Women of the Century Database Display

Surname	Varley
Forename/s	Julia
Other Names
Dates	(1871 - 1952)

Biographical Notes	Born in Bradford on 16 March 1871, daughter of a worsted mill worker. While still in school, she began working as a 'half timer' in a local mill. By the time she was 14 years old, she was working full time as a weaver. Stirred by a speech given by Ben Tillet, she joined the Weavers' and Textile Workers' Union, becoming its Bradford branch secretary. As a representative of her union, she became the first woman member of the Bradford Trades Council, later serving on its executive committee from 1899 to1906. In 1904, Julia was one of only two women Independent Labour Party delegates to the Labour Party Conference. The other one was Isabella Ford *. For over three years, from 1904 to 1907 she was a poor law guardian in Bradford, which brought her in contact with tramping women. In order to to experience first hand the social problems and conditions experienced by poor working class women, she spent time 'on the tramp,' making her way from Bradford to Liverpool disguised as a tramp looking for her husband. She also worked with Mary MacArthur for the Women's Trade Union League and the National Federation of Women Workers, and succeeded in oragnising the women chain-makers as well as bringing about improvements to their working conditions. At a TUC conference in 1910, she and a group of o,ther women|| chained themselves to the platform in order to draw attention to the working conditions of chainmakers. Julia also campaigned for women's suffrage,. For a time she joined the more militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was one of the first suffrage campaigners to be imprisoned twice in 1907. In 1913 she was appointed an organiser for the Workers' Union and when it amalgamated with the Transport and General Workers Union, she became its Chief Woman Organiser until she retired in 1935. Throughout the 1920s she worked as' chief women's organiser for the Workers Union, establishing herself as a leading figure in the trade union movemnet. In 1921she was elected to the new General Council of the TUC as one of the two women workers representatives. Because of her prominent position in the trade union movement, she served in many Government Committees concerned with the employment of women. At one time, she was appointed by the Ministry of Labour to a special committee to investigate the working and administartion of employment exchanges throughout Great Britain. Besides he,r trade union activity|| she was also involved in the Society for the Overseas Set,tlement of British Women|| during the interwar years. In 1931 Julia was awarded an OB,E for her trade union work|| officially retired from the trade union movement in 1936. , She died in Bradford|| on 24 November 1952.
Sources Used	Sources: Labour Women January 1953; Manchester Guardian 23/5/1935, 25/11/1952; Daily Herald 23/5/1935, 27/11/1952; Dictionary of Labour Biography vol. 5; Telegraph and ,Argus 20/1/1935, 22/11/1952; O. Banks Dictionary of Feminism Vol. 2; Europa (1983); Crawford (199,9)
Further Sources	Further Sources:, Julia Varley Papers, Brynmor, Jones Library, Hull University; L. Middleton, Women in the Labour Movement: the British Experience, Croom Helm 1977
Associated Places	Leeds