Ursula Masson

Ursula Masson (1945-2008), born Ursula O'Connor, was a Welsh academic and writer who worked closely with Jane Aaron and Honno Press/Gwasg Honno, the Welsh Women's Press, on the imprint Welsh Women's Classics - to bring back into print the works of forgotten Welsh women writers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Early life

Masson was born into the Irish community of Merthyr Tydfil, whose history she researched for her Masters degree. After university she worked as a journalist, at home in south Wales and in Australia before returning to teach adults in Swansea. In 1994 she became a lecturer in History at the University of Glamorgan.

Career

Masson was a founding member of the Welsh Women's Archive, chaired the Women's History Network, and co-edited Llafur. She initiated a series of WWA roadshows touring Wales to collect material relating to the social history of women's lives, receiving a Heritage Lottery grant to support this work. At Glamorgan, she established the Gender Studies in Wales Centre. Ursula was described by her students as an 'inspirational' teacher. Whilst teaching and organizing,she continued with her own research,editing the Aberdare Women's Liberal Association 1891-1910 papers, and completed a doctorate on 19thC women in Welsh politics: For Women, for Wales and for Liberalism: Women in Liberal Politics in Wales, 1880-1914 published by the University of Wales Press:

'This is a wonderful work of reconstruction from difficult sources. Ursula Masson makes a vital contribution to several aspects of modern Welsh history and provides a key part of the story of the women's suffrage movement in Wales, a dimension that enhances recent research on campaigning pressure groups in Wales. It combines general analysis for the whole of Wales with intense, fascinating studies of the contrasting communities of Cardiff and Aberdare. The work behind these is as thorough, and as revealing, as an archaeological dig.' Neil Evans, Cardiff University.^[1]

Masson also edited two books in the Honno Classics series, Elizabeth Andrews, A Woman's Work is Never Done^[2] (2006) and The Very Salt of Life: Welsh Women's Political Writings from Chartism to Suffrage^[3] (2007).

'For those of us who had the privilege of knowing her, it won't be the teacher or researcher or organizer we're primarily grieving, however, but the friend who always seemed to have space for people, and warmth and humour to give them, though she was so busy and though, since 2001, she was fighting serious illness. In her final years she gave us an extraordinary example of the way in which the human spirit can with dignity and grace face up to the worst trials. It is for us now to treasure the records she has left us of her own life and work, which are every bit as valiant and inspiring as those of the Welsh heroines she researched.' Jane Aaron^[4]

Publications

• A Woman's Work is Never Done by Elizabeth Andrews, Edited and Introduced by Ursula Masson, Honno Press, 2006
• The Very Salt of Life: Welsh Women's Political Writings from Chartism to Suffrage, edited and introduced by Jane Aaron and Ursula Masson, Honno Press, 2007
• For Women, for Wales and for Liberalism: Women in Liberal Politics in Wales, 1800-1914, Ursula Masson, University of Wales Press, 2010

References

1. "For Women, for Wales and for Liberalism". www.uwp.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
2. "A Woman's Work is Never Done by Elizabeth Andrews, Published by Honno". www.honno.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
3. "The Very Salt of Life: Welsh Women's Political Writings from Chartism to Suffrage by , Published by Honno". www.honno.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
4. "In Memory of Ursula Masson Honno". www.honno.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-15.