Ivy Molly Bolton (26 January 1897 – 2 January 1991) was a British politician, elected both as Vice Chair and Chairman of London County Council in 1953.
Molly Bolton | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Ivy Mabel Schmidt 26 January 1897 London |
| Died | 2 January 1991 (aged 93) London |
| Occupation(s) | Labour politician, Chairman of London County Council |
Early life
editIvy Mabel Schmidt was born on 26 January 1897 to Alice (née Algar) and Leonard Schmidt, a hairdresser, the middle of three children. She was baptised on 4 April 1897 in the Parish of St. Andrew, Haverstock Hill in London Borough of Camden. The family lived in Kentish Town at the time of her birth, later moving to Hampstead.[1]
Career
editBolton joined the Fabian Society in 1916, and became private secretary to Beatrice and Sydney Webb. She then became secretary of the Fabian Local Government and Research Bureau, and assistant editor of Local Government News, and served on the society's executive committee.[2]
At the London County Council election, 1934, Bolton was elected as a Labour Party candidate in Hackney North[2] one of the women alongside Margaret Cole and Peggy Jay who made up 23% of the LCC Labour group.[3] She held the seat and its successor, Stoke Newington and Hackney North, until 1952. That year, she became an alderman, and she was chair of the council in 1953/54. When the council was dissolved, in 1965, she retired.[4]
In October 1934 she was the first woman to become one of London County Council's six representatives on the London and Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority.[1]
She was appointed to Crawley New Town Development Corporation 1947–56 a member of the working group developing a master Plan for Crawley alongside Sir Thomas Penberthy Bennett, Lawrence Neal, Alwyn Sheppard Fidler, Caroline Haslett, Sir Edward Gillett, Eric Walter Pasold and Alderman James Marshall.[5]
The National Portrait Gallery hold a photograph of Molly Bolton by Elliott & Fry in its collections.[6]
Personal life
editIn 1922 she married Douglas Joseph Bolton (1890-1983) an electrical engineer and lecturer at Regent Street Polytechnic, in St Albans.[1] On 6 November 1958, the couple sailed to Penang on the ship MS Oranje.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Ivy Molly Bolton". London Remembers. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ a b "Biographies of new candidates". Fabian News. May 1938.
- ^ WHN (5 March 2010). "Women's History Month: Persistence pays off, as women are finally elected to the London County Council". Women's History Network. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ Saint, Andrew (1989). Politics and People of London. London: Hambledon Press. p. 9.
- ^ "Cataloguing Crawley New Town: The Team Behind the Corp". West Sussex Record Office. 8 May 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "Ivy Molly Bolton - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, Southampton 1958 Nov". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 30 September 2023.