Kate Florence Spurrell (March 1886 – c.1968) was a British

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

activist. Born in Devonport,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England, Spurrell became a schoolteacher in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

and joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

and the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with ...

(NUT). In 1918, she left the Liberals and joined 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 worki ...

(ILP). She was elected to the executive of the NUT, and served as its president in 1922. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party, and at the 1924 general election, Spurrell stood in

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ...

for Labour, but took only 6.1% of the vote. She was again selected in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholi ...

, when she increased her vote share to 12.9%. F. W. S. Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results: 1918-1949'' That year, she was elected to the ILP's National Administrative Council (NAC), representing South West England.Gidon Cohen, ''The Failure of a Dream: The Independent Labour Party from Disaffiliation to World War II'', p. 69 For the 1931 general election, Spurrell was selected by the

Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, Cornwall, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove ...

Constituency Labour Party as their candidate. She was supported by the ILP, but the Labour Party's national executive refused to back her. Despite this, she took 24.5% of the vote and a strong third place. She stood again at the 1935 general election, but was on this occasion opposed by an official Labour Party candidate, and took only 1.9% of the vote. Spurrell lost her seat on the ILP's NAC in 1938, but remained active in the party into the 1950s. In 1965, she was interviewed for the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

on her experience of standing as an ILP candidate in the 1920s. BBC,
BBC Home Service Schedule: 1965-06-25

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spurrell, Kate 1886 births 1968 deaths English trade unionists Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Independent Labour Party parliamentary candidates Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Devonport, Plymouth British women trade unionists