Women of the Century Database Display

Surname	Cox
Forename/s	Mary Annie
Other Names
Dates	( -1969)

Biographical Notes	The first woman chair of Bradford magistrates. Born in Cornwall, her work for the Ministry of Labour brought her to Bradford. Died in Shipley in 1969. She came to Bradford in 1915 as Senior Woman Officer and spent most of the next thirty years working in the Bradford and Leeds employment exchanges. During the second World War she was chair of the Bradford Man-power board and when she retired in 1945 she was District Adviser. On her retirement she was appointed a Bradford magistrate and went on to be their first woman chair. She showed a life-long committment to the welfare of others. In 1928 she went to Australia to see how the women emigrants were getting on. During her time as chair of the Bradford branch of the United Nations Association (1950-56) Bradford raised £2||,700 for the UNICEF appeal,|| the third biggest contribution in the country. When she retired she was unanimously elected vice-president of the branch. Mary was a founder member of the Leeds branch of the Soroptimists and a past president of the Prest,on|| Leeds and Bradford clubs and of the Yorkshire Divisional Union. As the president of the national Federation of Soroptimists she oversaw the first post-war International Convention in Harrogate in 1948. In 1954 she received an OBE and in 1961 she became the country’s fourth woman to be made an honorary member of the federation of Soroptimists. Other appointments include chair of the Standing Conference of Women’s Organisations in Bradford; chair of the Bradford Jack and Jill Council and president of the Yorkshire Women’s Liberal Federation.
Sources Used	Yorkshire Post 12.5.1948; Telegraph and Argus 14.3.,1956, 18.,3.1960, 30.10.1961, 21.4.1969
Associated Places	Bradford