Sarah Dickenson

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(28 March 1868 – 26 December 1954) 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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

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 feminist activist.

Early life

Born in

Hulme Hulme () is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historically in Lancashire, the name Hulme is derived from the Old Norse word for ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

as Sarah Welsh, Dickenson left school at the age of eleven to work in a cotton mill, where she became interested in trade unionism.

Activism

In 1895, she was appointed as joint organizing secretary of the new Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council (WTUC). She left employment in the mill that year, devoting her time initially to the trades council and another new local organisation, the Federation of Women Workers (of which she was secretary from about 1904), then from 1899 also as secretary of the Manchester and Salford Association of Machine, Electrical and other Women Workers.Edmund and Ruth Frow and Barbara Nield, "Dickenson, Sarah", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.VI, pp.101-105 Around 1900, Dickenson joined the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage (NESWS), a body linked with the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...

(NUWSS). She served on its executive, addressed many meetings on the subject of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

, and took a leading part in promoting a petition of women factory workers, which she jointly presented to Parliament in 1901 when it had around 30,000 signatures. The WTUC could not agree on whether to actively support the women's suffrage movement. In 1903, Dickenson was a leading founder of the rival Lancashire and Cheshire Women Textile and Other Workers' Representation Committee, which was committed to women's suffrage from the start, and she resigned from the WTUC the following year, instead joining the new Manchester and Salford Women's Trades and Labour Council. By 1905, Dickenson was frustrated with the NESWS's preference to engage with middle-class groups, rather than the labour movement, and she resigned along with

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst, (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed its militant actions from exil ...

and several other leading members, instead forming the National Industrial and Professional Women's Suffrage Society. Dickenson served on the executive committee. She was also active in the NUWSS and sometimes took work as a paid organiser for the group. Dickenson worked with

Mary Macarthur Mary Reid Anderson (née Macarthur; 13 August 1880 – 1 January 1921) was a Scottish suffragist (although at odds with the national groups who were willing to let a minority of women gain the franchise) and was a leading trades unionist. She ...

to organise a

National Union of Women Workers The National Council of Women exists to co-ordinate the voluntary efforts of women across Great Britain. Founded as the National Union of Women Workers, it said that it would "promote sympathy of thought and purpose among the women of Great Brita ...

conference in Manchester in 1907. At the conference, she argued that women should found their own unions and then, when male unions were ready to accept them, should transfer into women-only branches of those organisations. Dickenson opposed

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and was a delegate to the Women's International Conference on Peace at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

, although she was unable to travel to it, due to wartime restrictions. She also campaigned for the government's wartime maximum wage for women to be raised, something which occurred in 1915. In 1918, the WLTC and WTUC both merged into the

Manchester and Salford Trades Council The Manchester Trades Union Council brings together trade union branches in Manchester in England. History Efforts to bring trade unionists together across Manchester go back to the eighteenth century. In 1818 the cotton spinners persuaded othe ...

, and from 1920, Dickenson was secretary to its Women's Group. She largely retired from the trade union movement in 1930, serving 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 judici ...

until 1939. In 1931, she was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickenson, Sarah 1868 births 1954 deaths English suffragists English trade unionists People from Hulme English women trade unionists