Catherine Webb (4 May 1859 – 29 July 1947) was an influential

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

in the early

cooperative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

, writer and educator.Scott, Gillian (2007) She was general secretary of the

Women's Industrial Council The Women's Industrial Council (WIC) was a British organisation active from 1894 to about 1917, promoting the interests of women at work. Federation The organisation originated as the Women's Trade Union Association, founded by Clementina Black i ...

(WIC), general secretary of the

Co-operative Women's Guild The Co-operative Women's Guild, founded in 1883, was an auxiliary organisation of the co-operative movement in the United Kingdom that promoted women in cooperatives, women in co-operative structures and provided social and other services to its me ...

and vice-president of

Morley College Morley College is a specialist adult education and further education college in London, England. The college has three main campuses, one in Waterloo on the South Bank, and two in West London namely in North Kensington and in Chelsea, the ...

Early life

Webb was born on 4 May 1859 in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

, London, and she had a brother, Arthur Webb. She was the daughter of Thomas Edward Burgess Webb, a

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

coppersmith and the manager of the Battersea and Wandsworth Cooperative Society. Her mother was Catherine Webb (''née'' Young). Her father worked his way up from poverty through the cooperative movement, allowing his children to be raised as middle-class. Webb's comfortable upbringing brought question to the class in which she identified, as she later referred to herself as “a working-woman.”

Career

Webb joined the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1883 and became one of the most visible women of the movement, along with Rosalind Nash and

Margaret Llewelyn Davies Margaret Caroline Llewelyn Davies (16 October 1861 – 28 May 1944) was a British social activist who served as general secretary of the Co-operative Women's Guild from 1889 until 1921. Her election has been described as a "turning point" in th ...

. In the 1890s, her interests also lay in women's waged labour which led her to become involved with the

(WIC). Webb was elected WIC's general secretary from 1895 to 1902 and was also elected to the Southern Section of the Central Board of the

Cooperative Union A cooperative federation or secondary cooperative is a cooperative in which all members are, in turn, cooperatives. Historically, cooperative federations have predominantly come in the form of cooperative wholesale societies and cooperative unions ...

in 1895. During the 1890s, she attended university extension courses at

. Webb served as a trusted lieutenant to Margaret Llewelyn Davies during her tenure as general secretary of the

from 1889 to 1911. Webb also edited the Guild's “Notes” feature in the “Women’s Corner” of the ''Co-operative News,'' writing about women workers and their unions and organizations, such as the Women's Industrial Council and Lady

Emilia Dilke Emilia Francis Strong (2 September 1840, Ilfracombe, Devon – 23 October 1904), better known as Emilia, Lady Dilke, was a British author, art historian, feminist, suffragist and trade unionist. Early life and family Emilia Francis Strong was b ...

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL pla ...

. From 1905 to 1930, she was the secretary of the Guild's Convalescent Fund, which had been established in 1895 to support members in need or in recuperation. Webb believed that once women workers were unionised, wages would increase and that co-operators should collaborate with trade unionists to organize workers. Webb also considered the guildsman to have a special role in this project because as shoppers, women could influence factory conditions and management by not buying sweatshop labour and influencing stores not to sell products made by sweatshops. The result would be that sweat shop owners would be put out of business. She agreed with co-operative activist J.T.W. Mitchell that "there is no power greater than that of a woman when rightly exercised." Webb was the author of ''The Woman with the Basket'', one of the most comprehensive sources for the early history of the Co-operative Women's Guild. From 1915, Webb served on the council of her former college, Morley, retaining her position on the council until becoming vice-president of the college in 1946. The following year, she wrote a history of the institution, titled ''History of Morley College for Working Men and Women in Lambeth, London''.

Death

Webb died on 29 July 1947 in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a suburb of southwest London, England, southwest of Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,189 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimb ...

. She was cremated and buried at Streatham Vale Cemetery in Streatham Vale, London, on 1 August 1947.

Publications

* Webb, Catherine. ''The Woman with the Basket'' (1927) Manchester: Co-operative Wholesale Society Print Works. * Webb, Catherine. ''History of Morley College for Working Men and Women in Lambeth, London''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Catherine 1859 births 1947 deaths People from Battersea Activists from London Co-operative Women's Guild Feminism in the United Kingdom British cooperative organizers