Eleanor Glencross (11 November 1876 – 2 May 1950) was an Australian feminist and housewives' advocate. Glencross was born Eleanor Cameron in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to unionist and politician Angus Cameron and Eleanor, ''née'' Lyons. She attended Cleveland Street Public School and Mis Somerville's Ladies' College and worked for the Liberal and Reform Association. She became general secretary and organiser of the

Australian Women's National League The Australian Women's National League (AWNL) was an Australian political lobby group federation first established in 1904. It acted in many ways like a political party, with an extensive branch network and the capability to run its own candidates ...

in 1911 before returning to Sydney in 1913 to work for the Liberal Association of New South Wales. On 14 March 1917 she married Andrew William Glencross at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, moving to Stawell later that year and vigorously supporting the pro-

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

campaign. Glencross was appointed honorary director of the

prohibitionist Prohibitionism is a legal philosophy and political theory often used in lobbying which holds that citizens will abstain from actions if the actions are typed as unlawful (i.e. prohibited) and the prohibitions are enforced by law enforcement.C Canty ...

Strength of Empire Movement in 1918, and worked for various

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

organisations. She became president of the Housewives' Association of Victoria in 1920 and president of the Federated Housewives' Association of Australia in 1923, working for a lower cost of living. From 1927 to 1928 she was president of the National Council of Women of Victoria, having assisted in the formation of the Victorian Women Citizens' Movement in 1922. She unsuccessfully ran for public office three times as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate: for

Henty Henty may refer to: Australian geography *Henty, New South Wales * Henty, Victoria * Henty (wine) an Australian geographical indicator and wine region in southwestern Victoria *Division of Henty, a former federal electorate in Victoria *Henty Highw ...

federally in 1922,

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

at state level in 1928, and

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

federally in 1943. In 1927 she was one of the first female

justices of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in Victoria. Glencross moved to Sydney in 1928 after her appointment to the Commonwealth Film Censorship Board, but the Scullin government did not reappoint her in 1929. She presided over the Good Film and Radio Vigilance League of New South Wales but was left financially insecure by her husband's death in 1930. In 1931 she worked for the National Association of New South Wales and the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

, and in 1938 was given a salary as chairwoman of the directors of the Housewives' Association of New South Wales, clashing frequently with Portia Geach. Fighting off allegations of dictatorship, Glencross continued public life during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving on the state advisory committee of the Commonwealth Prices Commissioner, the council of the Lord Mayor's Patriotic War Fund and the executive of the Women's Voluntary National Register. Bankrupted by a defamation suit in 1946, Glencross died at Cremorne in 1950 and was buried in the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

section of

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest List of necropolises, necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest ...

. In 1978 a street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm was named Glencross Street in her honour, recognising her work as a social reformer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glencross, Eleanor 1876 births 1950 deaths Australian feminists People from Sydney 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women