Ruth Uzzell (née Freeman;[1] 7 October 1880[2] – 2 November 1945)[3] was a British trade unionist, speaker, and member of the executive committee of the National Union of Agricultural Workers.[4][5] She has been described as "one of the many gifted working-class women who found in the Labour Movement a way to selfless and unswerving service to their class", becoming a well-known speaker throughout England and Wales.[4][6][7] She was the first Labour woman elected to Oxford City Council.[4][8]
Ruth Uzzell | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ruth Freeman 7 October 1880 |
| Died | 2 November 1945 (aged 65) |
| Occupation(s) | Trade unionist, speaker |
| Organization | National Union of Agricultural Workers |
| Movement | Labour; Co-operative |
Early life
editRuth Freeman was born in Tysoe, Warwickshire, into a family of agricultural workers and union members.[9][5] Her father and grandfather had both been members of Joseph Arch's National Agricultural Labourers' Union.[4] In her younger years, she worked as a servant in a farm house,[4] an experience which historian Nicola Verdon has described as giving her "a genuine understanding and sympathy for the rural working-class woman".[5] She was also strongly influenced by meeting George Edwards,[4] a founder of the union which became the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers.[10] Ruth married Harry Charles Uzzell in 1903.[1][11]
Labour and Union work
editIn 1903, Uzzell joined the Independent Labour Party, rising to become prominent in both the Labour and co-operative movements.[4] Ultimately, she served on the executive committee of the National Union of Agricultural Workers (NUAW) for 22 years, as well as acting as a branch, district, and county committee secretary.[5][4] She lectured widely, speaking on Labour and NUAW platforms.[4] To these, and to the pages of the Labour press, she brought a woman's perspective on agricultural work.[5] As Nicola Verdon has written, Uzzell:
was exasperated by the argument that women should be barred from agricultural work whilst men were unemployed. The majority of women who went out to work, she contended, ‘do not do so from the desire to shirk the duties and responsibilities of the home, but are forced out to work owing to the rotten economic condition of their lives’.[5]
Uzzell expressed her frustration with changing attitudes to women's roles during and after wartime or periods of economic turmoil, writing: "When the women took the men’s place during the war they were called saviours of the Empire, but in peace time they are termed invaders and superfluous."[5] According to Reginald Groves, Uzzell was the first woman elected to the Oxford City Council.[4] Historian Elizabeth Longford recalled:
So attractive was Ruth Uzzell that when she stood for the Oxford Council the local Communist Party decided not to put up a candidate against her. Not only did she romp home but also won the Beautiful Ankles competition at the Singletree Labour fete.[11]
Death
editUzzell stood down from the NUAW's executive committee in 1945, as a result of ill health, and died the same year.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b "England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005". www.findmypast.co.uk. 1903. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
- ^ "England and Wales National Register, 1939." From "General Register Office: National Registration: 1939 Register." Database. FindMyPast. www.findmypast.com. Citing RG 101, The National Archives, Kew, England.
- ^ Uzzell, Ruth (1946). "England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Groves, Reginald (1981). Sharpen the sickle : the history of the Farm Workers' Union. Internet Archive. London : Merlin Press. ISBN 978-0-85036-284-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g Verdon, Nicola (2009). "Agricultural Labour and the Contested Nature of Women's Work in Interwar England and Wales". The Historical Journal. 52 (1): 109–130. doi:10.1017/S0018246X08007334. ISSN 0018-246X.
- ^ "Harleston: Open Air Meeting". Diss Express. 10 July 1931.
- ^ Scotland, Nigel (1991). Agricultural trade unionism in Gloucestershire, 1872-1950. Internet Archive. Cheltenham : Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, Centre for the Study of Religion. ISBN 978-0-9517369-0-6.
- ^ "'The Land Worker', Vol.26, No.308". mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
- ^ "1911 Census For England & Wales". www.findmypast.co.uk. 1911. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
- ^ Howkins, Alun (2004). "Edwards, Sir George (1850–1933), trade unionist and politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48217. Retrieved 2023-03-09. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b Longford, Elizabeth Harman Pakenham (1986). The pebbled shore : the memoirs of Elizabeth Longford. Internet Archive. London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-78863-8.