Wilkinson, Ellen

Wilkinson, Ellen, 1891?–1947, English politician. Of a working-class family, she graduated from the Univ. of Manchester and became a union organizer. A Labour member of Parliament (1924–31, 1935–47), she was an impassioned fighter for socialist causes and became known as Red Ellen. In 1936 she led her constituents from the severely depressed town of Jarrow on a hunger march to London. She was parliamentary secretary to the ministry of home security during World War II and became minister of education in 1945.

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