Eleanor Grizzell was born in 1872, the daughter of a warder at Manchester City Gaol. Her mother Julia was abandoned by her husband, and left to raise four children on her own. It was a tough start for Eleanor, but perhaps this fired her desire to campaign for women and the working class.
Erica Ward is inspired by this fascinating woman, whom she has got to know through genealogy. “My great grandfather William Stockton was Eleanor’s brother, making her my great great aunt. At some point the family changed its surname from Grizzell to Stockton although no one knows why,” Erica explains. “They were close siblings, and my father Geoffrey remembered Eleanor coming to family get-togethers where they would play music and discuss politics. She was passionate about socialism and improving the lives of the poor.”
Eleanor fell in love with Alfred Barton, a prominent member of the anarchist wing of the Socialist League. The couple married in 1894, and moved to Sheffield where they raised two children.
The Edwardian era was one of great social unrest. The economy was weak, poverty was rife and suffragettes were becoming more militant. Eleanor and Albert’s political careers began to soar amid this intensity.
In 1907, Albert was elected to Sheffield City Council as the Labour Party representative for Brightside. The party had been established only a year earlier, born out of working-class frustration with the Liberals. Alfred later became president of the British Socialist Party in 1919, and an alderman of Sheffield.
Eleanor’s light was also shining brightly on the political stage. She became an influential campaigner for universal suffrage and wrote many articles for The Vote, the newspaper of the Women’s Freedom League. This splinter group from the Pankhursts’ Women’s Social and Political Union were 'suffragists' who supported non-violent forms of protest, such as refusing to complete census records.
“I found a fascinating article that Eleanor wrote for The Vote, with the headline ‘When I Am MP’. In it, she states that she would ‘cut down the pensions of statesmen, judges and others who enjoyed high salaries when employed, and expenditure on armaments and navies. The public money should be spent on education, housing and provision of useful work.’ ”
In 1919, Eleanor became one of the first women to be elected to Sheffield City Council as a joint Labour and Cooperative Party candidate. Her voice resonated at the highest level. “Eleanor gave speeches on sexual equality at political rallies, and at one rally she was joint speaker with Clement Attlee, who went on to become a Labour prime minister.”
Eleanor was gaining renown on the international stage. In 1919 she was invited by the US Labor Party to tour the USA, chairing discussions on child welfare.
The principles of the Rochdale Pioneers, who established the Cooperative Movement, were a touchstone for Eleanor. In 1925, she became president of the Cooperative Women’s Guild, a highly influential national society that promoted women’s rights.
During her 12-year tenure she refocused the guild away from handicrafts to social sciences and better education for women and children. The guild was also involved in peace activism, and Eleanor promoted its adoption of the white poppy.
After Alfred’s death, Eleanor moved to New Zealand to live with her daughter. She died there in 1960 aged 88 years old.
“I’m so impressed with Eleanor’s beliefs of equality for women and improved child welfare. It was campaigners like her who provided women of today with the vote.”
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