Dates

• Existence: 1893 - 1979

Biography

Jessie Stephen (1893-1979) was a suffragette, trade unionist, and domestic servant. Born in Marylebone in London, Stephen moved with her family to Scotland, first to Edinburgh and later to Glasgow in 1901. She was educated at North Kelvinside School and upon leaving at the age of 15, she became a Pupil Teacher to support her family. She later took up factory work and domestic service. Stephen had attended the Socialist Sunday School and became a member and vice-chair of her local Independent Labour Party branch at the age of 16. She also joined the WSPU and was one of 12 women who lobbied the House of Commons and Prime Minister Lloyd George for the right of women to vote. She remained a steadfast activist for women's rights throughout her life. She helped to organise the Scottish Domestic Workers' Federation, affiliated to the Glasgow Trades Council. This group would subsequently become part of the Domestic Workers' Union of Great Britain. She worked with the Workers' Suffrage Federation during WWI, helping to establish branches in England, until 1917. Thereafter, she began with Bermondsey ILP as an organiser and was elected to the Bermondsey Borough Council in 1922. She worked with Mary Macarthur and the NFWW, where she became secretary of the domestic workers' section in 1918. She would also go on to work as a journalist, as a lecturer in Canada and America, and would become a councillor in Bristol as well as the first female President of Bristol Trades Council, a role she remained in until her 70s. She was recognised by many organisations for her work and was awarded an MBE in 1977 for her service to the trade union movement. [Source: The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women, 2006]

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