Selina Cooper
Selina Cooper | |
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| Born | 4 December 1864 Callington, Cornwall, England |
| Died | 11 November 1946 (aged 81) |
| Occupations | suffragist and the first woman to represent the Independent Labour Party (ILP) |
| Organisation(s) | Women's Co-operative Guild, North of England Society for Women's Suffrage |
Political party | Social Democratic Federation |
Other political affiliations | Independent Labour Party |
Selina Jane Cooper (née Coombe; 4 December 1864 – 11 November 1946)[1] was an English suffragist and the first woman to represent the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1901 when she was elected as a Poor Law Guardian.[2][3]
Early life
[edit]Selina Cooper was born Selina Coombe in Callington, Cornwall, in 1864, the sixth of seven surviving children of Charles Coombe, a railway labourer who later became a railway subcontractor, and Jane Coombe (née Uren), a dressmaker. After her father died of typhoid fever in 1876 while working on a job), she moved to Barnoldswick. At the age of 12, she began working in the local textile mills and left school at 13 to work full-time there.[2][1]
Trade union and political activities
[edit]
Cooper became active in trade union activities and took practical courses in laundry, hygiene and first aid and became a member of the Barnoldswick St John's Ambulance Committee in 1895.[3] She was an early member of the Nelson Social Democratic Federation (SDF), and later founded a branch of the party in Brierfield.[4] She joined the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1897 and the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage in 1900.[2][3]
In 1901, Cooper was elected to the Board of Guardians, as a joint SDF-ILP candidate. She became frustrated with the SDF's lack of interest in the suffrage movement, and moved away from the party, becoming a full-time organiser for the suffrage movement.[4] In 1910 she was chosen to be one of four women to present the case for women's suffrage to H. H. Asquith, who was then Prime Minister.[2] She and Ada Nield Chew and Margaret Aldersley were experienced labour activists in Lancashire.[5]
During the First World War Cooper developed the first ever Maternity Centre in Nelson, Lancashire. She was later elected to the town council and went on to become a local magistrate. She resigned from the Labour Party in the 1930s due to her belief that the party did not take a strong enough line against fascism.[3]
Recognition
[edit]Selina Cooper's house at 59 St Mary's Street, Nelson, is marked with a heritage blue plaque.[6] In 2015, she was the subject of a play by the Function Factory theatre in Nelson titled "Hard-Faced Woman".[7]
References
[edit]
- 1 2 Liddington, Jill (2004). "Cooper [née Coombe], Selina Jane (1864–1946), suffragist and socialist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39078. Retrieved 26 November 2020. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- 1 2 3 4 "Selina Cooper". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 Liddington, Jill; Norris, Jill (1978). One Hand Tied Behind Us: The Rise of the Women's Suffrage Movement. London: Virago. pp. 21, 115, 136, 147, 260. ISBN 086068007X. OCLC 4379457.
- 1 2 Crick, Martin (1994). History of the Social-Democratic Federation. Keele University Press. p. 303. ISBN 1853310913.
- ↑ Sandra Stanley Holton, Feminism and Democracy: Women's Suffrage and Reform Politics in Britain, 1900-1918, Cambridge University Press (2002) - Google Books pg. 68
- ↑ Liddington, Jill (2014). Vanishing for the vote: Suffrage, citizenship and the battle for the census. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 349. ISBN 9781847798947. OCLC 900415080.
- ↑ Magill, Peter (27 August 2015). "Suffragette's story set to hit streets". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
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