford in 1910. During the inter- was losing ground both elector- was still weak in much of local gov- war period, twenty-six women sat ally and in terms of the influence ernment, the opportunities to nom- on the council. Ten of these had of local Liberal elites. Potential inate mayors and aldermen were their potential careers cut short female candidates for top positions few and far between. by retirement or death, includ- were amongst the casualties of this These constraints were relaxed ing Margaret Ashton who stood retreat. in two main cases. In the London down in 1921. A further four had Overt sexist discrimina- region, as we have seen, there was their council careers terminated by tion seems to have been largely a larger pool of women council- defeat including three well-quali- overcome after the early 1920s. lors and Labour encouraged women fied Liberals: Jane Redford in 1921, Although much was made of the to advance in the party and on Miss Caroline Herford in 1923 and

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 13 madam mayor

Shena Simon in 1933. Two remain- of female Liberal leaders in local twentieth-century Liberal history. He ing councillors of the rapidly government, very different in studied at the LSE and Warsaw Uni- diminishing Liberal group, Sarah social background and political versity, Poland. He has worked for Laski and Mary Gibbons, elected in profile; but that is another story. many years on international environ- 1929, lacked the seniority to claim mental policy as a UK civil servant and the one turn at mayor given to the Author biog Dr Jaime Reyn- since 2000 as an official of the European Liberals during the 1930s. Other olds has written extensively on Commission. younger, promising Liberal activ- ists – such as Miss Dorothy Porter – several times narrowly missed reaching even the first stage of being elected to the council. It was not until 1947 that Manchester had Appendix a female Lord Mayor and she was a Tory, Miss Mary Kingsmill-Jones. Women Liberal mayors and aldermen 1918–1939 and some The only Liberal women to become others mentioned in the text – biographical information mayors of large authorities were in London Boroughs (Stepney and Bethnal Green) where the entire Abbreviations used: BAGLEY, Annie Mowbray (née council was re-elected every three Ald: alderman Jeffrey) (1870–1952) Stretford. years and where the turnover of BoG: member of Poor Law board Cllr UDC in 1920s and borough members was high. of guardians from incorporation in 1933; ch Small authorities offered more Cllr: councillor Maternity & Child Welfare Cttee; opportunities, or perhaps simply CoE: Church of England mayor 1938–39. Born Manches- less competition for office. Mary DBE: Dame of the British Empire ter; father a house painter who Hodgson became mayor of Rich- The party Ind: Independent died when she was a child. Mother mond, Yorkshire (1931 popula- LNU: League of Nations Union supported family working as an tion 4,769) three years after being disappeared NCW: National Council of office cleaner. Certificated assistant elected to the council. Miss Mary Women schoolmistress (1901). Husband (d Short served as mayor of Eye, East in local gov- UDC: Urban District Council 1938) was a master decorator. Lib- Suffolk (population 1,733) eight WCA: Women Citizens eral, Liberal National in 1930s. times between 1924 and 1948. ernment Association WCG: Women’s Co-operative BEAVAN, Margaret (1877–1931) in most Guild Liverpool. Cllr 1921– (Coalition The waning of the first wave areas after WLA: Women’s Liberal Liberal); joined Cons Party 1924; Mary Short was one of the very Association Lord Mayor 1927–28. Born Liver- few Liberal women-mayors to the Second WLGS: Women’s Local Govern- pool; father prosperous insurance serve after 1939. The party disap- ment Society agent. Educ: Belvedere School and peared in local government in most World War WLF: Women’s Liberal Federation. Liverpool High School. Lived in areas after the Second World War WW1: World War One USA 1890–92. Studied maths at and almost ceased to provide may- and almost WW2: World War Two Royal Holloway, London, not at ors and alderman for the next two degree level; assistant teacher in decades. The few female excep- ceased to ALDERTON, Catherine (née boy’s school. Involved in child wel- tions were remnants of Liberal Robinson) (1869–1951) Colches- fare and the Invalid Child Asso- elites of an earlier era. Miss Clara provide ter. Cllr 1916–28; mayor 1923–24; ciation (ICA), sponsored by the Winterbotham had a final term as Essex county cllr and ald 1928–. Rathbone family. Secretary of ICA mayor of Cheltenham until 1946 mayors and Born Scotland; came to Colches- and successful fundraiser. Founded and Miss Alice Hudson was again ter 1885 with her father, Congre- Leasowe Open Air Children’s mayor of Eastbourne in 1943–45; alderman for gational minister (d 1915). Educ: Hospital, 1914. Organised Child they were both in their late sixties. Melton Mount School, Gravesend, Welfare Association from 1918. There were also one or two remain- the next two for the daughters of Congrega- Unsuccessfully defended Cons-held ing Liberal women aldermen such tional Ministers. Secondary teacher Liverpool seat at 1929 general elec- as Annie Helme in Lancaster until decades. The (maths) until she married in 1897. tion. Member WCA, NCW, WCG. 1949, Mary Gibbons in Manches- Her husband became head-teacher Known by her admirers as ‘the lit- ter until her death in 1949, and in few female of an elementary school. One child. tle mother of Liverpool’ and ‘the Liverpool Miss Mabel Eills (the exceptions Active in WLF: executive member might atom’; and by her opponents daughter of Burton Eills the Liv- 1912–, sec 1920–, vice-ch 1923–, as ‘Maggie Mussolini’ and ‘Queen erpool Liberal leader in the 1930s) were rem- president 1931–32. First woman Canute’. Often in poor health, died until 1955. Even where the Liberals to sit on NLF executive. Known of bronchitis and pneumonia aged had the opportunity to nominate a nants of Lib- nationally as a speaker. Parlia- 54. Left £18,500. woman-mayor, as in in 1942, mentary candidate Edinburgh S, their choice conformed to the ste- eral elites 1922; Hull NW 1929. A founder BENOLY, Lydia Dorothea reotype of an elderly, non-political, of Lib Women’s Suffrage Union (1887–1969) Bethnal Green. Cllr elite-woman: Miss Jessie Kitson. of an earlier 1913. WW1: Government Recon- Bethnal Green West 1925–34; The party had to wait until the struction Cttee, Nation’s Fund for mayor 1933–34. Born Clapton; mid-1960s for the next generation era. Nurses. MBE 1944. parents Polish/German Jewish,

14 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 madam mayor immigrants. Father doctor and and prominent Baptist. Mother Husband (Sir) William Edge of HARDY, Margaret (1874– East End Progressive leader. a Cozens-Hardy, also of the a wealthy, Radical, Method- 1954) Brighton. BoG. Cllr Kindergarten teacher. Progres- Norwich Nonconformist elite. ist, dye-manufacturing family Hollingbury 1928–; ald sive, Labour by 1940. Moral Educ: Miss Pipe’s School, Lale- in Bolton. He was a Lloyd- 1934–‘ mayor 1933–34. Born Re-armament supporter. ham, Clapham Park. With her George Lib, later Lib Nat MP Brighton; by 1890s living with sister Helen was very active 1916–23, 1927–45. Died 1948, her widowed mother on ‘pri- BROWN, Louisa Phyllis in Princes St Congregational leaving £48,000. Her son, (Sir) vate means’. Well known in (née Humfrey) (1877–1968) Mission, of which Ethel was a Knowles Edge, was a lead- the town for her social work Chester. Cllr 1920–; ald 1933–; deacon and director of the Mis- ing Lib Nat in Bolton and the especially amongst the young, mayor 1938–39. Born Chester; sionary Society. Liberal and north-west. Lib, later Lib Nat, and identified with many father prosperous manufac- suffragist. Left £125,600. stood as a non-political. She women’s movements. MBE turing chemist. Scholarship described herself as a ‘moder- for her WW1 work with nurs- student University College, DAVIES, Sarah Evans (née ate Nonconformist’ but was ing services in France. Lib and London. Husband (d 1936) Morris) (1863–1944) Welsh- closely associated with the CoE Free Church activist, espe- was solicitor and scion of the pool, Montgomeryshire. Cllr parish church in Lytham. cially in the Baptist Women’s wealthy dynasty that owned 1919–; mayor 1928–30. Born Movement. President of the Brown’s department store. He Carmarthenshire; father a EDMUNDS, Mary Ann (née National Free Church Wom- was a Liberal cllr and mayor in master mariner. Her brother Owen) (1863–1934) Merthyr en’s Council 1922–23. A Girl’s 1920 when she was his mayor- was Liberal mayor of Birken- Tydfil. BoG (ch 1919). Cllr High School in Brighton was ess. They were active suf- head, 1902–3. Husband (d 1919) 1913–32; mayor 1927–28. Born named after her. Stood as an fragists. She was the most was a merchant tailor. Three Llanelli; father (d 1901) iron Ind and classified byThe Times prominent woman Liberal in sons, one killed in action 1916. merchant, later ironworks and as such. Left £91,200. Chester between the wars. Commander of Red Cross colliery manager in Voluntary Aid detachments and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. HARTLEY, Christiana BURNETT, Annie Maud Montgomeryshire during He was active in Merthyr civic (1872–1948) Southport. BoG (1863–1950) Tynemouth. Cllr WW1. She was a Welsh bard, life from the 1880s, a cllr and Ormskirk. Cllr 1920–32; 1909–21, 1926–34; mayor 1928– writing poetry under the chairman of the council 1899. mayor 1921–22; freedom of 30. First woman elected cllr pseudonym ‘Olwen’, and an Husband was a captain (d 1901). Colne (1927) and Southport in north of England. Father (d educationist. Welsh Presbyte- They had a son and daughter (1940). Born Colne, Lancs; 1896) a chemical manufacturer, rian. The first woman to ride (d 1927). She began civic work father Sir William Pickles Liberal and Northumberland a bicycle in Welshpool. Left after her father’s death. WW1: Hartley (d 1922), wealthy jam magistrate. Her brothers were £11,200. Merthyr Recruiting Cttee (ch). manufacturer, philanthropist ship owners. Educ: privately Lloyd George Liberal. Left and major figure in the Primi- and in Switzerland. Active in DUCKWORTH, Mary (née £3,900. tive Methodist church. Direc- voluntary work and taught a Petrie) (1872–1942) Rochdale. tor and ch of family firm. CoE bible class. Sec Tynemouth Mayor Jan–Nov 1938; cllr Dec FARMER, Florence (1873– Patron of Southport Mater- WLA 1895–1910. Founded 1938–42. Born Rochdale; father 1958) Stoke-on-Trent. BoG. nity Hospital (1932) and Nurses Tynemouth WLGS 1902. (d 1897) owned an engineering Cllr 1919–28; ald 1928–45; Lord Home (1940) and gave Chris- DBE 1918 for her war work. firm, was a prominent Lib and Mayor 1931–32; freedom of tiana Hartley Maternity Hos- She stood as an Ind but was alderman. Husband was son of borough. Father was a printer, pital to Colne 1935. CBE 1943. an active Lib until the 1920s. Sir James Duckworth, wealthy active Lib, and ch of the local Hon MA Liverpool University The Times lists her as a Cons in provisions merchant, mayor of authority in Longton. She was 1943. Left £198,000. 1928–29. Left £3,200. Rochdale, pillar of Liberalism headmistress of Longton coun- and Methodism in the town and cil school, but retired in 1927 HARTREE, Eva (née CLARKSON, Mabel (1875– MP for Middleton. Husband to establish a laundry business Rayner) (1874–1947) Cam- 1950) Norwich. BoG. Cllr succeeded him as manager of with her brother. In her youth bridge. Cllr c 1921–42; mayor 1912–23 (Lib), 1926–(Lab); ald the family firm, was a parlia- she was active in the Lib Party. 1924–25. Born Heaton Norris, 1932–50; High Sheriff 1928–29; mentary candidate twice, and Founder and leading light of Stockport; father and grand- Lord Mayor 1930–31. Born mayor in 1937 when she was Stoke Ethical Society before father were doctors. The lat- Calne, Wiltshire; father pros- his mayoress. She was asked to 1914. Became socialist in 1900s ter was a JP and ald. Husband perous solicitor who died when continue his term when he died and joined Lab. President of (d 1943) came from an afflu- she was three. Thereafter her suddenly. Left £18,800. Stoke Lab Party 1929–31. Long- ent Cambridge family and widowed mother brought up standing member of Educa- was a grandson of Samuel family (one boy, four sisters) on EDGE, Ada Jane (née Ickrin- tion Cttee and on Watch Cttee Smiles, the Victorian cham- private income. Educ: private gill) (1880–1973) Lytham where she established force of pion of ‘self-help’. He worked school and Reading Univer- St Anne’s. Cllr Apr 1929–; policewomen in Stoke. Unitar- as a teacher and lecturer in sci- sity. Poor Law guardian 1904– mayor 1937–38. Maternity & ian. Left £19,600. ence and engineering and as a 30. Interested in child welfare Child Welfare (ch) and Health civil servant in the Admiralty issues. Joined Lab Party 1924. (vice-ch) Cttees. Fifth of nine GEORGE, May (née Wil- Munitions Inventions depart- Left £4,500. children of very wealthy liams) (1882–1943) Swindon. ment in WW1 for which he Keighley/Bradford mill owner Cllr 1921–; ald 1931–; mayor received an OBE. They had COLMAN Ethel (1863– (d 1911) and Primitive Meth- 1935–36. Born Craven Arms, three sons, two of whom died 1948) Norwich. Lord Mayor odist. Family had radical tra- Shropshire. Husband an ele- young and the other became a 1923–24. Father J. J. Colman dition – her great-uncle had mentary school teacher. One noted Cambridge Professor of (d 1898) of Colman’s Mustard, led the ‘physical force’ Char- son: Graham Lloyd George. Physics. She was active in many Lib MP, mayor of Norwich tist revolt in Keighley in 1848. Left £490. causes including the suffragette

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 15 madam mayor movement, the Red Cross, the Suffrage Society and active when he died in 1920. The Law- HUDSON, Alice (Alisa) LNU and especially the NCW, in WLA. Organised Citizen’s rence family were Independent (1877–1960) Eastbourne. Cllr of which she served as presi- Defence Cttee to campaign Methodists, Radicals and active Meads 1919–29; ald 1929–; dent. From the early 1930s she against the high price of milk in civic life. Her husband was mayor Dec 1926–28, 1943–45. was very active in helping refu- for mothers, 1919. MBE. Left (Sir) Frederick Hindle (d 1953), Ch Finance and Watch Cttee gees from Nazi Germany and £19,300. a solicitor and leading figure (first woman in country to hold after her husband’s death she in the Darwen Lib organisa- this office in a borough). Born moved to London, dedicating HILL, Lucy (née Roberts) tion; he was mayor 1912–13 Chorlton, Lancs; father was herself to this cause. The Times (1865–1939) Harwich. Cllr and MP in 1923–24. They had Irish and made a fortune as an classified her as a Lib, but in the 1921–; mayor 1923–25; 1931–35. been engaged to marry in 1913 East India merchant based in 1930s she stood for election as Born St Pancras; father auction- but the wedding was called off Manchester. He left £209,000 a WCA candidate. Left £15,500. eer, and she was living there and they eventually married when he died in 1927. Her with her widowed mother in in 1928. mother was German-born. She HELME, Annie (née Smith) 1901 – no occupation recorded. completed the term of a mayor- (1874–1963) Lancaster. BoG. Married a Harwich coal mer- HODGSON, Mary ‘Min- elect who died. She was again Cllr Castle ward Apr 1919–; ald chant, twenty years older than nie’ (née Cairns) (1885–1936) mayor in the 1940s after depos- 1937–49; mayor 1932–33. Ch her, in 1909. MBE. Listed by Richmond, Yorkshire. BoG. ing the incumbent. Listed by Health and Education Cttees. The Times as Liberal in 1920s Cllr 1928–; mayor 1932–34. The Times as a Lib, but stood as Born Bradford, one of thir- and ‘no party specified’ in Father was Primitive Method- an Ind. Left £56,800. teen children of Isaac Smith (d 1930s. ist minister. Husband (d 1935) 1909), a wealthy mill owner, ran a family drapery business KENYON, Elizabeth Han- mayor of Bradford and Baptist. HINDLE, Alys (née Law- in Richmond. He was a cllr, nah (née Darlington) (1855– Husband (d 1908) was a doc- rence) (1879–1964) Darwen, ald and mayor 1919–21. They 1935) Dukinfield, Cheshire. tor and nephew of Sir Norval Lancs. Cllr North-west ward c had three children. Party labels Ashton BoG (ch). Cllr Dukin- Helme, Lib MP for Lancaster, 1933–; mayor 1937–39. One of were not used in Richmond, field Central to 1923; mayor ald and leading Baptist figure. ten children of wealthy Chor- but she was listed by The Times May–Nov 1917 in succession One daughter. Ch Lancaster ley spinner who left £204,000 as a Lib. Left £6,900. to her deceased husband, who

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16 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 madam mayor had a successful rope-making as a servant in her youth and life with a house in London. mayoress. He left £208,000. business. At the time she was ‘received most of her education Though feminist in many of her Lloyd George Lib to 1926 when president of Dukinfield Wom- after she married’. Married an views, she vigorously opposed she and husband joined Cons. en’s Liberal Association and on affluent Yarmouth oil merchant women’s suffrage and was active the executive of the National and ironmonger, of Irish origin, in the Women’s National Anti- PARTINGTON, Mary Alice Women’s Liberal Federation. in 1869. He was twenty-four Suffrage League. She became a (née Harrison) (1868–1950) Freedom of Borough 1919. She years older than her (d 1902). supporter of votes for women Glossop. BoG. Mayor May was seven times mayoress to her They had one son. Her hus- during WW1 and stood as Ind 1916–1920; freedom of bor- husband, and also once to her band was a Unitarian involved Lib candidate for Chesterfield at ough 1926. Father was a Glos- son in 1934–35. The Kenyons in Radical, Irish home rule the 1918 general election (where sop licensed victualler, later had Moravian links but were and Fabian politics and with her brother had been the Lib mineral water manufacturer later Methodists. Left £11,200. his encouragement she became MP until 1916). She married an and coal merchant. She married involved in these circles, who army officer in 1915 but contin- into the very wealthy Parting- KEYNES, Florence Ada met at their house. She was a ued to use her maiden name. She ton family who owned paper (née Brown) (1861–1958) pioneer suffragist in Yarmouth held a host of important public mills in Glossop and Manches- Cambridge. BoG (ch). Cllr and nationally and one of the appointments between the war ter. Edward Partington (1st 1914–19 (defeated), 1924–; ald early women elected to a school including vice-ch of the Unem- Baron Doverdale 1916) had 1931–; mayor 1932–33. Born board. In 1883 she visited the ployment Assistance Board in revolutionised the industry by Cheetham Hill, Manches- USA with the daughter of the 1937. She published a number of introducing the use of wood ter; father a prominent Baptist secularist G. J. Holyoake and books including her autobiogra- pulp. She married Herbert Par- minister and ch of the Congre- published a short book about phy Return Passage in 1953. tington (1871–1916) who ran gational Union of England & her impressions. She was Helen the business in Glossop and was Wales. Married John Neville Taylor’s agent when she stood MOSES, Miriam (1886–1965) three times mayor of the town. Keynes, economist. Mother of as a parliamentary candidate in Stepney. Cllr 1921–34; ald His brother Oswald was Lib- John Maynard Keynes, econ- 1885. An active Liberal into late 1934–37; mayor 1931–32. Father eral MP for High Peak and later omist. Graduate Newnham 1920s. Left £18,500. was a German Jewish immi- Shipley. He left her £142,000. College. Sec of local branch of grant who had a successful busi- They were Unitarians. She Charities Organisation Soci- LILE, Annie (1864–1951) ness as a tailor and clothing declined an invitation in 1921 ety. Started an early labour . Cllr St Mary-in- manufacturer in Spitalfields. to stand as Liberal candidate for exchange. Poor Law guardian the-Castle Upper 1919–31 Her mother died when Miriam High Peak but continued to be 1907–. A founder of Papworth (defeated); ald 1931–46. Ch was in her teens and she helped very active in the local Liberal Village Settlement for TB suf- Health & Mental Deficiency, bring up the family of ten chil- organisation. She left £45,000. ferers. Active in Cambridge Maternity & Child Welfare dren (four others had died). She Nat Union of Women Workers Cttees. Father affluent adver- worked as a nurse and youth PHILLIPS, Juanita (née (forerunner of NCW), 1912–. tising contractor with house in and social worker in the East Comber) (1880–1966) Honi- Ch of its largest section repre- . She lived with her End. In 1925 she established the ton. Cllr 1920–; ald 1929–; senting cttee members, public younger sister (d 1930). Stood as Brady Girls’ Club which helped mayor 1920–24, 1925–26, servants and magistrates. Presi- Ind. Supported by WCA 1919. impoverished East End Jew- 1936–39, 1945; Devon county dent of NCW, 1929–31. First Active in Lib Assoc and WLA. ish families, and she served as cllr. Born Chile; father (d 1896) elected as Ind, but defeated as Active in NCW. Methodist. warden until 1958, establishing a wealthy merchant. Husband Lib 1919. Left £9,100. a national reputation (she was a Honiton solicitor, grandson known as ‘the Angel of the East of very wealthy LANEY, Florence (née LUSHER-PENTNEY, Ceci- End’). She succeeded her father wine merchant and mayor in Hands) (1865–1935) Bourne- lia (née Snelgrove) (1875– as cllr for Spitalfields. Active in 1840s. Actress. Organised suf- mouth. Cllr Boscombe West 1939) Shoreditch. Progressive the Jewish League of Women’s fragettes in Honiton. WW1: Jan 1918–; ald 1933. Ch Men- cllr, Hackney 1920–31; ald Suffrage and the Zionist move- War Office. OBE. Campaigned tal Health & Pension Cttee. 1935–. Born Stoke Newington; ment. Supported birth control for working-class housing. Father a tobacconist. Husband father a foreman. Husband (d clinics. Ch Whitechapel & St President of Devon NCW. a dyer. They had two sons, one 1936) dispensing chemist, Pro- George’s Lib Assoc and con- Active in WVS. Elected as Ind of whom died aged 8 in 1900. gressive. Left £580. sidered for parliamentary can- and classified byThe Times as Husband went bankrupt and didate at the 1930 by-election. ‘politics not specified’. Appears deserted her the same year. MARKHAM, Violet Rosa Anti-Semitic remarks were not to have identified with Lib Steam laundry manager, later (married name Carruthers) made by some Labour members Party but contested Devon CC dyer’s district manager. Advo- (1872–1959) Chesterfield. Mem- and spectators at her mayor- election against well-known cate of single women’s pensions. ber Education Authority 1899– making. Stood as Ind and Pro- Cons. Most frequent woman- Elected as Ind, but supported 1934; cllr 1924–; mayor 1927–28. gressive. Left £7,200. mayor (eleven times) and only Lib parliamentary candidate Writer, social reformer and one in the far west of England (1918). Left £1,500. administrator. Father was a very MUSPRATT, Helena (née between the wars. wealthy owner of mining and Ainsworth) (1870–1943) Liv- LEACH, Mary Ethel (née engineering companies in Der- erpool. Cllr Childwell 1920–34; REIDY, Frances War- Johnston) (1850–1936) Great byshire. He was a Lib Union- ald 1934–. Father was ‘gentle- ren (née Dawson) (1881–?) Yarmouth. BoG. Cllr c 1919–; ist from 1886. Her mother was man of private means’. Husband Stepney. BoG. Cllr 1919–22, ald 1929–; mayor 1924–25. Born a Paxton, daughter of the man (Sir) Max Muspratt (d 1934) 1928–31; ald 1922–28, 1931–. Great Yarmouth; one of ten who built the Crystal Palace. A chemicals tycoon, director ICI, Ch Gen Purposes and Educa- children of a carter and general large inheritance in 1901 ena- Lib MP and Lord Mayor of tion Cttees. Husband Jerome labourer (d 1896). She worked bled her to live an independent Liverpool 1917 when she was Reidy was Irish, an East End

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 17 madam mayor doctor, Progressive cllr and the Royal Academy, and served Nursing Association. President for sedition. They later became mayor of Stepney 1917, when as mayor of Eye, magistrate and of Batley WLA but stood as Ind Congregationalists, but Clara she was mayoress. Eight chil- county councillor. She looked in local elections. Left £57,200. followed her mother, who was dren, including Frankie Reidy, after him until his death in born in Australia, as a strong actress and wife of Michael 1921 at the age of 92. He left her SUTTON, Edith (1862–1957) Anglican. Educ: Cheltenham Powell, the film director. Stood £1,200. She was a keen amateur Reading. BoG. Co-opted Ladies College and in Europe. as Progressive; ratepayer. painter and published books to Education Cttee in early Her father left £90,000 when about Eye. She served as a mag- 1900s; cllr 1907–; ald 1931–; he died in 1914. He had been RONEY, Emily (née Jones) istrate and county councillor mayor 1933–34. Born Read- president of East Gloucester- (1872–1957) Wimbledon. Cllr also. Listed by The Times as a ing, eleventh of twelve chil- shire Lib Association and her 1922–; mayor 1933–35. Born Liberal. dren. Father built up Suttons brother was selected as pro- Birkenhead, father an insur- seed business, leaving £114,500 spective candidate in 1913, but ance officer. Husband was (Sir) SMART, Elizabeth (née Bis- when he died in 1897. She lived he was killed on the Somme in Ernest Roney (d 1952), a solici- set) (1879–1950) Brackley, with two elder sisters, on ‘pri- 1916. WW1: was a nurse in Lon- tor’s clerk and later successful Northants. Mayor 1937–38. vate means’. She was the first don and Cheltenham, becom- City solicitor and yachtsman. Born Midlothian. Husband (d woman borough councillor as ing the hospital’s quartermaster She was known as Lady Roney. 1953) was a Scot also, and a Cus- she was declared elected unop- and a member of the town’s They had four children. She was toms and Excise officer. They posed in October 1907 before Food and Fuel Control Cttee; particularly interested in assist- moved to Brackley in 1906. Six the contested elections. Active awarded MBE. She was active ing the unemployed and refu- children. Listed by The Times as in Guilds of Help, an off-shoot in the Missionary Society, the gees during WW2. Listed by a Lib. Left £119. of the Charity Organization NCW and the Lib Assoc (ch in The Times as a Lib. Left £25,800. Society, 1910. She was elected as 1920s, vice-ch 1930s). Invited SUMMERS, Ada Jane (née a Progressive or Lib-supported to be parliamentary candidate SALTER, Ada (née Brown) Broome) (1861–1944) Staly- Ind until 1921. She joined for Cheltenham in 1922, but (1866–1942) Bermondsey. bridge. Cllr 1912–; ald 1919–; the Lab Party in 1922. Left declined. Cllr (ILP) 1909–12, 1913–; first mayor 1919–21. Father (d 1896) £24,600. Labour woman mayor 1922– was an Oldham mill owner. 1 Aldermen made up one-quarter 23; member of LCC 1925–. Husband was a wealthy iron- THACKERAY, Anne of the membership of a coun- Born Northants; father farmer master in Stalybridge. Later Wynne (1865–1944) . cil and were elected for a term and staunch Wesleyan Meth- the firm expanded to Elles- BoG. Cllr 1919–; ald 1932–38. of six years by the councillors, odist and Gladstonian Liberal. mere Port and Shotton, becom- Born India; father Sir Edward who were elected for three-year Educ: progressive ladies board- ing one of the largest steel Thackeray, VC, a cousin of the terms. ing school in Bedford. Left manufacturing companies in writer, William Makepeace 2 There is information on the home to work in West London Britain. He was a cllr and left Thakeray. She worked with counties, including the London Methodist Mission, 1896 and £192,000 when he died in 1910. the poor in Whitechapel, then County Council, in Anne Bald- Bermondsey Settlement, 1897. They had one daughter. His lived in Oxford with Prof. win ‘Progress and Patterns in the 1900 married . brother was Lib MP for Flint. A. V. Dicey, the political scien- Election of Women as Council- Their only child died in 1910 Ada was an active suffragist, tist, and his invalid wife. With lors 1918–38’ (PhD thesis, Uni- aged 8. They were Progressive Lib and philanthropist (mater- Miss Mary Venables, a fel- versity of Huddersfield, 2012). Liberals and he served as an nity and child welfare clinics, low suffragist, she established 3 Notable exceptions not caught LCC councillor 1906–10. She clinics for the poor, unemploy- Cumnor House a ‘home for by the criteria are Henrietta became increasingly involved ment centre, Mechanics Insti- the feeble-minded’ in 1907 and Adler (LCC) and Shena Simon with the Labour movement tute). She founded the Ladies’ they lived together in Cum- (Manchester). and was a founder of the Wom- Work Society and was known nor Hill in a house designed 4 The four women-provosts in en’s Labour League, 1906. The locally as ‘Lady Bountiful’. for them by Clough Williams- Scotland were ‘Moderates’, i.e. couple became Quakers and OBE, freedom of Stalybridge, Ellis. She gave her occupation members of the Unionist–Liberal joined Bermondsey ILP in 1939. Active in the British and as ‘private secretary’ (1911). She grouping which opposed Labour 1908. She was the first woman Foreign Bible Society. Left was an accomplished musician in most burghs. councillor in London. Sup- £66,000. and craftswoman and mixed in 5 From the age of thirty. Women ported Suffragettes and left- composing and artistic circles. aged 21–30 received the vote in wing causes: No Conscription TAYLOR, Gertrude Elsie Left £6,200 to Venables. 1928. Fellowship and Women’s (1875–1957) Batley. Cllr 1927–; 6 P. Hollis, Ladies-Elect, Women International League in WW1, mayor 1932–34. Born Batley; WINTERBOTHAM, Clara in English Local Government and Socialist League in 1930s. father mill owner. Her half- (1880–1967) Cheltenham. 1865–1914 (Clarendon, 1987), p. She refused to wear the may- brother Theodore C. Tay- Cllr 1918–; ald 1922–52; mayor 31: about 17 per cent of the elec- oral chain on the grounds that lor (1850–1952) was a Radical 1921–23, 1944–46; freedom of torate overall, but 25 per cent in such display was out of place MP until 1918 and lynchpin of borough 1943. Her family were ‘spa, spire and sand’ towns. in such a poor borough as Ber- Liberalism in the district for wealthy and long-established 7 Ibid., pp. ix, 2. mondsey. Dr Alfred Salter many decades. Lived on pri- local solicitors in Chelten- 8 Ibid., p. 486: 78 county borough, was Labour MP for West Ber- vate means. Inherited a large ham and surrounding districts. 142 London borough and 58 mondsey 1922–23, 1924–45. fortune in 1928 when the man They were active in civic life municipal borough. In addition, she was engaged to marry – Sir and were staunch Liberals. 46 women served on county SHORT, Mary (1872–1953) Henry Norman, a former Lib They were Baptists by tradi- councils. Eye, Suffolk. Mayor 1924–26, MP – died suddenly. Congrega- tion: her great-grandfather was 9 Baldwin, ‘Progress and Pat- 1931–33, 1947–48. Her father tionalist. Active in temperance a noted Baptist preacher who terns’, p. 141. was a minor artist, trained at movement and sec of Batley was imprisoned in the 1790s 10 Ibid., pp. 109 and 136.

18 Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 madam mayor

11 Excluding mayors elected in and Wales 1918–39’ (PhD thesis, the conversion of historical in attacks on property includ- Nov. 1939 after the Second University of London, 1989), pp. wealth data into modern values. ing burning down Blaby Sta- World War had already started. 263–64. 22 M. P. Jones, ‘Mary Ann tion, and Lucia Foster Welch 12 Including two cases where 17 Liberals accounted for 31 per Edmunds’, Merthyr Historian, 15, (Southampton 1928). Labour women completed terms of cent of the terms served by men 2003. suffragettes included Miss Alice male mayors who died in office. in the 1920s and 18 per cent in 23 Quoted in W. Hannington, Gilliatt (Fulham 1934), Daisy Provosts in Scotland had three- the 1930s. Unemployed Struggles 1919–1936 Parsons (West Ham 1936) and year terms and these have been 18 Calculated from lists of new (London, 1977), p. 79. Neverthe- Dorothy Thurtle (Shoreditch counted as three terms. mayors in England and Wales less the Congress gave her a gold 1936), the latter two being active 13 Calculating some 350+ authori- published in The Times on 10 or medal. in the East London Federation. ties in England & Wales x 20 11 Nov. each year with the addi- 24 See B. M. Doyle, ‘Urban Liber- 28 Essex Newsman, 16 Mar. 1912. years = 7000+ mayoral terms of tion of a Conservative and a Lib- alism and the “Lost Generation”: 29 I. Ireland, Margaret Beavan of Liv- office. eral in the 1930s who completed Politics and the Middle Class erpool – Her Character and Work 14 Two other women, Miss Frances the term of an incumbent who Culture of Norwich 1900–1935’ (H Young, 1938). Dove in High Wycombe in 1908 died. One Labour mayor in the (PhD thesis, University of East 30 On Taylor, see J. Reynolds and and Ellen Chapman in Worthing 1920s was incorrectly listed as no Anglia, 1990). P. Wrigley, ‘Liberal Roots – the in 1914 were nominated for the party specified and this has been 25 B. M. Doyle, ‘Business, Liber- Liberal Party in a West - mayoralty by the council lead- corrected. Four Scots provosts alism and Dissent in Norwich shire Constituency 1920s–1970s’, ership, but unexpectedly voted not included. 1900–1930’, Baptist Quarterly, Journal of Liberal History, 80, down by the full council. Dove 19 The Times: as above from the xxxv (5), Jan. 1994. Autumn 2013. was non-party and Chapman was lists of new mayors each Nov., 26 J. Courtenay, ‘Clara Winter- 31 J. Neville, Viva Juanita – Cham- a Conservative and became the with the same adjustments. Scots botham 1880–1967 – Chelten- pion for Change in East Devon first Tory woman-mayor in 1920. provosts not included. ham’s First Lady’, Cheltenham Between the Wars (Honiton, 2014). 15 A significant proportion of inter- 20 Mary Mercer (Birkenhead 1924) Local History Society Journal, 14, 32 Lancashire Evening Post, 21 Sept. war women-mayors were single and Mary Hart (Newport, Mon- 1998. 1937. women and they are identified as mouthshire 1937). 27 Notable Conservative suffra- 33 Gloucester Citizen, 10 Nov. 1921. ‘Miss’ throughout the text. 21 See http://www.measuring- gettes were Elizabeth Rowley 34 Four women had been co-opted 16 P. Catterall, ‘The Free Churches worth.com/ukcompare/ for Frisby, Lord Mayor of Leices- to Manchester council’s Educa- and the Labour Party in England information and discussion on ter in 1941, who was involved tion Committee in 1902. Journal of Liberal History: special issues We have published two special themed issues in the last year –

The Liberal Party and the First World War Journal 87 (summer 2015) Includes: Did the Great War really kill the Liberal Party?; The long shadow of war; The Liberal Party, the Labour Party and the First World War; John Morley’s resignation in August 1914; Gilbert Murray v. E. D. Morel; Lloyd George and Churchill as war leaders; Lewis Harcourt’s political journal 1914–16.

The Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010–2015 Journal 88 (autumn 2015) Includes: Coalition and the deluge – interviews with Nick Clegg and former ministers; Why did it go wrong?; Managing the coalition; The impacts of coalition; The 2015 election campaign and its outcome; Comparing coalitions.

Each available for £10 (including P&P). Order via our website, www. liberalhistory.org.uk; or by sending a cheque (to ‘Liberal Democrat History Group’) to LDHG, 54 Midmoor Road, London SW12 0EN.

Journal of Liberal History 89 Winter 2015–16 19