Mary O'Brien Harris (1865 – 19 April 1938) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

politician. Born Mary O'Brien, she was educated at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

. She joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

in 1894, and served on its executive committee from 1898 until 1901. She remained involved with the organisation, and was a prominent figure in the

Fabian Women's Group Fabian may refer to: People * Fabian (name), including a list of people with the given name or surname * Pope Fabian (died 250), Catholic saint * Fabian Forte (born 1943), 1950s American teen idol, singer and actor, known by the mononym Fabian * ...

for many years. She was also a founder member of the Socialist Quaker Society. O'Brien married J. Theodore Harris, and added his surname to her name. She served as headteacher of Clapton Girls' Academy for many years. In 1934, O'Brien Harris was elected to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

as a Labour Party member, representing

Hackney Central Hackney Central is a sub-district of Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney in London, England and is four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The Hackney Central area is focused on Mare Street and the retail areas to the north o ...

, and she held the seat until her death, in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Brien Harris, Mary 1865 births 1938 deaths Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British Quakers Labour Party (UK) councillors Members of the Fabian Society Members of London County Council Women councillors in England