‘My eyes were riveted on a small slim woman, her hair simply coiled into her neck, Katharine Glasier… To stand on a platform of the Free Trade Hall, to be able to sway a great crowd, to be able to make people work to make life better, to remove slums and underfeeding and misery just because one came and spoke to them about it – that seemed the highest destiny any woman could ever hope for.’‘ ‘Red Ellen’ Wilkinson, Fabian Society and NUWSS
A committed Christian socialist, this outstanding Cambridge scholar was a leading light of the Independent Labour Party from its first beginnings in 1893. Campaigner, journalist and writer, Glasier was known as a ‘magnetic orator’, and the only woman on the national committee of the ILP.
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Born Katharine Conway in 1867 she lived most of her life in Earby in Pendle. She was one of the most important leaders of the socialist movement in Britain and was called the ‘mother’ of the Independent Labour Party (ILP).
She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. Once graduated she moved to Bristol to teach. Whilst there she was moved by the plight of hungry working women and became a socialist, working tirelessly for workers’ rights.
Whilst speaking at the Trade Union Congress in Glasgow in 1892 she met her future husband, Bruce Glasier. He became the chair of the ILP’s National Committee, and she was its only female member.
She was a strong speaker. Future MP Ellen Wilkinson talked of her ability to “sway a great crowd”. She campaigned for pit head baths, nursery education and school meals and in 1919 was involved in the founding of the Save the Children Fund.
Following her death in 1950, discussion took place on how Katharine’s life could be commemorated. It was decided her home of 28 years, Glen Cottage in Earby, would be renovated to be a Youth Hostel and among the many organizations donating were the National Union of Miners. The Youth Hostel opened in 1958. On the first board of the Youth Hostel Association was Thomas A. Leonard, the Colne church minister who founded the Holiday Fellowship. The building is now an independent hostel.
For Pendle Radicals
We have created a linear walk from Nelson to Earby linking Katharine’s story to that of another Lancashire titan in the early 20th Century struggle for greater equality, Selena Cooper. The Wonder Women walk can be downloaded on our Resources page.
Explore Further
Read the obituary published in the Barnoldswick & Earby times on 16 June 1950. Pioneer Socialist Dies After Short Illness.
Read the article by Paul Salveson on the Independent Labour Party website. Katharine Bruce Glasier – The ILP’s Spiritual Socialist
The collected papers of Katharine and her husband John Bruce Glasier (1859-1920) are in the Special Collections & Archive of the University of Liverpool.
