Rebellious Daughters of History #30 by ,,Judy Cox Chartist, Feminist, Journalist and Communist: Helen MacFarlane (1818-1860) Helen Macfarlane was born in Barrhead, Paisley, Scotland. Her father, George, owned a calico-printing works. There was radicalism in the Macfarlane family and the mill workers who were solid supporters of Chartism. In 1842 the Macfarlane mills went bust […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #29 by Judy Cox Poplar Revolt: Minnie Lansbury (1889 – 1922) Minnie Glassman, the daughter of Jewish coal merchant Isaac Glassman, was born in Stepney in 1889. She became a school teacher and was active in the campaign for women’s suffrage. In 1913, Sylvia Pankhurst, with the support of Millie Glassman, […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #28 by Judy Cox Mexican Revolutionary: Margarita Neri Margarita Neri, “The Rebel Queen of Morelos”, was the daughter of a Mayan Indian and a former Mexican general who had rebelled against the repressive government of President Diaz around 1900. The Mexican Revolution began on 20 November, 1910, and raged well into […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #27 by Judy Cox Agitating for Reform: Ernestine Louise Rose (1810 – 1892) Rose Potowska was born in Poland. Her father was a wealthy rabbi and she later recalled, “I was a rebel at the age of five”. When she was 16, her father betrothed her to an older man. Rose […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #26 by Judy Cox Striking a Light: Sarah Chapman (1862-1945) Sarah was born in 1862 to Samuel Chapman, a brewer and sometime docker, and Sarah Ann Mackenzie. Sarah and her six siblings grew up in Mile End and could all read and write. By the age of 19, Sarah worked with […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #25 by Judy Cox The Red: Louise Bryant (1885 –1936) Louise grew up in rural Nevada and attended the University of Nevada and the University of Oregon, graduating with a degree in history in 1909. She became a journalist and an activist in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1915, she met […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #24 by Judy Cox ‘We are Lions’’: Jayaben Desai (1933 – 2010) Jayaben Desai was born in 1933 in Gujarat, India. She later migrated to Britain, where she took up low-paid work, first as a sewing machinist, then processing film in the Grunwick factory. There was no union allowed at Grunwick, […]

Rebellious Daughters of History #23 by Judy Cox Labour Movement Martyrs and their Stories: Ella May Wiggins (1900 – 1929) and Mary Heaton (1874-1966) Ella May was born Sevierville, Tennessee, in 1900 and by 1926 she had settled in an African-American neighbourhood in Gaston County. Her neighbours looked after her nine children as she worked […]