Florence Rose Rees was born in 1882, at Aberdare, one of the seven children of William Henry Rees and Fanny (Berry) Rees. Her father was a tinworker. Miss Rees became a teacher in local schools as a teenager, with only on-the-job training as an assistant and monitor.[1]
Career
As a teacher she became active with the Independent Labour Party[2] and with the Women's Co-operative Guild.[3] After marrying in 1908, she left the classroom and worked more intensely for political causes. In 1915 she became the first woman to chair the education committee of Aberdare.[4] She helped to write education policy for Keir Hardie's campaign, with whom she had a close friendship.[5]
During World War I she represented Glamorgan in the Women's Land Army.[6] In 1919 she ran for the Aberdare council, and in 1920 she won a seat. She worked especially for women's health issues, including a birth control clinic and an infant/maternal welfare clinic.[7] She was the first woman elected to the Glamorgan County Council, in 1925. She became an alderman, and in 1949 she became the first woman to chair the county council, after having "chaired every single committee... at various times."[8]
Rose Rees married fellow teacher and labour activist Edward Davies in 1908. They had five children together. She was widowed in 1951 and died in late 1958, age 76.[1]
In 2023 a Purple Plaque was installed at the Cynon Valley Museum in Aberdare to commemorate her work.[9][10]
References
^ abNeil Evans, "(Florence) Rose Davies"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2011): accessed 1 April 2016; doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/70090
^June Hannam, "Women and Labour Politics" in Matthew Worley, ed., The Foundations of the British Labour Party: Identities, Cultures, and Perspectives, 1900–39 (Ashgate Publishing 2009): 171–192. ISBN9780754667315