Tuckwell, Gertrude M.

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Gertrude Tuckwell was born in Oxford in 1861, and educated at home by her father, a master at New College School, before training to be a teacher. She went to London in 1885 to start her career but became secretary to Emily Dilke (1840-1904), her aunt, wife of Sir Charles Dilke, and a writer, suffragette and trade unionist. Through this association Gertrude Tuckwell became interested in politics, becoming an early member of the Labour Party, and active as a trade union organiser and campaigner for women's rights. In 1891 she became involved with the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), working as its secretary and editor of its journal, the Women's Trade Union Review before becoming president of the League in 1905. In 1908 she also became president of the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) which had been founded in 1906 through the WTUL. She remained active in both organisations until 1918 when she announced her retirement and withdrew effectively from January 1921 when the WTUL merged its work with that of the Trades Union Congress. Tuckwell was one of the first women to be a Justice of the Peace and in 1926 served on the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance. Tuckwell also became involved in the struggle for protective legislation in the international arena and joined the executive committee of the International Association for Labour Legislation in 1906. She also maintained the Christian Socialist tradition of her family and from 1898 was secretary of the Christian Social Union Research Committee. A life-long philanthropist, Gertrude Tuckwell died in 1951. Publications: The State and its Children (1894).

From the guide to the TUCKWELL, Gertrude (1861-1951), 1890-1951, (London Metropolitan University: Trades Union Congress Library Collections)

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Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn TUCKWELL, Gertrude (1861-1951), 1890-1951 London Metropolitan University: Trades Union Congress Library Collections
creatorOf TUCKWELL, Gertrude (1861-1951), 1890-1951 London Metropolitan University: Trades Union Congress Library Collections
referencedIn Women's Trade Union League, 1875-1921 London Metropolitan University: Trades Union Congress Library Collections
creatorOf Tuckwell, Gertrude M. Women, industry and trade unionism: the Gertrude Tuckwell Collection 1890-1920 Collection 1890-1920 (-1951).
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Christian Social Union Research Committee corporateBody
associatedWith Labour Party corporateBody
associatedWith National Federation of Women Workers corporateBody
associatedWith Tuckwell Gertrude Mary 1861-1951 person
associatedWith Women's Trade Union League corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Factory workers
Labor unions
labour relations
Unemployment
Women's employment
Women's rights
Women workers
World War
Occupation
Activity

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Birth 1861

Death 1951

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