Dorothy Jewson

Dorothea Jewson (17 August 1884 – 29 February 1964), better known as Dorothy Jewson, was a British teacher, trade union organiser, Labour Party politician, and one of her party's first female Members of Parliament. Whilst at Girton College, Cambridge, she joined socialist organisations including the Independent Labour Party, and went on to campaign for Women's Suffrage in Norwich. She became the "Chief Organiser" of the women's section of National Union of General Workers, before leaving to work as a housemaid at a London hotel, investigating the working conditions there.

In 1923, she was elected as Member of Parliament in one of Norwich's two seats, one of the earliest Labour women to do so. After causing some initial controversy by not wearing a hat to Parliament, she gave her maiden speech in support of reducing the age of suffrage for women from 30 to 21, to match that of men. She was also a member of committees looking into legal aid and adoption. She lost her seat in the 1924 general election, and went on to become president of the Women's Birth Control Group, then a councillor in Norwich City Council, where she ensured the building many of Norwich's parks.

Dorothea Jewson was born on 17 August 1884 in Thorpe Hamlet to Alderman George Jewson and Mary Jane Jewson. Her sister, Violet, went on to become a doctor in the Norwich area. George Jewson's family had established a business in timber mills, Jewson, which would go on to be a well known builders merchant chain. Jewson was educated at Norwich High School for Girls before going on to Cheltenham Ladies' College and finally completing Classical Tripos at Girton College, Cambridge in 1907. Whilst at university, she joined the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party, two socialist organisations.

After completing her degree, Jewson achieved a teaching qualification from Cambridge Training College for Women in 1908, then returned to Norwich to teach. With her brother, she carried out a large-scale investigation into poverty in the city. It was published as The Destitute of Norwich and how they Live: a Report into the Administration of out Relief in 1912. In 1914 she put up the £200 surety for Miriam Pratt who was a suffragette and arsonist before she was sentenced to 18 months.

During the first world war, Jewson managed a centre focused on training unemployed girls up to the age of 17, and by 1916, she had joined the National Federation of Women Workers as an organiser. In 1919, she had become the secretary of that society and in this role, she attempted to act as an advocate in court, though the judge did not allow it as she had not been appointed as King's Counsel.

By 1922, Jewson had become a vocal speaker on the rights of employed women and was the "chief organiser" of the women's section of the "National Union of General Workers". Over the next year, she left the role in the union and spent a period working as a housemaid in a high end London hotel to experience the working conditions there. She explained that the hotel had "... telephones in every room, pile carpets and marble pillars everywhere [for the guests] but the servants quarters were filthy, miserable and loathsome.". She shared a mice infested room on the tenth floor with four other housemaids, and ate cold, stale, leftover food from the guests in the windowless basement. Working hours were between six in the morning and nine in the evening, with a break from five to seven in the evening and the wage was 15 shillings per week (worth approximately £145 in 2018)

At the December 1923 general election, she was elected as one of the two Members of Parliament (MP) for Norwich. In doing so, she became one of the first three women — Margaret Bondfield and Susan Lawrence were the others — to be elected as Labour MPs. When Parliament re-opened on 6 January 1924, Jewson arrived early to ensure she had a seat, but she and Bondfield caused some controversy by not wearing a hat. A few days later, Christine Murrell hosted a dinner for the ladies who had been elected as MPs and discussion turned to the hats. While, Nancy Astor made light of the topic, Jewson was clear that the women were "not in Parliament to discuss dress or millinery, but to do something" and then carried on attending without a hat.

At the end of January 1924, during a train strike, Jewson refused to use the strikebreaking trains to travel back to her constituency in Norwich. The press reported on how she would "walk" the 115 miles back. In reality, she and another trade union official hitched rides on brick cart, a brewer's lorry and a furniture van. They also used buses and trains once the strike was over. In February, 1924, Jewson and Mabel Philipson became the first women to sit on the Parliamentary Kitchen Committee.