Helen Silcock
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Helen Fairhurst (née Silcock,{{Cite book|last=Schwartzkopf|first=Jutta|title=Unpicking Gender: The Social Construction of Gender in the Lancashire Cotton Industry.}} 1865–1951){{Cite ODNB|title=Silcock [married name Fairhurst], Helen (1865–1951), trade unionist and suffragist|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-53245|access-date=2021-07-29|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/53245|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|last1=Grenier|first1=Janet E.}} was initially a textile worker{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Richard|date=2008-03-31|title=Looking at History: Suffrage after 1903: Suffragists 3 -- Radical suffragism|url=https://richardjohnbr.blogspot.com/2008/03/suffrage-after-1903-suffragists-3.html|access-date=2021-07-29|website=Looking at History}} who became a trade unionist, suffragette and president of the Wigan and District Weavers, Winders, Reelers and Beamers Association,{{Cite book|last=Sloane|first=Nan|title=The Women in the Room: Labour's Forgotten History|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-1786734785}} a virtually all-women trade union.{{Cite journal|last=Liddington|first=J|date=1977|title=Rediscovering Suffrage History|journal=History Workshop|volume=4|pages=198|doi=10.1093/hwj/4.1.192}} She fought to introduce suffrage amendments to the TUC (Trades Union Congress) and campaigned for the NUWSS (National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies). She was part of a group of female campaigners known as "radical suffragists"{{Cite web|title='Women quite unknown': working-class women in the suffrage movement|url=https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/women-quite-unknown-working-class-women-in-the-suffrage-movement|access-date=2021-07-29|website=The British Library}} which also included Sarah Reddish, Ada Nield Chew and Selina Cooper.{{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Mary|title=Comrade or Brother?: A History of the British Labour Movement|publisher=Pluto Press|year=2009|pages=126–141}}
Speech at the TUC in 1901
Helen Silcock is known for raising the issue of female suffrage at the notoriously hostile, male-dominated TUC in 1901 where she called for suffrage amendments.{{Cite web|title=Socialism Today - Women's struggle for the vote|url=http://socialismtoday.org/archive/216/women.html|access-date=2021-07-29|website=socialismtoday.org}} The speech was met with applause, but instead of supporting women's suffrage, the TUC extended the franchise to all adult men and women which was dubbed the "adultist approach".
"It is said that women are sufficiently protected by their husbands. I would point out that not all women are wives. There are in fact 5 million working women in this country who have to earn their own livelihood, some protection should be extended to them, so that by means of the vote they may assist in bringing about legislation which will enable them to live and not merely exist."{{Cite web|last=Humphries|first=Barbara|title=Women and the suffrage|url=https://www.marxist.com/women-and-the-suffrage.htm|access-date=2021-07-29|website=In Defence of Marxism|language=en-gb}}{{Cite web|title=Women and the Suffrage|url=https://www.newyouth.com/marxist-theory-mainmenu-41/marxism-and-women-mainmenu-46/37-women-and-the-suffrage.html|access-date=2021-07-30|website=www.newyouth.com}}
Involvement in Thorley Smith's Parliamentary Campaign
Led by Helen Silcock, the Wigan Weavers, Winders, Reelers and Beamers Association, organised and promoted Thorley Smith’s campaign to stand for Parliament in the 1906 General Election in Wigan, Lancashire. Thorley Smith was the first person to stand for Parliament in support of women's suffrage. In their campaign, the Wigan Weavers waited at tram sheds and on street corners in an effort to generate support from male voters.{{Cite book|title=From Suffrage to Citizenship: Celebrating 100 Pioneers|publisher=Women's Local Government Society|year=2020|url=https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/12.14%20-Suffrage%20Pioneers%20e-book_05A.pdf|pages=48}}
References
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