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Tebbs became involved in activism around the age of 14 when she realised that a boy with whom she worked at the [[East Lancashire Paper Mill]] (ELPM) was earning two [[Shilling (British coin)|shilling]]s per week more than she was for doing the same job.<ref name="BBC" /> Tebbs was a lifelong member of a trades union&nbsp;— initially, the [[National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers]]<ref name="morningstar">{{cite news |title=Betty Tebbs, For Peace and Socialism |work=Morning Star |date=6 March 2016 |url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-9929-Betty-Tebbs,-for-peace-and-socialism |first=Pauline |last=Fraser |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref> - from the time that she discovered the pay discrepancy at ELPM. She was involved in union activities there for 17 years until the death of Whewell in 1944.<ref name="men2013">{{cite news |title=Supergran versus the Trident missile |date=7 February 2013 |work=Manchester Evening News |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/supergran-versus-the-trident-missile-996985 |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref> In 1968 she played a role in the [[Society of Graphical and Allied Trades]] adopting a motion that the [[National Economic Council]] establish a women's advisory committee, that would advise the council on issues affecting to women workers. Tebbs had stated that the trade union movement had not been sufficiently successful in addressing women's issues.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bain|first1=Peter|last2=Gennard|first2=John|title=A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134790890|page=487|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=xCycBQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
Tebbs became involved in activism around the age of 14 when she realised that a boy with whom she worked at the [[East Lancashire Paper Mill]] (ELPM) was earning two [[Shilling (British coin)|shilling]]s per week more than she was for doing the same job.<ref name="BBC" /> Tebbs was a lifelong member of a trades union&nbsp;— initially, the [[National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers]]<ref name="morningstar">{{cite news |title=Betty Tebbs, For Peace and Socialism |work=Morning Star |date=6 March 2016 |url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-9929-Betty-Tebbs,-for-peace-and-socialism |first=Pauline |last=Fraser |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref> - from the time that she discovered the pay discrepancy at ELPM. She was involved in union activities there for 17 years until the death of Whewell in 1944.<ref name="men2013">{{cite news |title=Supergran versus the Trident missile |date=7 February 2013 |work=Manchester Evening News |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/supergran-versus-the-trident-missile-996985 |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref> In 1968 she played a role in the [[Society of Graphical and Allied Trades]] adopting a motion that the [[National Economic Council]] establish a women's advisory committee, that would advise the council on issues affecting to women workers. Tebbs had stated that the trade union movement had not been sufficiently successful in addressing women's issues.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bain|first1=Peter|last2=Gennard|first2=John|title=A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134790890|page=487|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=xCycBQAAQBAJ}}</ref>


After Whewell's death, she became prominent in peace activism and joined the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] when it began in 1958. She became chair of the [[National Assembly of Women]] in 1978, having joined it in 1952,<ref name="mirror"/> and met with world leaders in her attempts to bring about nuclear disarmament.<ref name="BBC" />{{efn|Tebbs' role in the National Assembly of Women gave her a seat on the [[Women's International Democratic Federation]] and it was through this that she travelled the world to campaign.<ref name="mirror"/>}} She continued working for women's rights and led a successful strike for equal pay at ELPM in the early 1950s.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="men"/> She also worked on campaigns for equality at numerous other industrial sites<ref name="mirror"/> and established a refuge at [[Warrington]] for women who had suffered from [[domestic violence]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Campaigner Betty Tebbs, 97, who fought for equal pay at the East Lancs Paper Mill, honoured by Maxine Peake |work=Bolton Evening News |date=3 November 2015 |first=Saiqa |last=Chaudhari |url=http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/13932131.Campaigner_Betty_Tebbs__97__who_fought_for_equal_pay_at_the_East_Lancs_Paper_Mill__honoured_by_Maxine_Peake/ |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>
After Whewell's death, she was dismayed with the unfairness of a tax and allowance system that she thought penalised war widows.<ref>{{cite book |title=War's Forgotten Women: British Widows of the Second World War |first=Helen D. |last=Milligate |publisher=The History Press |year=2011 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=riM7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |isbn=978-0-75246-700-9}}</ref> She also became prominent in peace activism and joined the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] when it began in 1958. She became chair of the [[National Assembly of Women]] in 1978, having joined it in 1952,<ref name="mirror"/> and met with world leaders in her attempts to bring about nuclear disarmament.<ref name="BBC" />{{efn|Tebbs' role in the National Assembly of Women gave her a seat on the [[Women's International Democratic Federation]] and it was through this that she travelled the world to campaign.<ref name="mirror"/>}} She continued working for women's rights and led a successful strike for equal pay at ELPM in the early 1950s.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="men"/> She also worked on campaigns for equality at numerous other industrial sites<ref name="mirror"/> and established a refuge at [[Warrington]] for women who had suffered from [[domestic violence]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Campaigner Betty Tebbs, 97, who fought for equal pay at the East Lancs Paper Mill, honoured by Maxine Peake |work=Bolton Evening News |date=3 November 2015 |first=Saiqa |last=Chaudhari |url=http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/13932131.Campaigner_Betty_Tebbs__97__who_fought_for_equal_pay_at_the_East_Lancs_Paper_Mill__honoured_by_Maxine_Peake/ |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>


Tebbs was banned from entering the United States due to her activism, and her protests against the [[Trident nuclear programme]] at [[HMNB Clyde|Faslane]] led to her arrest at the age of 89.<ref name="men">{{cite news |title=Veteran CND campaigner wins Elizabeth Gaskell award at age of 92 |date=24 September 2010 |work=Manchester Evening News |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/veteran-cnd-campaigner-wins-elizabeth-899528 |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref><ref name="phm">{{cite web |title=Radical Hero: An Audience with Betty Tebbs |publisher=People's History Museum |url=http://www.phm.org.uk/whatson/radical-hero-an-audience-with-betty-tebbs/ |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>
Tebbs was banned from entering the United States due to her activism, and her protests against the [[Trident nuclear programme]] at [[HMNB Clyde|Faslane]] led to her arrest at the age of 89.<ref name="men">{{cite news |title=Veteran CND campaigner wins Elizabeth Gaskell award at age of 92 |date=24 September 2010 |work=Manchester Evening News |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/veteran-cnd-campaigner-wins-elizabeth-899528 |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref><ref name="phm">{{cite web |title=Radical Hero: An Audience with Betty Tebbs |publisher=People's History Museum |url=http://www.phm.org.uk/whatson/radical-hero-an-audience-with-betty-tebbs/ |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>

Revision as of 11:39, 29 January 2017

Betty Tebbs (10 April 1918 – 23 January 2017) was a British activist for women's rights and a peace campaigner. She was described by the People's History Museum (PHM) in Manchester as "a radical hero who worked tirelessly and with great humility to campaign for equal rights, workers' rights and peace her whole life".[1]

Personal life

Tebbs was born in Bury, Lancashire, on 10 April 1918, at the end of World War I.[1] Tebbs was the youngest child of a joiner and a maid. Rheumatic fever during her childhood meant that she had a patchy education.[2] She was married to Ernest Whewell until 1944, when he died during active service in World War II.[2] Tebbs, who lived latterly in Prestwich,[2][3] married for a second time in 1947. Her husband, Leonard Tebbs, a former soldier and university lecturer who died in 1979,[3] aged 61, had encouraged her in campaigning for peace and also to further her education at college when in her 50s. The couple had met in 1945 and had a son, Glyn. She also had a daughter, Patricia, from her first marriage.[2][4] Encouragement from her grandchildren led to publication of an autobiography titled A Time to Remember in 2007.[3]

Activism

Tebbs became involved in activism around the age of 14 when she realised that a boy with whom she worked at the East Lancashire Paper Mill (ELPM) was earning two shillings per week more than she was for doing the same job.[1] Tebbs was a lifelong member of a trades union — initially, the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers[5] - from the time that she discovered the pay discrepancy at ELPM. She was involved in union activities there for 17 years until the death of Whewell in 1944.[3] In 1968 she played a role in the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades adopting a motion that the National Economic Council establish a women's advisory committee, that would advise the council on issues affecting to women workers. Tebbs had stated that the trade union movement had not been sufficiently successful in addressing women's issues.[6]

After Whewell's death, she was dismayed with the unfairness of a tax and allowance system that she thought penalised war widows.[7] She also became prominent in peace activism and joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament when it began in 1958. She became chair of the National Assembly of Women in 1978, having joined it in 1952,[2] and met with world leaders in her attempts to bring about nuclear disarmament.[1][a] She continued working for women's rights and led a successful strike for equal pay at ELPM in the early 1950s.[1][4] She also worked on campaigns for equality at numerous other industrial sites[2] and established a refuge at Warrington for women who had suffered from domestic violence.[8]

Tebbs was banned from entering the United States due to her activism, and her protests against the Trident nuclear programme at Faslane led to her arrest at the age of 89.[4][9]

Elected for some time as the sole woman on Radcliffe, Greater Manchester Council,[5] Tebbs was at various times a member of the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain.[2][b] was interviewed at the PHM by actor and activist Maxine Peake in June 2016.[9] Shortly before her death on 23 January 2017 at the age of 98, Tebbs was recognised with the Radical Hero Award of the People's History Museum, which described her as "a radical hero who worked tirelessly and with great humility to campaign for equal rights, workers' rights and peace her whole life"[1] In 2010, she had been given an award named after Elizabeth Gaskell by Manchester City Council.[4] A fellow activist stated that Tebbs' work had provided the foundation for legislation protecting all women.[1]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Tebbs' role in the National Assembly of Women gave her a seat on the Women's International Democratic Federation and it was through this that she travelled the world to campaign.[2]
  2. ^ Tebbs left the Communist Party of Great Britain in protest at the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.[5] She was a Labour Party member on several occasions, re-joining for the last time to vote for Jeremy Corbyn in the party leadership election.[2]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Betty Tebbs: Women's rights activist dies aged 98". BBC News. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Jones, Ros Wynne (27 May 2016). "Betty Tebbs has been battling for equality since the 1930s — and she's still going at 98". The Mirror. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "Supergran versus the Trident missile". Manchester Evening News. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d "Veteran CND campaigner wins Elizabeth Gaskell award at age of 92". Manchester Evening News. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Fraser, Pauline (6 March 2016). "Betty Tebbs, For Peace and Socialism". Morning Star. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  6. ^ Bain, Peter; Gennard, John (2005). A History of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades. Routledge. p. 487. ISBN 9781134790890.
  7. ^ Milligate, Helen D. (2011). War's Forgotten Women: British Widows of the Second World War. The History Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-75246-700-9.
  8. ^ Chaudhari, Saiqa (3 November 2015). "Campaigner Betty Tebbs, 97, who fought for equal pay at the East Lancs Paper Mill, honoured by Maxine Peake". Bolton Evening News. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Radical Hero: An Audience with Betty Tebbs". People's History Museum. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
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