Jeannie Mole
Harriet Fisher Mole | |
---|---|
Born | Harriet Fisher Jones 2 May 1841 |
Died | 15 April 1912 Paris | (aged 70)
Nationality | British |
Other names | Jeannie Mole |
Harriet Fisher Mole (née Jones; 2 May 1841 – 15 April 1912), known as Jeannie, was a British socialist, feminist, and trade union organiser in Liverpool. Arriving there in 1879, Mole was instrumental in bringing socialism to Liverpool, as well as setting up a number of societies to encourage trade unions amongst Liverpool's female workforce. She supported strikes to improve the workforce's conditions, especially to remove fines.
Mole was also a supporter of
Biography
Harriet Fisher Jones was born on 2 May 1841 in Warrington to her father, Evan Jones, a tinsmith, and his wife, Harriet Jones. As she and her mother shared the same name, she became better known as Jeannie. In 1860, she married a fruit merchant, Robert Willis, and the couple travelled to New York City, where she took an interest in the black rights movement.[1] On her return to England, she and her husband settled in London and had a son, Robert Frederick Evan Willis, better known as Fred. Willis spent some time helping the poor in the slums of London.[1] She was heavily influenced by the works of Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin, setting her on the path of socialism.[2]
In the late 1870s, Willis divorced her husband and remarried.[3] Her new husband was another fruit merchant, William Keartland Mole, who was also the son of a wealthy Liverpool jeweller.[2] William was 22 at the time, and the marriage was witnessed by Mole's son, as well as her brother. The family moved to Liverpool, living on Bold Street.[2] It was there that she began her lifelong ambition to improve the lives of those in poverty within Liverpool.[4]
Mole suffered a heart attack in 1896, likely due to excessive work and the ensuing illness lead to her taking a step back from organisational work the following year.[1] Her son, Fred, died in 1905. On 15 April 1912, whilst on holiday in Paris, Mole died.[1]
Feminist and socialist work
Finding just six socialists in Liverpool, Mole started propaganda meetings in her home with the support of her husband and son.[1] These meetings lead to the formation in 1886[2] of the Worker's Brotherhood,[5] the first socialist society in Liverpool. The Brotherhood, despite never achieving great numbers, went on to help form the Liverpool branch of the Fabian Society in 1892.[1] Mole became vice-president of the Liverpool Fabian Society in 1895.[6] She also focused on more practical solutions for social issues, for example, funding a "socialist food van" at a cost of £55 6s 5d[7][note 1] and campaigning for a "people's hall" in Liverpool for the working class.[8][9]
"Many of [them] rise before five, tidy their little homes, prepare the day's food and pass the factory gate after a walk of two miles before the steam whistle stops shrieking at 6:30... So many of them receive only a few shillings a week, and have to tramp a long way to reach cheap shelter, and are not able to afford out of their wages such food as would give them energy and vigour. Sometimes, then, it happens that a woman hears the dreaded whistle stop when she is quarter of a mile away, and then she knows that some of her hard earned wage will be kept back from her."
Jeannie Mole, describing the plight of women workers in Liverpool[5]
Mole was an early follower of
In 1888, Mole and the Workers' Brotherhood started to campaign to unionise the female workers in Liverpool into female-only unions.
In 1894, Clementina Black set up the Women's Industrial Council ; soon after, Mole helped found a Liverpool branch in which she was the secretary.[5] The council helped form unions for upholsteressess and marine-sorters, as well as worked with the other groups set up by the Workwomen's society.[13] In her role, Mole also stepped up inquiries into working conditions for women; for example, when an industrial accident killed a woman at the Old Swan Rope Works in Liverpool, Mole attended the case as secretary of the 'society for inquiring into the conditions of working women'.[14] She ensured that a factory inspector attended, that the jury made recommendations to prevent future accidents, and that compensation was paid to the woman's next of kin.[5]
In 1895, Mole leveraged her position in the Liverpool Women's Industrial Council (LWIC) to encourage a strike amongst Liverpool's women
Notes
- ^ According to MeasuringWorth.com, £55 6s 5d in 1895 was worth approximately £22,150.00 in 2014.
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53594. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ ISBN 9781349078455. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ "Divorce case". Worcester Journal. 27 July 1878. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
- ISBN 9780906367452.
- ^ ISBN 9780853237389.
- ^ "Local News: Liverpool Fabian Society". The Liverpool Mercury. 27 May 1895. p. 6. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ "Distress in Liverpool". The Liverpool Mercury. 28 February 1895. p. 6. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ "A People's Palace for Liverpool". The Liverpool Mercury. 20 March 1897. p. 6. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ "Our Greatest Need". The Liverpool Mercury. 17 March 1897. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ISBN 9780853237150.
- ISBN 090636745X.
- ISBN 9780230522299.
- ISBN 9780847660568.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ "Women Workers and Open Machinery". The Liverpool Mercury. 1 August 1895. p. 7. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ISBN 9780300102451.