Emma Paterson

Paterson put emphasis on the importance of women in the [[labour movement]] and her league was initially aimed at establishing women-only unions. This was in part due to the resistance of some of the more traditional trade unions, some of whom believed that women should not work.

Paterson put emphasis on the importance of women in the [[labour movement]] and her league was initially aimed at establishing women-only unions. This was in part due to the resistance of some of the more traditional trade unions, some of whom believed that women should not work.

The first women's union founded by the league in London was the bookbinders' in 1874. Unions of upholstresses, shirt-makers, tailoresses, and dressmakers quickly followed. In 1875 Mrs. Paterson was a delegate to the [[Trade Union Congress]] at Glasgow as a representative of the bookbinders' and upholstresses' societies. No woman had been admitted to the congress before. She attended each succeeding congress (except that of 1882) until her death, and by her tact partially overcame the prejudices of the working-men delegates against female activists. In the league's behalf she repeatedly addressed public meetings in London, Oxford, and other cities in the provinces, and edited the ''[[Women's Union Journal]]'', a monthly record of the league's proceedings, which was started in February 1876. Meanwhile, in 1876, Mrs. Paterson had founded the [[Women's Printing Society]] at [[Westminster]]. She devoted all her spare energies to managing that, and personally mastered the printer's craft.

The first women's union founded by the league in London was the bookbinders' in 1874. Unions of upholstresses, shirt-makers, tailoresses, and dressmakers quickly followed. In 1875 Mrs. Paterson was a delegate to the [[Trades Union Congress]] at Glasgow as a representative of the bookbinders' and upholstresses' societies. No woman had been admitted to the congress before. She attended each succeeding congress (except that of 1882) until her death, and by her tact partially overcame the prejudices of the working-men delegates against female activists. In the league's behalf she repeatedly addressed public meetings in London, Oxford, and other cities in the provinces, and edited the ''[[Women's Union Journal]]'', a monthly record of the league's proceedings, which was started in February 1876. Meanwhile, in 1876, Mrs. Paterson had founded the [[Women's Printing Society]] at [[Westminster]]. She devoted all her spare energies to managing that, and personally mastered the printer's craft.

Paterson's husband died on 15 October 1882. In 1886 she published, with a memoir, a posthumous work by him, ''A New Method of Mental Science, with Applications to Political Economy''. The views advanced were said by Paterson's ''DNB'' biographer to be "original and full of promise". In spite of increasing ill-health, Mrs. Paterson never relaxed her work until her death at her lodgings in Westminster on 1 December 1886; she was buried in [[Paddington cemetery]].

Paterson's husband died on 15 October 1882. In 1886 she published, with a memoir, a posthumous work by him, ''A New Method of Mental Science, with Applications to Political Economy''. The views advanced were said by Paterson's ''DNB'' biographer to be "original and full of promise". In spite of increasing ill-health, Mrs. Paterson never relaxed her work until her death at her lodgings in Westminster on 1 December 1886; she was buried in [[Paddington cemetery]].