Social reformer to be honoured with latest Purple Plaque

THE latest Purple Plaque will be unveiled in Barry tomorrow to mark the achievements of Beatrice Lewis, a working class woman who came from a life of hardship to become the first female councillor for the town.

- IAN LEWIS

Before Beatrice became councillor in 1919, working class women in Barry had had no voice and no one to speak up for them.

Beatrice changed things. Her obituary described her as, “one of the leading women of the Socialist party of South Wales, who almost single handedly championed the establishment of a maternity clinic in Barry.

She was progressive in thought and action, forceful in debate and commanded the respect of her fellow councillors.”

Born in Ely in 1877, one of nine children, both her father and husband were coal trimmers - these were dirty and dangerous jobs. It was a world where women were left at home to do the hard domestic labour and look after large families.

Beatrice married at age 20 and moved to the docks area of Barry, where poverty and disease were rife.