Isabella Ormston Ford (23 May 1855 – 14 July 1924) was an English social reformer,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and writer. She became a public speaker and wrote pamphlets on issues related to

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, ...

. After becoming concerned with the rights of female mill workers at an early age, Ford became involved with trade union organisation in the 1880s. A member of the

National Administrative Council The National Administrative Council (NAC) was the executive council of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), a British socialist party which was active from 1893 until 1975. Creation The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was founded at a conference in ...

of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

, she was the first woman to speak at a Labour Representation Committee (which became the British Labour Party) conference.

Early life

Isabella Ford was on born 23 May 1855 in

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, in the north of England. She was the youngest of eight children of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s Robert Lawson Ford and Hannah (née Pease). Her mother was a second cousin of

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

Elizabeth Pease Nichol Elizabeth Nichol (''née'' Pease; 5 January 1807 – 3 February 1897) was an English abolitionist, anti-segregationist, woman suffragist, chartist and anti-vivisectionist. She was active in the Peace Society, the Temperance movement and fou ...

and her father was a solicitor and landowner. Ford and her sisters were taught by governesses at home, learning a wide variety of subjects and becoming fluent in French and German. Her parents financed a night school for mill girls in the East End of Leeds, where she began working when she was 16. Contact with these girls gave Ford and her sisters an insight into class differences and an interest in working conditions. At only 12 years old, she made an oath to a friend that she would "improve the state of the world".

Activism

Following the example of her radical parents, Isabella campaigned for several causes during her life.

Trade unions

In the 1880s, Ford became involved with

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s. She worked with tailoresses who were campaigning for better working conditions; she helped them to form a trade union and was involved when they went on strike in 1889. In 1890–91, she marched with workers from Manningham Mills in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. As a result of her involvement, she was elected a life member of the Leeds Trades and Labour Council.

Independent Labour Party

Ford helped found the Leeds

(ILP) and was president of the Leeds Tailoresses' Union. Her concerns were trade union organisation, socialism and female

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. She overcame a natural shyness to become an experienced public speaker, speaking at many meetings related to socialism, workers' rights and women's emancipation. She wrote many pamphlets, as well as a column in the ''Leeds Forward''. In 1895 she was elected parish councillor for

Adel cum Eccup Adel may refer to: Places United States * Adel, Georgia * Adel, Indiana * Adel, Iowa * Adel Township, Dallas County, Iowa * Adel, Oklahoma * Adel, Oregon * Adel Mountains Volcanic Field, West-central Montana Elsewhere * Adelaide, Australi ...

in Leeds. In the 1900s, Ford increased her focus on her work for the ILP, and was elected to the National Administrative Council for four years. She became more involved in the national women's suffrage movement, but felt that feminism and the labour movement were equally important. In 1903 she spoke at the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee (later the British Labour Party), and was the first woman to do so. Ford's language skills enabled her to act as an interpreter at International Labour gatherings. She was also asked to stand for Parliament and was suggested as a candidate for Lady Lord Mayor of Leeds, but she refused to do so.

Animal rights

Ford supported

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

and was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. She was an

anti-vivisectionist Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

and was Chair of Leeds

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

. In 1896, Ford signed the

Humanitarian League The Humanitarian League was a British radical advocacy group formed by Henry S. Salt and others to promote the principle that it is wrong to inflict avoidable suffering on any sentient being. It was based in London and operated between 1891 ...

's petition against vivisection.

Women's suffrage

Following a 1904 debate with future politician

Margaret Bondfield Margaret Grace Bondfield (17 March 1873 – 16 June 1953) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a priv ...

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 ...

described Ford as "a plain, middle-aged woman, with red face and turban hat crushed down upon her straight hair, whose nature yet seemed to me ... kindlier and more profound than that of her younger antagonist".

Pacifism

The outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

saw Ford refocus her energies on campaigning for peace. She helped to organise the women’s peace rally on 4 August 1914 (the day of Britain's entry into the war) at Kingsway Hall, and in Leeds she set up a branch of the Women's International League and of the Women’s Peace Crusade.

Personal life

Ford formed friendships with Labour politician

Philip Snowden Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, PC (; 18 July 1864 – 15 May 1937) was a British politician. A strong speaker, he became popular in trade union circles for his denunciation of capitalism as unethical and his promise of a socialist utop ...

, writer

Ethel Snowden Ethel Snowden, Viscountess Snowden (born Ethel Annakin; 8 September 1881 – 22 February 1951), was a British socialist, human rights activist and feminist. From a middle-class background, she became a Christian Socialist through a radical prea ...

, Leeds educationalist

Frances Lupton Frances Elizabeth Lupton (née Greenhow; 20 July 1821 – 9 March 1892) was an Englishwoman of the Victorian era who worked to open up educational opportunities for women. She married into the politically active Lupton family of Leeds, where s ...

, socialist writer

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...

, poet

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

Josephine Butler Josephine Elizabeth Butler (; 13 April 1828 – 30 December 1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture in B ...

Millicent Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English political activist and writer. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897–1919 led Brita ...

and

Olive Schreiner Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel '' The Story of an African Farm'' (1883), which has been highly acclaimed. It dea ...

. She was one of three women on the first committee of

Leeds Arts Club The Leeds Arts Club was founded in 1903 by the Leeds primary school teacher Alfred Orage and Holbrook Jackson, a lace merchant and freelance journalist, and was one of the most advanced centres for modernist thinking, radical thought and experim ...

. Isabella was concerned with animal welfare and was a vegetarian. She was also an accomplished pianist and helped her sister Bessie to run free concerts of classical music for working class people in Leeds. She lived most of her adult life with her sisters Bessie and

Emily Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...

in Adel Grange, the Leeds home that the family moved to when she was 10. Isabella and Bessie also had a flat in London where they would stay when they were in the city. Bessie Ford died in 1919 and her sisters moved to a smaller property called Adel Willows in 1922. Isabella Ford died 14 July 1924 following an illness of several months and was buried at the Quaker burial ground near her house in Adel.

Posthumous recognition

Ford's name and image, and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters, are etched on the

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

of the

statue of Millicent Fawcett The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroli ...

Parliament Square Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and ...

, London that was unveiled in 2018. On 5 May 2024, it was announced that Ford would have her name engraved on a new Ribbons metal sculpture in Leeds city centre. Designed by Pippa Hale, the sculpture will celebrate 348 women past and present who have contributed to the city as chosen by the public.

Works

*''Miss Blake of Monkshalton'' (1890) *''On the Threshold'' (1895) *''Mr Elliott'' (1901)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Isabella 1855 births 1924 deaths English anti-vivisectionists English social reformers English women's rights activists English Christian pacifists English Christian socialists English Quakers English socialist feminists English suffragists 19th-century English women writers Female Christian socialists Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Leeds Blue Plaques Quaker feminists Quaker socialists Trade unionists from Leeds English women trade unionists Women's Peace Crusade