Anne Godwin

Dame Beatrice Annie Godwin DBE (6 July 1897 – 11 January 1992),[1] known as Anne Godwin, was a British trade unionist.

Early life

Born in July 1897 in Farncombe, Surrey, Godwin's father was a draper. She attended school in Godalming until age 15, in 1912, when she left to start working as a counting house clerk in London's West End. In 1916, she joined the Army Pay Office as a civilian clerk, earning 16 shillings a week. Other women working at the office organised to unsuccessfully request a higher salary from the Army Paymaster.[2] She joined the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries (AWCS) after moving to an engineer's office in 1920.[3]

By 1928, she was a trade union organiser. Women civil servants belonged to two different classes of unions, back then. Temporaries joined the AWCS, and after being made permanent they joined the NAWCS (National Association of Women Civil Servants).[4]

Later life

In 1940, a majority of AWCS members voted in favour of amalgamation. The two unions joined and became known as the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union. Anne Godwin was Assistant General Secretary, and edited the union's journal, entitled The Clerk.[2] From 1961 to 1962, she served as one of the first women to become President of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Britain's main organisation of trades unions, following Margaret Bondfield, Anne Loughlin and Florence Hancock.[3]

Appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1962, Dame Anne Godwin was the guest speaker at the 1980 Conference when the union celebrated its 90th anniversary.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Dame Anne Godwin". The Times. London. 13 January 1992. p. 16 – via The Times Digital Archive, 1785–2008.
  2. ^ a b c Anne Godwin bio at WCML website
  3. ^ a b Grenier, Janet E. (2004). "Oxford DNB article: Godwin, Dame Beatrice Annie [Anne] (1897-1992)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49654. Retrieved 15 May 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ "Dame Anne Godwin". WCML. Retrieved 1 March 2022.

Further reading

Trade union offices
Preceded by General Secretary of the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries
1931 – 1941 		Succeeded by
Position abolished
Preceded by President of the National Federation of Professional Workers
1948 – 1956 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Women Workers member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress
1949 – 1963
With: Florence Hancock (1949 – 1958)
Ellen McCullough (1958 – 1963) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by General Secretary of the National Union of Clerks and Administrative Workers
1956–1963 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Trades Union Congress
1962 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Trades Union Congress representative to the AFL-CIO
1963
With: Harry Douglass 		Succeeded by