Norwich High Trailblazers: Dorothy Jewson

Posted on 13th December 2024 by Tom Greenwood, Norwich High Archivist

Trailblazers: 150 Years of Norwich High Women

What makes a life great and when does an individual become truly exceptional? Dorothy Jewson, born 17th August 1884, was able to achieve a dazzling amount in her life; amongst much else she was one of the very first female MPs. Yet what made her life great was not simply her achievements, nor was it the extent to which her endeavours benefited others, rather it was the totality of her commitment, despite setbacks and failures, to a just cause. At a time when economic injustice, snobbery, sexism and elitism dominated society Dorothy Jewson stood against those things and lived her life as a champion of the oppressed and the marginalised.

Dorothy was born into a large family of successful timber merchants, a family who valued public service as much as they valued enterprise. In 1891, aged seven, Dorothy started at Norwich High and continued her education through to 1903. We are fortunate to have excellent archival records for this period and can see in photographs and words the great extent to which Dorothy contributed to all aspects of school life: champion of tennis, captain of hockey and commended in the examination report. In her final year at Norwich High Dorothy featured in a photograph with four of her peers. At a time when Edwardian propriety considered exposed ankles scandalous and girls on bicycles a dangerous trend, Dorothy is sitting legs astride a chair, wearing loose fitting sports clothes, a heavy leather medicine ball under her arm. She is smiling shyly at the camera, but the statement of her independence and her radical intent is obvious and prescient.

After leaving Norwich High Dorothy studied Classics at Girton College Cambridge before obtaining her teaching certificate. After Cambridge she worked as a teacher and became an activist for the National Union of Teachers. By 1911 Dorothy was a committed Suffragette and a member of the WSPU. She was involved in marches, speech making and organising the legal defence of Suffragettes accused of criminal damage. Beside her work as a Suffragette Dorothy was also committed to helping the poor of Norwich. In 1913 she published ‘The Destitute of Norwich and How they Live’, an analysis of the terrible living conditions and injustices which kept the poorest in society poor. In 1914 war broke out and Dorothy, a committed pacificist, responded by establishing a workshop for girls made unemployed in the early months of the war. By 1915 Dorothy had moved on to other work, helping to organise the National Federation of Women Workers, a Trade Union which protected the wellbeing, wages and rights of women workers. Here she had success in forcing reluctant employers to pay poor women the legal minimum wage.

Sadly, personal tragedy was more commonplace then than it is now. Dorthy had already lost three siblings in childhood and in 1917 her beloved brother Jack, a supporter in all her political and social endeavours, was killed fighting in Palestine. Yet Dorothy redoubled her efforts on behalf of female workers. In 1919 Dorthy organised a meeting at the Royal Albert Hall where she launched a ‘Women Workers’ Charter’ demanding the right to work, the right to life and the right to leisure. It was a radically socialist event and Dorothy ensured it was seen as such with ‘God Save the People’ sung rather than ‘God Save the King’!

By the 1920s Dorothy was a rising star in the Labour Party and in 1923 she was elected MP for Norwich in a campaign where she stressed her feminist and socialist ideals. In Parliament she prioritised children’s welfare and women’s rights; “A woman is an equal citizen with a man.” She also campaigned with great energy for birth control information to be given to working class women. However, the country was not politically stable and in 1924 another election was called in which Dorothy narrowly lost her seat.

Dorothy, committed to politics and to Norwich, was soon elected as a City Councillor, first for the Labour Party then for the Independent Labour Party. As she got older, she did not mellow, rather her anger at injustice grew. But this was not impotent anger, Dorthy made sure she did things to alleviate poverty – as a key member of the Unemployment Committee she was central to schemes like the creation of Eaton Park and for much of the infrastructure of present day Norwich Dorothy can claim a good deal of credit.

In 1937 Dorothy withdrew from public life. Her great friend since 1917, Maud Murray had died, and Dorothy was hit hard by the loss. In the following years Dorothy married twice, but both husbands died within a couple of years. Subsequently she lived quietly and died in Norwich in 1963, aged 79 leaving all her money for the benefit of the poor and elderly of Norwich.

“During her time at Norwich High Dorothy Jewson began to develop the principles and moral judgment that make her admirable today and will continue to make her admirable into the future. She took her privilege, intelligence, pragmatism, charm and stamina and brought it to bear on one issue – fairness. She never wavered in her commitment and her legacy is one for all to follow.”

Tom Greenwood, Archivist at Norwich High School for Girls