Miss Julia Varley
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Born: 1871
Died: 1952
Place of birth: Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Occupation: Weaver
Main Suffrage Society: WSPU
Other Societies: NUWSS; WFraL; WEU
Arrest Record: Yes
Recorded Entries: 2
Other sources: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4769024
Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866?1928 (1999)
Family information: Julia's grandfather was a political radical ? a Chartist.
Additional Information: Julia began part-time work in a mill aged 12, later becoming a mill weaver. She became active in union and Labour movement politics, working for better pay and conditions for mill and other industrial workers, especially women. She did this at the same time as working for women's suffrage (see Other Activities). In 1889, she joined the Women's Franchise League (WFraL), regularly attending its public meetings, and also subscribed to the Women's Emancipation Union (WEU) for a few years afterwards. She also joined the WSPU and was imprisoned twice in 1907 at protests and meetings in London. She seems to have moved away from activism for the WSPU and, by 1912, was a member of the Birmingham Women's Suffrage Society. This was part of the law-abiding NUWSS. This shift from Julia from the WSPU to the NUWSS was probably because by then the NUWSS were supporting Labour Party candidates for Parliament, whereas the WSPU were not. Julia was a socialist and committed to the working class causes that the Labour Party championed.
Other Suffrage Activities: Julia was committed to improving the lives of other people in working class communities. She became a member of the Bradford branch of the Weavers and Textile Workers Union, soon becoming its secretary. Between 1899 and 1906, Julia acted as the first woman on the executive committee of the Bradford Trades Council, and from 1904 until 1907 was a Poor Law Guardian in Bradford. In 1908, during her activism in the suffrage movement, Julia joined the National Federation of Women Workers as an organiser and set up a branch at the Bournville (chocolate) factory in Birmingham. Later, in the 1920s, she was vice chairman of the Industrial Women's Organizations and spoke at meetings for the Women's Industrial League.