Mary Fitzgerald (trade unionist)
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Mary Fitzgerald (also known as Pickhandle Mary; 4 August 1883 – 26 September 1960) was an Irish-born South African political activist and was considered to have been the first female trade unionist in the country. She was South Africa's first female master printer. As editor of the Voice of Labour, she published articles advocating for women's enfranchisement, racially integrated trade unions and revolutionary socialism. She played a lead role in the Black Friday Riots of 1913. She was the first woman to be elected to the Johannesburg City Council (JCC) in 1915 and later served as Deputy Mayor of Johannesburg.[1]
Early life
Mary was born into a farming family in the townland of Gortins, near Cleariestown, County Wexford in 1883.[2] Her parents were Thomas Sinnott and Margaret Dunne. They had four other children: Dennis who was born in 1880, Doris and Sarah who were born in 1886, and Barbara. Mary attended the Presentation Convent in Wexford, where she qualified as a shorthand typist.
Her father Thomas travelled to America and got a job as a representative for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Three months later, he moved to rapidly growing Cape Town as the company representative. In 1900 he returned to Wexford and travelled back to Cape Town with Mary, with plans that the rest of the family would follow.
Career and family life
At first, Mary found a job working at British military headquarters as one of the first female shorthand typists in South Africa. Her mother and siblings sailed from Southampton to the Cape in December 1900. Margaret Sinnott started work as a dressmaker on her sewing machine while Dennis got a job on the tramways.
Everything was going well for the new immigrant family until Dennis had a fall from the top of a tram and died of his injuries. His tram conductor friend John Fitzgerald visited the bereaved family. John and Mary married in St. Mary's Cathedral and went on to have five children.[3]
Trade unionism
The Sinnotts and Fitzgeralds later moved to
Fitzgerald trained as a printer and became South Africa's first female master printer.
Fitzgerald supported the
Fitzgerald played a lead role during the Black Friday riots in 1913.
In the first elections for the Johannesburg municipality in 1915, Mary was elected to the city council and served until 1921.[15] She was the first woman to hold public office in the city. She later served as Deputy Mayor of Johannesburg.[16]
In 1918, she founded the Women's Industrial League (WIL), an organisation of waitresses, hospital laundry workers, and female workers in the Pretoria mint. WIL members were involved in expelling "coloured" waiters from a Johannesburg social club and forcing management to hire white women.[17]
She attended the 1921 conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva as a delegate of the South African government.
She was arrested in 1922 for allegedly leading a group that set fire to Park Station during the Mine Workers Strike.[18]
Retirement from public life
In 1918 she divorced John Fitzgerald and married labour leader Archie Crawford in 1919.[19] They had one child also named Archie. Her husband Archie died in 1924 and she did not take part in public life after 1926.
On her retirement she was presented with a car bought by public donations, the first to be owned and driven by a Johannesburg woman.[20]
Death and legacy
Fitzgerald died in 1960 at the age of 77.[21]
In 1939, Market Square in
In 2005, Mary Fitzgerald Square hosted the Johannesburg leg of the Live 8 series of concerts organised by Bob Geldof and the square was officially designated a ‘fan park’ during the 2010 World Cup.
'Mama Mary Fitzgerald' was posthumously awarded The
References
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "General Registrar's Office" (PDF). IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- S2CID 149456661.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mary Fitzgerald | South African History Online". sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Mama Mary Fitzgerald (Posthumous) | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "Fitzgerald, Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
- ^ "The Order of Luthuli | The Presidency". www.thepresidency.gov.za. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.