Betty Tebbs
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Betty Tebbs (10 April 1918 – 23 January 2017) was an English activist for
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
and a
peace campaigner A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...
. She was described by the
People's History Museum The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the UK's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people ...
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".


Personal life

Tebbs was the youngest child of a joiner and a maid. She was born in Bury, Lancashire, on 10 April 1918 and the rheumatic fever suffered during her childhood meant that she had a patchy education. She was married to Ernest Whewell until 1944, when he died during active service in the Second World War. Tebbs, who lived latterly in Prestwich, married for a second time in 1947. Her second husband, Leonard Tebbs, a former soldier and university lecturer who died in 1979, 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. Encouragement from her grandchildren led to publication of an autobiography titled ''A Time to Remember'' in 2007.


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. Tebbs was a lifelong member of a trades union – initially, the
National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers The National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers (NUPBPW) was a British trade union. History The union was founded in 1921 as the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding, Machine Ruling and Paper Workers when the National Union o ...
– 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. In 1968 she played a role in the
Society of Graphical and Allied Trades The Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) was a British trade union in the printing industry. History SOGAT was formed in 1966 by the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers and the National Society of Operative Pr ...
adopting a motion that the National Economic Council establish a women's advisory committee, that would advise the council on issues affecting women workers. Tebbs had stated that the trade union movement had not been sufficiently successful in addressing women's issues. After Whewell's death, she was dismayed with the unfairness of a tax and allowance system that she thought penalised war widows. At a union conference in 1960 she advocated for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from their bases in Britain. She also became prominent in peace activism and joined the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...
when it began in 1958. She became chair of the
National Assembly of Women The National Assembly of Women (NAW) is a British women's rights organisation founded on 8 March 1952, at a meeting of almost 1,500 women from all across Great Britain. It campaigns for equal status for women and men in all aspects of life and als ...
in 1978, having joined it in 1952, and met with world leaders in her attempts to bring about nuclear disarmament. 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. Tebbs also continued working for women's rights as a member of trade unions, and led a successful strike for equal pay at ELPM in the early 1950s. She persuaded a number of women to join her union at the mill she worked at after leaving ELPM, and herself moved up the union hierarchy, representing it as district representative, district committee member, and as women's representative for the northwestern region. She attended union conferences in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
in 1958 and 1960, and attended the International Women's Conference in Switzerland on behalf of the union. She also worked on campaigns for equality at numerous other industrial sites and established a refuge at
Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
for women who had suffered from domestic violence. In 1963 she was elected to the Radcliffe Municipal Borough Council against stiff opposition, running as a Labour Party candidate. For some time she was the sole woman on the council. Tebbs had left the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in protest against the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
. She later left Labour to rejoin the CPGB, and then the New Communist Party. Later still, she returned to the Labour Party fold to vote for
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
in the 2015 party leadership election.


Recognition

Tebbs was interviewed at the People's History Museum (PHM) by actor and activist
Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Mart ...
in June 2016. Shortly before her death on 23 January 2017 at the age of 98, she was recognised with the PHM's Radical Hero Award, 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." In 2010, she had been given an award named after Elizabeth Gaskell by Manchester City Council. A fellow activist stated that Tebbs' work had provided the foundation for legislation protecting all women.


References

Notes Citations


Further reading


Obituary in ''The Guardian''Obituary in ''The Telegraph''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tebbs, Betty 1918 births 2017 deaths People from Bury, Greater Manchester Women's rights in the United Kingdom English trade unionists Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists Labour Party (UK) people Communist Party of Great Britain members Women councillors in England British anti–nuclear weapons activists Councillors in Greater Manchester