Ethel Gooch

Ethel Gooch
Born
Ethel Banham

(1887-12-12)12 December 1887
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
Died6 February 1953(1953-02-06) (aged 65)
Wymondham, Norfolk
Occupation(s)Teacher and politician
Known forBeing Wymondham's first woman councillor
MovementLabour movement
SpouseEdwin Gooch (married 1914)
ChildrenMichael Edwin Gooch (born 1923)

Ethel Gooch (née Banham;[1] 12 December 1887[2]–6 February 1953)[3] was a British teacher and politician.[4] She was the first woman councillor of the town of Wymondham, Norfolk, and the first woman to chair its urban district council.[5] On her death, she was called "one of the pioneers of the Labour movement in rural Norfolk".[6]

Life

Ethel Banham was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire,[7] into a Primitive Methodist family.[1] She was the daughter of Charles Dawson Banham, a gasworks manager.[4] On 26 December 1914, she married Labour politician and trade unionist, Edwin George Gooch, at the Primitive Methodist chapel in Wymondham.[4] They had one son, Michael Edwin Gooch, born in 1923.[4][8]

In 1918, Edwin Gooch helped to found the South Norfolk Labour Party in Church Street, Wymondham.[4] Both he and Ethel were active in the Labour Party, as well as serving as Justices of the Peace.[9][1][10]

Ethel became Wymondham Council's first woman member in 1935, and its first woman chairman in 1951.[9] She was also a member of the Minister's Central Housing Advisory Committee and the Rural Housing Committee, as well as being an alderman of Norfolk County Council.[11][12] Alun Howkins, author of Edwin Gooch's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, described Ethel as "a formidable and important figure in the history of Norfolk Labour politics".[4]

Death and legacy

Ethel Gooch died in Wymondham on 6 February 1953.[6] The Daily Herald described her as "one of the pioneers of the Labour movement in rural Norfolk".[6] A street in Wymondham, Ethel Gooch Road, was later named for her.[9]

In 2013, the Wymondham Heritage Museum staged an exhibition about Ethel Gooch.[13] In 2017, Gooch was remembered with a historical tour around Wymondham's town centre.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Gooch, Edwin George (1889-1964)". My Primitive Methodists. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  2. ^ "1939 Register". FindMyPast. 1939. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  3. ^ "England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019". FindMyPast. 1953. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Howkins, Alun (2016). "Gooch, Edwin George (1889–1964), politician and trade unionist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46448. Retrieved 2024-05-25. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ a b "Wymondham town tour honours public life pioneer Ethel Gooch". Eastern Daily Press. 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  6. ^ a b c "MP's Wife Dies—She Was a Labour Pioneer". Daily Herald. 10 February 1953. p. 7.
  7. ^ "1921 Census Of England & Wales". FindMyPast. 1921. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  8. ^ Debrett's distinguished people of today. Internet Archive. London : Debrett's Peerage. 1990. ISBN 978-1-870520-03-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ a b c "What's in a Photo? On Strike". Wymondham Magazine. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  10. ^ Edwards, George (1922). From crow-scaring to Westminster; an autobiography. Foreword by Lord Ailwyn of Honingham; introd. by W.R. Smith. Robarts - University of Toronto. London Labour Pub. Co.
  11. ^ The Land Worker. Land Worker Publishing Company. 1954.
  12. ^ Groves, Reginald (1981). Sharpen the sickle : the history of the Farm Workers' Union. Internet Archive. London : Merlin Press. ISBN 978-0-85036-284-8.
  13. ^ "Norfolk museum that came close to closure reopens for summer season". Eastern Daily Press. 2013-03-20. Retrieved 2024-05-25.