Ellen Wilkinson (1891-1947)
Ellen Wilkinson was born in Ardwick, Manchester in 1891. She was one of four children. Her father, Richard Wilkinson, had been a cotton mill half-timer as a child. He taught himself to read, and later became an insurance agent. Wilkinson’s family were Methodists and after Sunday chapel her grandmother would make her stand on a chair and repeat the sermon she had heard. This turned out to be invaluable training for the charismatic public speaker she later became. Wilkinson started school at the age of 6, and at the age of 11 she won a scholarship to Ardwick Higher Elementary school. At the time, teaching was one of the few professions open to intelligent working-class women, and in 1906 she obtained a bursary of £25 enabling her to attend a teacher training course at Manchester day training college.
However, teaching was not the direction her life was to take. She read widely and discovered socialism through the work of Robert Blatchford, and at the age of 16 she joined the Independent Labour Party. In 1910 she won a scholarship to Manchester University. Here, she joined the Fabian society and later became joint secretary and, inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution, she joined the British Communist Party. Ellen was a committed suffragist; however she was also a pacifist and against militancy, so despite living within close proximity to Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, she did not join the suffragettes. Instead, Wilkinson joined the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS), led by Millicent Fawcett, and she became a paid full-time organiser. At the time, Hannah Mitchell was also a member of the NUWSS and she speaks fondly of Wilkinson in her own autobiography. During the First World War, there was little suffrage activity so Wilkinson turned her attention to the Trade Unions. In 1915, she was appointed national organiser for the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees (AUCE), which later became the Union of Shop, Distribution and Allied Workers (USDAW). Her duties involved the recruitment of women into the union, strike negotiation and the wartime issue of substitute labour, where she fought for equal pay for women for doing the same work as men. In 1923, Wilkinson joined Manchester City Council for a brief period, where her main interests were unemployment and education.
In 1924, Wilkinson won the local by-election to become MP for Middlesborough East. Her arrival in the House of Common’s brought her considerable attention from the press, least of all because of her startling appearance of bright red hair and colourful clothing. Wilkinson continued to be a committed unionist and was involved with a number of left wing organisations. She was drawn into the activities of the 1926 General Strike, and during its nine days duration she toured the country to press the strikers’ case at meetings and rallies. She also undertook a gruelling speaking tour in America, fund raising for the miners’ families. In 1931, Wilkinson lost her Parliamentary seat. However, she returned in 1935 as MP for Jarrow, where she ardently campaigned for the unemployed in her constituency. She memorably led a contingent of unemployed walkers from Jarrow to Westminster in protest of mass unemployment in the town; an event which is known as The Jarrow March and which became emblematic of working-class anger. In July 1945, Wilkinson was appointed Minister of Education by Clement Atlee’s Labour Government. She was the second woman ever, after Margaret Bondfield, to achieve a place in the British Cabinet. As Minister of Education one of Wilkinson’s main tasks was the implementation of the 1944 Butler Education Act. This Act provided universal free secondary education, and raised the minimum school leaving age from 14 to 15. All children would take an examination – the 11plus – which would determine whether their secondary education would be in a grammar, technical or secondary modern schools. Amongst other notable achievements, Wilkinson was also responsible for the provision of free milk to children in primary schools.
Throughout her career, Wilkinson was an avid writer and journalist. She published several books, including two novels, and she was a regular contributor to newspapers such as the Daily Herald, the News Chronicle and the Sunday Express. She wrote her semi-autobiographical novel, Clash, during brief periods in the House of Commons library, and during train journeys from Middlesborough to London. It was serialised in the Daily Express newspaper, and then published in book form in 1929. Clash is based on her own experiences of the General Strike in 1926. The protagonist and heroine of the novel Joan Craig has much in common with Ellen herself. Like Ellen, Joan is a young trade union organiser, small in stature but large in physicality and charisma. Seen through Joan’s eyes, the novel records the immediate events leading up to the General Strike and the aftermath in the weeks that followed. Joan dashes around the country arguing the miners’ cause. She witnesses at first hand the poverty and deprivation which only grew worse as the strike failed and many miners were forced back to work facing wage cuts and longer working hours. The narrative of the novel is face-paced and witty, but underlying are serious themes and issues which are still relevant today, such as class antagonism, conflicts in class loyalty and the problems faced by women who want both a career and a loving relationship with a man.
Wilkinson died in 1947, while still in office. She had long suffered from insomnia and acute bronchitis, and at the time of her death she was taking a combination of medication. She took an overdose of barbiturates, and although the coroner put her death down to being accidental there has been continued speculation as to whether she deliberately took her own life.
Quotes from Clash
The class war:
Conflicts in class loyalty:
Women’s problems: love versus career:
However, teaching was not the direction her life was to take. She read widely and discovered socialism through the work of Robert Blatchford, and at the age of 16 she joined the Independent Labour Party. In 1910 she won a scholarship to Manchester University. Here, she joined the Fabian society and later became joint secretary and, inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution, she joined the British Communist Party. Ellen was a committed suffragist; however she was also a pacifist and against militancy, so despite living within close proximity to Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, she did not join the suffragettes. Instead, Wilkinson joined the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS), led by Millicent Fawcett, and she became a paid full-time organiser. At the time, Hannah Mitchell was also a member of the NUWSS and she speaks fondly of Wilkinson in her own autobiography. During the First World War, there was little suffrage activity so Wilkinson turned her attention to the Trade Unions. In 1915, she was appointed national organiser for the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees (AUCE), which later became the Union of Shop, Distribution and Allied Workers (USDAW). Her duties involved the recruitment of women into the union, strike negotiation and the wartime issue of substitute labour, where she fought for equal pay for women for doing the same work as men. In 1923, Wilkinson joined Manchester City Council for a brief period, where her main interests were unemployment and education.
In 1924, Wilkinson won the local by-election to become MP for Middlesborough East. Her arrival in the House of Common’s brought her considerable attention from the press, least of all because of her startling appearance of bright red hair and colourful clothing. Wilkinson continued to be a committed unionist and was involved with a number of left wing organisations. She was drawn into the activities of the 1926 General Strike, and during its nine days duration she toured the country to press the strikers’ case at meetings and rallies. She also undertook a gruelling speaking tour in America, fund raising for the miners’ families. In 1931, Wilkinson lost her Parliamentary seat. However, she returned in 1935 as MP for Jarrow, where she ardently campaigned for the unemployed in her constituency. She memorably led a contingent of unemployed walkers from Jarrow to Westminster in protest of mass unemployment in the town; an event which is known as The Jarrow March and which became emblematic of working-class anger. In July 1945, Wilkinson was appointed Minister of Education by Clement Atlee’s Labour Government. She was the second woman ever, after Margaret Bondfield, to achieve a place in the British Cabinet. As Minister of Education one of Wilkinson’s main tasks was the implementation of the 1944 Butler Education Act. This Act provided universal free secondary education, and raised the minimum school leaving age from 14 to 15. All children would take an examination – the 11plus – which would determine whether their secondary education would be in a grammar, technical or secondary modern schools. Amongst other notable achievements, Wilkinson was also responsible for the provision of free milk to children in primary schools.
Throughout her career, Wilkinson was an avid writer and journalist. She published several books, including two novels, and she was a regular contributor to newspapers such as the Daily Herald, the News Chronicle and the Sunday Express. She wrote her semi-autobiographical novel, Clash, during brief periods in the House of Commons library, and during train journeys from Middlesborough to London. It was serialised in the Daily Express newspaper, and then published in book form in 1929. Clash is based on her own experiences of the General Strike in 1926. The protagonist and heroine of the novel Joan Craig has much in common with Ellen herself. Like Ellen, Joan is a young trade union organiser, small in stature but large in physicality and charisma. Seen through Joan’s eyes, the novel records the immediate events leading up to the General Strike and the aftermath in the weeks that followed. Joan dashes around the country arguing the miners’ cause. She witnesses at first hand the poverty and deprivation which only grew worse as the strike failed and many miners were forced back to work facing wage cuts and longer working hours. The narrative of the novel is face-paced and witty, but underlying are serious themes and issues which are still relevant today, such as class antagonism, conflicts in class loyalty and the problems faced by women who want both a career and a loving relationship with a man.
Wilkinson died in 1947, while still in office. She had long suffered from insomnia and acute bronchitis, and at the time of her death she was taking a combination of medication. She took an overdose of barbiturates, and although the coroner put her death down to being accidental there has been continued speculation as to whether she deliberately took her own life.
Quotes from Clash
The class war:
- The unblushing lying to preserve a competitive system that the really intelligent among them knew was breaking down, the refusal to organise or to allow resources to be organised except on the basis that would yield excess profits to some one! They wanted inequality. They could not conceive a society without some one to bow before and others to cringe to them.
- Our comfort, yours and mine, rests on the underpaid work of these men.
- She did just want to say that really it was all nonsense, this talk of people starving. No one starved in Britain. They could all go on the dole. Every one knew that was why no one could get decent servants nowadays, the workers just lived on the dole, and their children were fed at school. But they weren’t properly grateful. (young m/c woman speaking)
Conflicts in class loyalty:
- ..The problem of when people go over to the other side, too much comfort and luxury...It’s not that they change their beliefs, but all the edges get blunted. Poverty doesn’t press on them so much. It’s hidden, it becomes a matter of statistics. Just an objection to poverty isn’t any good...You’ve got to be up against the real thing to hate it hard enough to be able to fight it.
- I say the only thing is for the men and women who can lead the workers is to stick with them, live their life, eat their bread, and resolutely refuse to go one step beyond the standard of living of the people they are leading. I tell you, that would create the revolution quick enough…He’d know how the shoe pinched.
Women’s problems: love versus career:
- There are lots of women leaders but they are all snowed under. As soon as a woman emerges from the crowd she gets married…marriage takes so much more out of a woman, demands so much more time than it does for a man.
- now so much has been won, the vote, open professions, and all that, there must be some women in this generation who will put their job first and who will tackle some of these problems that are left lying around.
- the woman I am thinking of, the woman I believe you are, Joan, may find their mate, and they may choose to be his mate. Such women, Joan, could be great lovers and great creators…In the ecstasy of their passion they would create wonderful children and train them finely. To their husbands they would bring fulfilment and the peace that passeth understanding. These men would do great things for the world. They would express not merely themselves but the inspiration of their union. (Tony’s view of the ideal match of the sexes i.e. the chauvinistic view.)
