Marguerite Lena Parsons MBE ( Millo; 21 May 1890 – 29 September 1957), known as Daisy Parsons, was a British suffragette. She was part of a delegation to the Prime Minister in 1914. She later became a councillor and, in 1937, she was

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

's first woman mayor.

Life

Parsons was born in Poplar in London in 1890. Her father, Alfred Albert Millo, dealt in jewellery when he was well. Her mother, Elizabeth, worked as a

charlady Charwoman, chargirl, charlady and char are occupational terms referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours of a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually lives as part of the hou ...

. She had five younger brothers and she left school early so that she could care for them. At fourteen she was a maid working for the local librarian. Parsons took

piecework Piece work or piecework is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of m ...

in a tobacco factory and she was surprised to find how little she earned compared to the men, who also had comfortable restroom for breaks, women only had toilets. She brought up an orphaned niece and three daughters with her husband, Robert Stanley (Tom) Parsons, who was a driver for the Stepney Borough Council and a union activist. They married on 19 December 1908 in the Congregational Chapel, Barking Road, Plaistow. When Parson's eldest child became due for a vaccination she applied to have an exemption but she was told that only fathers could apply. East London suffragettes

Parsons was inspired by Minnie Baldock in

Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...

and so she joined

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (; 5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was an English Feminism, feminist and Socialism, socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise worki ...

's East London Federation of Suffragettes and became the secretary of the branch in South West Ham. In 1914, Sylvia Pankhurst went on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

and refused to stop until the Prime minister received women so that they could present their case for the vote. Asquith agreed and Parsons was able to tell him of her problems, as she was one of the six women chosen including Jessie Payne, led by Mrs Julia Scurr. She told Asquith that she gave birth to children but she had little say in deciding "what is good for them." During World War I, the East London Federation of Suffragettes opened a baby clinic and Parsons was the manager. She was remembered as assertive and persuasive. After the war, she was asked to help the local council distribute help for mothers. She joined the ''Maternity and Child Welfare Committee'' in 1919. In 1922 she was elected as a socialist borough councillor on the West Ham Council. In 1931 she was deputy

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

, a Justice of the Peace in 1933, and then in 1935 she was made an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

and the following year she became West Ham's first female Mayor. As Mayor, she opened the local lido, got to drive the first local

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

and returned to the youth club in

which had inspired her. During World War Two, Parsons organised children's

evacuation Evacuation or Evacuate may refer to: * Casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), patient evacuation in combat situations * Casualty movement, the procedure for moving a casualty from its initial location to an ambulance * Emergency evacuation, removal of pers ...

locally and helped organise the

Women's Voluntary Service The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need ...

. Her brother and a niece were killed in the

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

. Parsons was awarded the honour of the Freedom of West Ham in 1939, and MBE in the New Year Honours of 1951 and she died in Stratford in London in 1957.Tim Wales, ‘Parsons , Marguerite Lena (1890–1957)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 21 November 2017
/ref> There is a mural made as communal art at Hermit Road Park, a testament to how well she was regarded in this area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Daisy 1890 births 1957 deaths People from the London Borough of Newham Mayors of places in Greater London Women mayors of places in England British suffragettes British women's rights activists People from Poplar, London Women councillors in England Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire