Rose Davies (activist)

Rose Davies CBE, (16 September 1882 – 13 December 1958) was a Welsh teacher, feminist, and labour activist, and an elected local official associated with the Independent Labour Party.

For the Australian athlete, see Rose Davies (athlete).

Early life and education

Florence Rose Rees was born in 1882, at Aberdare, one of the seven children of William Henry Rees and Fanny (Berry) Rees. Her father was a tinworker. Miss Rees became a teacher in local schools as a teenager, with only on-the-job training as an assistant and monitor.[1]

Career

As a teacher she became active with the Independent Labour Party[2] and with the Women's Co-operative Guild.[3] After marrying in 1908, she left the classroom and worked more intensely for political causes. In 1915 she became the first woman to chair the education committee of Aberdare.[4] She helped to write education policy for Keir Hardie's campaign, with whom she had a close friendship.[5]

During World War I she represented Glamorgan in the Women's Land Army.[6] In 1919 she ran for the Aberdare council, and in 1920 she won a seat. She worked especially for women's health issues, including a birth control clinic and an infant/maternal welfare clinic.[7] She was the first woman elected to the Glamorgan County Council, in 1925. She became an alderman, and in 1949 she became the first woman to chair the county council, after having "chaired every single committee... at various times."[8]

The Davieses hosted peace movement meetings in their home, including a 1923 appearance by George Maitland Lloyd Davies. In 1930 she was nominated to attend the Geneva meeting of the League of Nations. Among her many other activities, she was a governor of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and also of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. Mrs. Davies received the MBE in 1934, and was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1952.[8]

Personal life

Rose Rees married fellow teacher and labour activist Edward Davies in 1908. They had five children together. She was widowed in 1951 and died in late 1958, age 76.[1]

A collection of her papers is archived at Glamorgan Record Office.[6]

Legacy

In 2023 a Purple Plaque was installed at the Cynon Valley Museum in Aberdare to commemorate her work.[9][10]

References
  1. Neil Evans, "(Florence) Rose Davies" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2011): accessed 1 April 2016; doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/70090
  2. June Hannam, "Women and Labour Politics" in Matthew Worley, ed., The Foundations of the British Labour Party: Identities, Cultures, and Perspectives, 1900–39 (Ashgate Publishing 2009): 171–192. ISBN 9780754667315
  3. Ursula Masson, "'Political Conditions in Wales are Quite Different...' Party Politics and Votes for Women in Wales, 1912–1915" Women's History Review 9(2)(2000): 383.
  4. Hugh H. Busher, "Wales Aroused Over Big Raise in Price of Bread; Mrs. Rose Davies is First Lady Chairman in the Principality." Scranton Republican (15 May 1915): 10. via Newspapers.comopen access
  5. Bob Holman, Keir Hardie: Labour's Greatest Hero? (Lion Books 2010): 174. ISBN 9780745953540
  6. County Alderman Mrs. Rose Davies of Aberdare Papers, Glamorgan Archives.
  7. Sue Bruley, The Women and Men of 1926: A Gender and Social History of the General Strike and Miners' Lockout in South Wales (University of Wales Press 2010): 90. ISBN 9780708324516
  8. John Graham Jones, "(Florence) Rose Davies" Dictionary of Welsh Biography (LLGC National Library of Wales 2009).
  9. "Rose Davies (1882 – 1958)". Placiau Porffor/Purple Plaques. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  10. "Rose Davies: local socialist feminist honoured with a Purple Plaque at Cynon Valley Museum". Amgueddfa Cwm Cynon/Cynon Valley Museum. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
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