Catherine Williamson

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} '''Catherine Ellis Williamson''' (née Goodbody; 1 May 1896 – 25 April 1977) was an Irish politician.

Born in Dublin to lawyer Lewis Goodbody and his wife Edith (née Pim), Williamson studied at Cheltenham Ladies College and in St Germain-en-Laye in Paris. For part of World War I, she taught Braille at St Dunstan's in London, before becoming a director of J. J. Williamson & Sons, her family's tannery business in Canterbury.<ref name="whowaswho">"[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U161037/WILLIAMSON_Mrs_Catherine_Ellis Williamson, Mrs Catherine Ellis]", ''Who Was Who''</ref>

Williamson joined the Labour Party and was elected to Canterbury City Council in 1935, serving as Mayor of Canterbury from 1939 to 1941:<ref name="whowaswho" /> the city's first woman mayor.<ref>Canterbury City Council, "[https://www.canterbury.gov.uk/your-council/how-your-council-works/lord-mayor-and-sheriff/history-of-the-mayoral-office/ History of the Mayoral office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013133610/https://www.canterbury.gov.uk/your-council/how-your-council-works/lord-mayor-and-sheriff/history-of-the-mayoral-office/ |date=2015-10-13 }}"</ref> Soon afterwards, she defected to the Common Wealth Party, for which she stood in the 1943 Ashford by-election, taking 30.3% of the vote against a single opponent. She stood in Canterbury at the 1945 United Kingdom general election but, facing both Labour and Conservative opponents, could only take 2.6% of the votes cast.<ref>F. W. S. Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949''</ref>

Williamson rejoined Labour late in the 1940s, and stood in East Grinstead at the 1950 general election, and in Hastings in 1951.<ref>F. W. S. Craig, ''British parliamentary election results 1950–1973''</ref> She travelled widely, particularly to China, where she met Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.<ref name="whowaswho" />

Long a member of the Society of Friends, Williamson also identified as a member of the Church of England, and joined the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.<ref name="whowaswho" />

==References== <references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Catherine}} Category:1896 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Common Wealth Party politicians Category:Irish Quakers Category:Councillors in Kent Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:People educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College Category:Politicians from County Dublin Category:Women mayors of places in England Category:Women councillors in England