Eleanor Goodrich

{{Short description|British politician and activist}}

Eleanor Kathleen Goodrich OBE (1888 – 1988) was a British politician and activist.

Born in Clapton, as Eleanor Kathleen Harslett, her father was a stage manager, and both of her parents were close friends with Herbert Morrison.{{cite book |last1=Morrison |first1=Herbert |title=Herbert Morrison: An Autobiography |date=1960 |publisher=Odhams Press |isbn=9787240011669}} She became a suffragette and a teacher, active in the National Union of Women Teachers.{{cite book |last1=Spence |first1=Jean |last2=Meikle |first2=Maureen |last3=Aiston |first3=Sarah |title=Women, Education, and Agency, 1600-2000 |date=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135855840}}{{cite web |title=National Life Stories: Amy Bush |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/021T-C0468X0008XX-0000A0.pdf |website=British Library |access-date=23 November 2022}}

In 1934, Goodrich was elected for the Labour Party to the council of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, one of the first party members to win a seat in the borough. She won a seat in Balham and Tooting at the 1946 London County Council election.{{cite news |title=The New LCC: Labour gains in a low poll |work=The Times |date=9 March 1946}} From 1947 until 1949, she also served as Mayor of Wandsworth, the first woman from the Labour Party to hold the post.

The Balham and Tooting constituency was abolished for the 1949 London County Council election, and Goodrich instead stood unsuccessfully in Wandsworth Central.{{cite news |title=LCC Polling |work=The Times |date=9 April 1949}} Despite this defeat, she was appointed to serve on the council's education committee. In the 1951 New Year Honours, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.British Empire :{{London Gazette |issue=39104 |date=29 December 1950 |pages=1–34 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}

Goodrich contested Wandsworth Central again at the 1952 London County Council election,{{cite news |title=London County Council: Election results |work=The Times |date=5 April 1952}} winning a seat, but she lost it again in 1955.{{cite news |title=LCC results: Conservatives make headway |work=The Times |date=25 April 1955}} She was instead appointed as an alderman,{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=William Eric|title=Achievement : a short history of the London County Council|year=1965|publisher=Longmans|location=London}} and in 1958/1959, served as vice-chair of the council.{{cite news |title=New L.C.C. Begins Work. Aldermanic Vacancies Filled By Labour |work=The Times |page=6 |date=23 April 1958}}

In the late 1960s, Goodrich helped establish the Putney Arts Theatre in its long-term venue.{{cite news |title=Theatre gets its act together |url=https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/6426541.theatre-gets-its-act-together/ |access-date=23 November 2022 |work=News Shopper |date=12 March 2001}} She died in 1988.{{cite web |title=Eleanor Kathleen Goodrich |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp76173/eleanor-kathleen-goodrich |website=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=23 November 2022}}