Not known

47

Married

32 Skircoat Green, Halifax, West Riding, HX3 ORX

WSPU

Evades

Mary and Arthur Taylor were pioneer members of the early labour movement in Halifax. As a member of the engineers’ union, he was victimized, lost his job  ~ and then was elected a Labour councillor. Mary was a key member of the Women’s Labour League and was elected a Poor Law Guardian. They had lived in the terraced suburbs of Pellon Lane, birthplace of Halifax’s nest of suffragettes. They had one daughter, Hilda, who as a teenager somehow managed to stay on at school.

In 1905, the Taylors moved out of smoky Halifax to more rural Skircoat Green, and into a larger house ~ with six rooms. At New Year 1907, when the Halifax WSPU branch was formed, Mary was undoubtedly a moving spirit; and she was among the 22 Halifax women who signed the ILP Manifesto to the WSPU. Then in February 1907, Mary went down to London to take part in the WSPU’s Women’s Parliament, was arrested ~ and was sentenced to 14 days in prison.

In 1911, when Emmeline Pankhurst came to address a crowded meeting in the Halifax Mechanics’ Institute on 30 March, Mary was undoubtedly present: her husband, Councillor Arthur Taylor, proposed the resolution supporting the Conciliation Bill. Certainly, for the census boycott three days later, we can be absolutely sure that Mary was an evader.

Both Mary and Arthur Taylor were appointed magistrates. Alderman Arthur Taylor JP died in Dec 1923, and Mary Taylor JP in April 1934, aged 70.

For more see, Liddington, Rebel Girls: their fight for the vote, 2006.