Politics (Local and National) and Community
Plymouth women were politically active certainly from the middle of the nineteenth century, and they threw themselves into the opportunities provided by the legislation opening up both national and local politics to women. Women stood for election as Councillors, and their involvement with politics was encouraged by Plymouth having the first woman MP to take her seat, Nancy Astor. Lady Astor was, until her death, a huge encourager of local women to participate in politics, mentoring several of the figures on this list. Successive MPs, including Linda Gilroy, Joan Vickers and Janet Fookes, were similarly encouraging.
Mary Elizabeth Aspinall One of the recent women Lord Mayors of Plymouth (2010-2011), Mary Aspinall is a serving Labour Councillor for the Sutton and Mount Gould ward and has represented the ward since 2002. A former nurse and midwife, she is active in the areas… Read More »Mary Elizabeth Aspinall
Mrs Sylvia Bellamy (c1938-2016) One of the handful of women Lord Mayors of Plymouth, Alderman Sylvia Bellamy served as Councillor for the St Peter Ward for 19 years, before being appointed an Honorary Alderman in 2003. During her 19 years of service she was Deputy Lord Mayor of… Read More »Sylvia Bellamy
Mrs Sylvia Irene Brice Freeman of the City 1998. St Budeaux area. Wife of Phil Brice, trades union activist, Devonport. Seems also to have been an activist for USDAW.
Mrs George (Clara) Daymond (1873-1957) Clara Daymond (née Townshend) was one of the two first women elected to the Plymouth Borough Council in 1919. Best remembered as the Queen of St Budeaux, she was the daughter of a Devonport Dockyard shipwright, and Plymouth’s first woman Councillor, elected… Read More »Clara Daymond
(Catherine) Betty Easton OBE (1920-2010) Elected Lord Mayor 1991-92, she had been a City Councillor in the Conservative interest for the Plymstock Radford ward 1973-1995. Initially, she and her husband, Rodney Easton, had both served as Councillors, but after his death, she continued her work… Read More »Betty Easton
Mrs Laura Ellicott (1890-1959) She was a shop proprietor in the Barbican, and a long-standing Conservative Party member, acting as the Honorary Secretary of the Sutton Ward Conservative Association from 1939, and Chairman in 1946, becoming Chairman of the Sutton Ward Women’s Conservative Association in 1948.… Read More »Laura Ellicott
Alderman Eileen Evans (1926-2009) She was the first woman to be Lady Mayoress and then in her own right, Lord Mayor. Eileen Evans was Plymouth born, serving as an ARP Messenger in WW2 while still at school (Plymouth High School for Girls) and later was a… Read More »Eileen Evans
Janet Fookes (1936 to present) Elected Conservative MP for Plymouth Drake in 1974, she held the seat until 1997, when the constituency was abolished. Her political career included a period as Deputy Speaker of the House, 1992-97. Plymouth Drake was never a safe seat, but her… Read More »Janet Fookes
Wendy Foster Wendy is a Plymouth-born nurse, who became a Councillor for the Plymstock Radford ward in 2000. She was Lady Mayoress to her second husband, Ken Foster, when he was Lord Mayor 2009-2010, and then Lord Mayor herself in 2017-2018.
Linda Gilroy (1949- present) Born Linda Jarvie, and briefly at school in Exeter as a child, then moving to Scotland for the rest of her education, she returned to the South West in 1979, as a regional manager for the Gas Consumer Council. She served as… Read More »Linda Gilroy