Selina Jane Cooper was an English suffragist and the first woman to represent the Independent Labour Party in 1901 when she was elected as a Poor Law Guardian.
10 Facts About Selina Cooper
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2.
Selina Cooper was born Selina Coombe in Callington, Cornwall, in 1864, the sixth of seven surviving children of Charles Coombe, railway labourer and Jane Coombe, dressmaker.
3.
Selina Cooper moved to Barnoldswick when she was a child, after her father died of typhoid in 1876.
4.
Selina Cooper left school at the age of thirteen and started work full-time in the mills.
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Selina Cooper was an early member of the Nelson Social Democratic Federation, and later founded a branch of the party in Brierfield.
6.
Selina Cooper joined the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1897 and the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage in 1900.
7.
In 1901, Selina Cooper was elected to the Board of Guardians, as a joint SDF-ILP candidate.
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Selina Cooper became frustrated with the SDF's lack of interest in the suffrage movement, and moved away from the party, becoming a full-time organiser for the suffrage movement.
9.
Selina Cooper was later elected to the town council and went on to become a local magistrate.
10.
Selina Cooper resigned from the Labour Party in the 1930s due to her belief that the party did not take a strong enough line against fascism.