Selina Cooper (1864-1946) was a Suffragist and the first woman to represent the Independent Labour Party in 1901.
Born in Callington, Cornwall in 1864, she moved to Pendle, Lancashire in the north west of England as a child, after her father died, and left the family destitute.
She began her working life in 1876 at the age of 12 in the local textile mills of Barnoldswick, where she was employed as a 'creeler' whose responsibility it was to ensure that there was a constant supply of fresh bobbins for the cotton emerging from the card frames. When Selina reached the age of thirteen she was able to leave school and work full-time in the Barnoldswick Mill.
She would become active in trade union activities and also taught herself basic medical skills, as most of her co-workers could not afford doctors.
In 1910 she was chosen to be one of four women to present the case for women’s suffrage to Herbert Asquith, the then Prime Minister.
During the First World War Selina developed first ever Maternity Centre in Nelson. She was later elected to the town council and went on to become a local magistrate. In the 1930s Selina Cooper played a proud and prominent role in the campaign against fascism.
