Helen Crawfurd

Helen Crawfurd Anderson (9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish suffragette and Communist activist.

Biography

Born Helen Jack, at 175 Cumberland Street in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Helen's parents were Helen L Kyle and William Crawfurd.^[1] Her family moved to Ipswich while she was young, and she later went to school in London and Ipswich beford moving back to Glasgow as a teenager. Her father, a Master Baker,^[1]was a Catholic but converted to the Church of Scotland and was a conservative trade unionist.

Initially religious herself, she married widower Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (29 August 1828 - 31 May 1914),^[2][3] a Church of Scotland Minister, at 9 Park Avenue in Stirling on 19th September 1898,^[4] but became increasingly radical.^[5] Alexander died aged 85 at 17 Sutherland Street in Partick, Glasgow.

In 1944 Helen remarried, to widower George Anderson, Blacksmith and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).^[6] He died on 2nd February 1952^[7]and Helen died at Mahson Cottage, Kilbride Avenue, Dunoon, Argyll, aged 76.^[8]

Political Activity

Crawfurd first became active in the women's suffrage movement around 1900, then in 1910 she switched her support to the more radical Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) of the Pankhursts. In 1912, she smashed the windows of Jack Pease, Minister for Education, and received a one month prison sentence. The following year, she was twice arrested in Glasgow when Emmeline Pankhurst was speaking, received another month in prison, and went on a five-day hunger strike. Following one more arrest, she left the WSPU in protest at its support of World War I and joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP).^[5]

During the war, Crawfurd was involved with the Red Clydeside movement, including rent strikes in 1915, and became secretary of the Women's Peace Crusade. In 1918, her husband died, and she was also elected as Vice-chair of the Scottish division of the ILP in 1918. Shortly afterwards, she was a founder member of the ILP's left-wing faction which campaigned for it to affiliate to the Communist International. When this policy was defeated, she joined the new CPGB, within which she served on the Central Committee, and was involved with various journalistic projects. She also became secretary of Workers' International Relief.^[5]

Crawfurd stood for the CPGB in Bothwell at the 1929 UK general election and Aberdeen North in 1931, but did not come close to election.^[5]

During the 1930s, Crawfurd was prominent in the Friends of the Soviet Union. She retired during World War II but was elected to Dunoon Town Council shortly after the war, retiring in 1947 due to poor health.^[5][9]

References

1. "SR Birth Search for Helen Jack (Statutory Births 644/12 1466)". Scotland's People.
2. "OR Birth and Baptism Search CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER (O.P.R. Births 612/01 0020 0089 ST QUIVOX)". Scotland's People.
3. "SR Death Search for Alexander Montgomerie Crawfurd (Statutory Deaths 644/22 0321)". Scotland's People.
4. "SR Marriage Search for CRAWFORD, ALEXANDER M - JACK, HELEN (Statutory Marriages 490/00 0075)". Scotland's People.
5. Ed. A. T. Lane, Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders, Vol. 1, pp.224-226
6. "SR Marriage Search Anderson George Crawford Helen COATBRIDGE OR OLD MONKLAND Lanark 652/02 0071". Scotland's People.
7. "SR Death Search ANDERSON, GEORGE (Statutory Deaths 510/02 0002)". Scotland's People.
8. "SR Death Search ANDERSON, HELEN (Statutory Deaths 510/01 0067)". Scotland's People.
9. "Crawfurd Helen", Compendium of Communist Biography