Mary Ann Mercer (1883 – 26 September 1945) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

politician, who served as the first woman and first Labour Party Mayor of

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

Personal life

Born in

Newport, Shropshire Newport is a market town and Civil parishes in Shropshire, civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It lies north-east of Telford, west of Stafford, and is near the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. The 2001 Ce ...

, her father died when she was three. Despite her limited schooling, Mercer worked as a housekeeper, trained as a nurse and then worked in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

as a district visitor. While there, she met and married a Labour Party activist and journalist in 1912. In 1914 they moved to the Wirral and had a family. She died in 1945 and is buried in Flaybrick cemetery,

Political life

Mercer became active in the Labour Party (UK) when she moved to the Wirral. Mercer was elected to Birkenhead Town Council in 1919, representing Argyle ward. In 1924, she was elected as Mayor of Birkenhead, the first woman to hold the post, and also the first Labour Party member to hold the post. While in office, she unveiled Birkenhead War Memorial. She moved to become the town's first woman

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 ...

in 1926, serving until 1932, when she returned to representing Argyle until 1945. Mercer stood in Liverpool Fairfield at the

1924 United Kingdom general election The 1924 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 29 October 1924, as a result of the defeat of the Labour minority government, led by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, in the House of Commons on a motion of no confidence. It was th ...

, taking second place with 37.1% of the vote. She next stood in

Birkenhead East Birkenhead East was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency centred on the Birkenhead area of Merseyside. It returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United ...

at the

1935 United Kingdom general election The 1935 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 14 November 1935. It resulted in a second (though reduced) landslide victory for the three-party National Government, which was led by Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party a ...

, when she took 23.3% of the vote, and only third place. Mercer also served as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

from 1929.

Legacy

Mercer Road in

Prenton Prenton is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, withi ...

(previously the local government Bidston and St James Ward) is named after her. She was commemorated in 2018 with a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

on 103 Norman Street,

where she once lived.
portrait
of her as Mayor b
Maude Hall Neale
is displayed in the Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead. In 2021 Mercer was included in a mural commissioned for the centre of Birkenhead, painted by artist Joseph Venning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, Mary 1945 deaths Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Mayors of places in Merseyside Politicians from Birkenhead 1883 births People from Newport, Shropshire Women councillors in England Councillors in Merseyside Women mayors of places in England