Members representing their Federation at the 2009 AGM in Birmingham
The Townswomen's Guild (TG) is a British women's organisation. There are approximately 30,000 members, 706 branches and 77 Federations throughout
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
and the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
. (Figures updated 1 August 2013).
The Townswomen's Guild is the second largest British women's organisation. It consists of local branches, known as guilds, and federations, which are groups of local guilds who work together throughout the UK.
The movement was formed in 1929, at the instigation of
Margery Corbett Ashby
Dame Margery Irene Corbett Ashby, ( Corbett; 19 April 1882 – 15 May 1981) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, feminist and internationalist.
Background
She was born at Danehill, East Sussex, the daughter of Charles Corbett, a bar ...
and
Eva Hubback
Eva Marian Hubback (13 April 1886 – 15 July 1949) was an English feminist and an early advocate of birth control and eugenics.
Early life
Eva Marian Spielmann was born on 13 April 1886, daughter of Sir Meyer Spielmann (1856–1936). Sir Meyer wa ...
, when all women over 21 won the right to vote and with the aim of educating women about good citizenship.
Membership and organisational Structure
The national headquarters of the Townswomen's Guilds (TG), is in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England.
Hierarchy
The Townswomen's Guilds' (TG) Patron is Her Royal Highness
The Princess Royal, and the organisation's National President is Dame
Diana Brittan DBE. Its National Vice-Presidents are Dame
Jocelyn Barrow DBE,
Eileen Bell CBE and
Baroness Flather.
The Guilds' Honorary Life National Vice-Presidents are
Maggie Chilton MBE,
Jean Ellerton JP, Marjory Hall OBE, Jean Hunt, Pamela Pollock, Pauline Myers, Sue Smith OBE, Iris Shanahan MBE, Pauline Myers and Margaret Key.
The current National Chairman is Penny Ryan, who leads the board of the National Executive Committee (NEC) in the running the organisation and the staff at the headquarters.
Awards
Every year, members are recognised and awards are presented at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). "Townswoman of the Year" is an award presented to a member who has devoted their time and energy to the organisation and is chosen by the National Chairman. The "Officers’ Trophy" is given to a member who has exceptionally gone ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ to support an organisation or charity and is chosen by the National Executive Committee (NEC).
''Townswoman''
The Townswomen’s Guilds (TG) produces ''Townswoman'', a magazine for its members which is published quarterly every year - it is delivered directly to all TG members. Townswoman contains a mixture of articles covering all aspects of the organisation and more general features of interest to the members.
Activities
Guilds meet mainly monthly, and their programmes include speakers, demonstrations, social activities and outings. Townswomen also get involved in charitable events,
International Women's Day, sports, creative leisure activities, competitions and exhibitions. The Guild tries to influence change, with a focus on public affairs, using the opinions of its members on important issues for the attention of decision-makers.
History
In 1897, the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...
was formed and it was led by
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
Millicent Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897– ...
and in 1918 some women in Britain got the vote. At this point the
National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship
The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was re ...
became the new name of the suffragist organisation.
In 1928, all women over the age of 21 were given the vote as a result of the
Equal Franchise Act irrespective of their property, education or previous interests. The following year the idea of urban Guilds was launched by
Margery Corbett Ashby
Dame Margery Irene Corbett Ashby, ( Corbett; 19 April 1882 – 15 May 1981) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, feminist and internationalist.
Background
She was born at Danehill, East Sussex, the daughter of Charles Corbett, a bar ...
, for women to meet and learn about citizenship and how to use the vote. The idea was to be based on the successful
Women's Institutes
The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being t ...
, but the new guild was designed to appeal to urban women.
The first Guild was opened in
Hayward's Heath. Guilds were able to meet and help others locally by forming Federations.
In 1932, the organisation had 146 guilds and it became the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds and
Gertrude Horton became its National Secretary.
Alice Franklin became the honorary (ie. unpaid) secretary in 1933. The two of them had published a national handbook from the central offices in Cromwell Place in London in 1938. The handbook included regulations and advice on finance and democracy and how to organise a meeting. By 1939 there were 544 guilds established with 54,000 members.
[
During the ]Second World War
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 opposi ...
, the central organisation was reduced to just Franklin and Horton. They would shelter from bombing in the cellar, and one night in April 1941, Horton lost four members of her family to a bomb in Hampstead.[ During the war years, the Government asked the NUTG to encourage War married women who were not eligible for National Service to work locally to release others for war work.
1948 saw reorganisation when ]Mary Courtney
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, a new national secretary, was elected. Alice Franklin resigned after a dispute, and Horton was forced out the following year. In the early 1950s, the Guild had over 130,000 members.[
]
Campaigns
Guilds and Federations took the opportunity to join in the Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people:
...
celebrations in 1951, and continued to campaign on national affairs.
In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, members campaigned on issues such as environmental pollution, mixed-sex wards, nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
, food additives, prescription charges
Charges for prescriptions for medicines and some medical appliances are payable by adults in England under the age of 60. However, people may be exempt from charges in various exemption categories. Charges were abolished by NHS Wales in 2007, Hea ...
and carers' rights.
The National Union of Townswomen's Guilds became Townswomen's Guilds in 1989. The following year, nearly £200,000 was raised to plant trees in six new woods, to help the environment and to replace trees lost in storms in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, members continued campaigning on single person supplements, medicinal cannabis and genetic screening.
In the 2000s, members campaigned on post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
closures, parental accountability and human trafficking. The 2010s saw campaigns on empty homes, geriatric care in hospitals, gambling advertising, getting rid of cheques
A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...
, banning FGM and modern slavery
Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...
.
In 2014, a new logo was introduced. A TG memorial was commissioned in 2017 for the National Memorial Arboretum.
References
{{reflist
Other sources
*Stott, Mary; ''Organization woman : the story of the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds'', Heineman, 1978
External links
Guild website
Gloucestershire Federation of Townswomens Guilds
Clubs and societies in the United Kingdom
Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom