{{short description|British co-operative movement activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Eleanor Barton | honorific_suffix = JP | image = Eleanor Barton.jpg | caption = Barton in 1922 | birth_name = Eleanor Stockton | birth_date = {{Birth date|1872|07|13|df=y}} | birth_place = Ardwick, Manchester, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1960|03|09|1872|07|13|df=y}} | death_place = Papatoetoe, New Zealand | movement = Co-operative | spouse = {{Marriage|Alfred Barton|1872-07-13|1933-12-09|end =d}} | children = 2 }} '''Eleanor Barton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|JP}} (''née'' '''Stockton'''; 13 July 1872 – 9 March 1960) was a British co-operative movement activist from Manchester.

==Early life and family==

Barton was born in Manchester, the daughter of William Stockton, a prison warden born from Shropshire, and Julia [née Farrar] Stockton from Liverpool. Her maternal grandmother, born in Ireland, also lived with them while Eleanor was growing up.<ref>1881 England Census</ref> Little is known of her early life, but it is believed her family was active in the labour movement in Manchester.<ref name="odnb">{{Cite ODNB|id=47325|title=Barton [née Stockton], Eleanor (1872/3–1960), socialist and co-operative movement activist|first=Doughan |last=David |authorlink=}}</ref>

==Activism== In 1894, she married Alfred Barton, a librarian and active anarchist at the time, and the two moved to Sheffield.<ref name="odnb"/> Both became heavily involved in the local socialist and co-operative movements; Eleanor joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-operative's Women's Co-operative Guild, and became secretary of its Hillsborough branch, then serving in succession on the district, Yorkshire and central committees of the Guild. She was elected as national treasurer in 1913, then as president the following year.<ref name="biography">Joyce Bellamy and H. F. Bing, ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.I, pp.38-40</ref>

Barton went on a speaking tour of the United States in 1919, invited by the Labor Party of America, talking about child welfare. In 1921, she became assistant secretary of the guild, then secretary in 1925, serving until 1937. She spent her time in office refocusing the guild away from handicrafts and towards education and the social sciences.<ref name="biography" />

In 1919, Barton was elected to Sheffield City Council as a joint Labour Party and Co-operative Party candidate, one of the first two women elected in the city. She stood for the Co-operative Party in Birmingham King's Norton at the 1922 and 1923 general elections, then in Nottingham Central in 1929, but was never elected.<ref name="biography" />

During the 1930s, Barton promoted the white poppy symbol for the Guild, and was prominent in the Peace Pledge Union and Hands Off Russia campaign. She also held numerous co-operative movement posts, including directorships of the Co-operative Permanent Building Society and the Co-operative Newspaper Publishing Society.<ref name="odnb"/><ref name="biography" />

By 1949, Barton's husband and son had both died, and she moved to Papatoetoe, New Zealand to live with her daughter, Mrs. Linda Bennett. She died at their home in Papatoetoe in 1960.<ref name="biography" /><ref>''New Zealand, Death Index, 1848-1966''</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

{{s-start}} {{s-npo}} {{succession box|title=Secretary of the Women's Co-operative Guild|years=1925–1937|before=Honora Enfield|after=Rose Simpson}} {{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Eleanor}} Category:1872 births Category:1960 deaths Category:English emigrants to New Zealand Category:Co-operative Party politicians Category:Councillors in Sheffield Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Politicians from Manchester Category:Women councillors in England Category:Co-operative Women's Guild