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First woman to be Mayor of Ipswich From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary Whitmore (née Fletcher) (17 September 1884 – 19 July 1974) was a social activist who was the first woman to be Mayor of Ipswich, in 1946–47.
Mary Whitmore | |
---|---|
Born | September 17, 1884 |
Died | July 19, 1974 89) | (aged
Occupation | Teacher |
Mayor of Ipswich | |
In office January 1946 – 1947 | |
Whitmore was born Mary Fletcher in 1884 in Whitton, Suffolk, to Isaac Fletcher and his wife Rosetta (née Elliott).[1] She won a scholarship to Ipswich Higher Grade School in 1895.[2] By 1901 she was a pupil teacher at a board school. She later trained as a teacher at Whitelands College.[2][3]
Whitmore was a suffragette, and was a founder member of the Ipswich branch of the Women's Social and Political Union.[4] She was a founder member of the Ipswich Workers' Educational Association, and was its secretary from 1929 to 1939.[4]
She was elected a Labour Councillor in 1930.[4] She was Mayor of Ipswich in 1946–47, and was the first woman to hold the post.[5]
For many years she taught at Nacton Road Mixed School.[3]
She was awarded MBE in the 1951 Birthday Honours for her contribution to public service.[4]
An Ipswich Society blue plaque was installed on Ipswich Town Hall in 2016.[6][7]
Whitmore married James Offer William Whitmore (1882-1944) in 1922.[8] He had previously been married to Eva Martha Pryke (1883-1920).[9] Mary and James had one daughter, Enid (1923-2016),[10][11][2] who married a clergyman, Trevor Howard.[12]
Whitmore died in 1974, aged 89, at the Rectory at Belchamp Otten, in Essex;[13] her son-in-law, Canon Trevor Howard, was Rector of St Ethelbert & All Saints, Belchamp Otten, 1959–93.[14]
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