By examining the roles played by women within the late 19th century and early 20th century, this essay argues that whilst women were portrayed as being peripheral actors in the broad historical spectrum of the East End, they did play an important role in contributing to many changes in East London. Their involvement in numerous vital events such as the Battle of Cable Street and the Matchgirls Strike as well as the fascism movement which lead to one of many significant components which help make up the history of the East End today. While women didn’t play idle characters, they are still regarded as largely marginal characters in the East End due to lack of agency and their inability to write their own history, relying on the exposure given to them in their contemporary times. In a working society of male supremacy, the emphasise of women’s roles outside of their domestic sphere is easily lost in translation and paints them as minor actors in East London history despite being the opposite.
The Battle of Cable Street of 1936 was an event which the women of the East End were deeply invested in, playing an ‘active part in the demonstrations’ which helped ensure the building of ‘local solidarity that made it victorious’ despite being painted out of the narrative. Women were an important force in helping to make political change in the East End and therefore new defining history. The battle focuses on the clash between the Metropolitan Police who were protecting the BUF (British Union of Fascists) and various anti-fascist demonstrators. Whilst the police and the fascists attacked the people on the street brutally, women residing within their homes helped to fight back. Phil Piratin recalled how ‘ordinary housewives, and elderly women’ were vigorously involved in anti-fascist activism, ‘throwing down milk bottles and other weapons…onto the police’ . The way that women were actively participating in the demonstrations highlights the fact that they were an operational part of the changes that occurred within the East End, more specifically the putting down of fascist movements in the area. Whilst the story is typically painted with women being confined in their homes as the men went out to protest and roadblock the BUF, many first-hand accounts prove otherwise. Historians can use these to carve out spaces for women in key British events, giving them the recognition they deserve from helping out the community when in need. In interviews taken with participants of the battles, Joy Goodman recalls how ‘though only 12 years old, she too was in the front line that day’ alongside her husband showing how women didn’t play a passive role when trying to make a change. Mike Brooke also notes how around 175 people were injured including police, women and children. The inclusion of women in the statistic further highlights the involvement of women in the on-street battles. Although they are either typically depicted as staying indoors and docile or as fighting within their homes, women still played a role out in the field and were part of a movement which altered the course of history.
While women were part of the historical scope of the East End, not all of the participation are of a positive light. In instances such as the fascist movements in late 19th and early 20th century London, a number of women played the antagonising role in history. Julie Gottlieb’s book ‘Feminine Fascism’ depicts the way in which women participated in social movements, however, Gottlieb focuses and explores the role of fascist women in the BUF and the way propaganda revolved around them helped the image of the BUF. Gottlieb pinpoints how women were the ‘salespersons and soft-sellers’ of the movement, highlighting the idea that the Cable Street protest was one which may have increased the number of women joining the BUF. Books such as Gottlieb’s allows for a more detailed expansion on a historian’s understanding of women in the nationalist wing of British politics, filling in significant gaps in the histography of Britain’s fascism and the contribution of women to it. This involvement of women to fascism is mirrored in Nina Boyd’s ‘From Suffragette to Fascist’ which depicts the biography of Mary Allen, a suffragette, who overtime becomes a sympathiser of Mosely (leader of BUF) and his cause. While women in East End history are just barely documented for the good that they have contributed, the lesser known side of female history is the way they participated in the bad. Women have a standing point on both sides of history; good and bad, and research such as Gottlieb’s helps bring these new perspectives to light.
The London matchgirls strike in 1888 was an important part of East End history as it helped begin a public conversation about the abysmal conditions of working-class women in factories being one of the most significant strikes of labour history. The strike, while started by Louise Raw, gained momentum and public interest when Annie Beasant, a middle-class woman, wrote an article for The Link called ‘White Slavery in London’ speaking out against the appalling environments that the women in Bryant and May were working on. Sheila Rowbotham notes and observes the way in which stories and experiences of working women have been buried from history and this helps add to the idea of why women may be deemed as peripheral actors in East End history. Yet the matchgirls strike is significant in understanding the importance of women in London history as the results helped catalyst following strikes. This moment of East End history is one which lead to social, economic and political changes with laws being influenced by it, later strikes occurring and from those the creation of steady wages. Caroline Gibbs praises the movements, noting how workers in docks ‘followed the example of the matchgirls…for a guaranteed wage of sixpence a day’. These women were important in the history of the East End as their action set off a catalyst for many other workers to stand up for themselves against their company when treated unfairly. This is important as it was women who began a new domino chain of strikes and protests against unfair treatment in the workplace, with the popularity of their own strike giving an easier leeway to those that came after and shows that they were not just side characters in the larger labour narrative but rather leading ones.
The matchgirls strike was prominent as it was regarded as often the ‘only example of industrial action by a mostly female workforce’. This shows that while women were a key part of the East End history, there aren’t that many moments of note. This could be a result of societal expectations where women were expected to be passive and stay at home, giving a hand to the idea of them being periphery actors in history. Yet in the small amount they are mentioned, women have been able to contribute a lot both socially and politically. Whilst working with matches, one ingredient the girls were exposed to was white phosphorous. White phosphorus was known to produce severe health complications, such as phossy jaw, when consumed which was liable to happen to the workers as the limited lunch breaks that the matchgirls were given didn’t commence in separate rooms to manufacturing. This was a major health hazard, however, after the strike Bryant and May ceased to use white phosphorus in production completely and instead started to use red in 1855. This then fed into the 1906 Berne Convention where white phosphorus was legally banned in matches by the House of Commons. The impact of the women and their need to have their voice heard continued to seep into later years and help influence change in the East End community. While the matchwomen didn’t make a direct difference on a national level, such as increasing wages, they still managed to make a communal change within the East End as well as create a ripple effect and influencing others to do the same.
Another reason behind the idea that women played a periphery role in East End history is the dismissal of their efforts and the gains they have made. Many historians feel that movement of the matchgirls strike happened as a stroke of luck. An idea formed from the ignorance of the efforts of the women on the basis that they ‘happened to be at the right historical place at the right historical time’. Many historians tend to overlook the valiant efforts of the matchgirls and the way in which they later swayed the movements within the docks, deeming the strikes at the docks as the ‘true’ beginning of New Unionism despite occurring one year later. With the lack of rights women had during the 19th and 20th century paired with the exclusivity of trade unions, only being available to largely men with ‘skilled’ job roles, the avalanche of New Unionism would have been difficult to push off the back of these matchwomen alone. Women weren’t able to make large impacts in history due to their inability and lack of opportunity in comparison to men. Despite being cropped out of the picture by countless of historians who centralise on the importance of wealthy men and the changes they’ve made; women’s history still exists as a key part of East End narration and not as stories on the borders.
While women were written in history as mere background characters on the bigger stage of East End history, the reality is not so. Women, as both the protagonists and antagonists of history, remain a vital part of the narrative of the East End. Despite many being forgotten and their importance being diminished by other larger events, the women of the East End made a prominent impact in the late 19th and early 20th century. Especially considering the social climate at the time which held woman to the conventional arcs of being repressed and passive with almost no autonomy. Through the lack of representation of females in history, specifically East End history, a mistranslation of the role and importance of women to the community and greater society begins. An in depth histography for women is needed in order to combat general stereotypes of females, and especially lower-class females, being around and working only for the sake of their husbands and children. This combatting of previous typecasts in turn help combat the stereotypes fed about women in the present day. It is also important to build up a prolific history of women so that modern day historians and readers are able to identify the way in which women today benefit from the actions of women in pre-21st century Britain, regarding them as key components of East End history rather than background noise.