{{Short description|British politician and activist}} '''Eleanor Kathleen Goodrich''' OBE (1888 – 1988) was a British politician and activist.
Born in Clapton, as '''Eleanor Kathleen Harslett''', her father was a stage manager, and both of her parents were close friends with Herbert Morrison.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morrison |first1=Herbert |title=Herbert Morrison: An Autobiography |date=1960 |publisher=Odhams Press |isbn=9787240011669}}</ref> She became a suffragette and a teacher, active in the National Union of Women Teachers.<ref name="spence">{{cite book |last1=Spence |first1=Jean |last2=Meikle |first2=Maureen |last3=Aiston |first3=Sarah |title=Women, Education, and Agency, 1600-2000 |date=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135855840}}</ref><ref name="bush">{{cite web |title=National Life Stories: Amy Bush |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/021T-C0468X0008XX-0000A0.pdf |website=British Library |access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref>
In 1934, Goodrich was elected for the Labour Party to the council of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, one of the first party members to win a seat in the borough.<ref name="bush" /> She won a seat in Balham and Tooting at the 1946 London County Council election.<ref>{{cite news |title=The New LCC: Labour gains in a low poll |work=The Times |date=9 March 1946}}</ref> From 1947 until 1949, she also served as Mayor of Wandsworth, the first woman from the Labour Party to hold the post.<ref name="bush" />
The Balham and Tooting constituency was abolished for the 1949 London County Council election, and Goodrich instead stood unsuccessfully in Wandsworth Central.<ref>{{cite news |title=LCC Polling |work=The Times |date=9 April 1949}}</ref> Despite this defeat, she was appointed to serve on the council's education committee.<ref name="spence" /> In the 1951 New Year Honours, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.<ref>British Empire :{{London Gazette |issue=39104 |date=29 December 1950 |pages=1–34 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>
Goodrich contested Wandsworth Central again at the 1952 London County Council election,<ref>{{cite news |title=London County Council: Election results |work=The Times |date=5 April 1952}}</ref> winning a seat, but she lost it again in 1955.<ref>{{cite news |title=LCC results: Conservatives make headway |work=The Times |date=25 April 1955}}</ref> She was instead appointed as an alderman,<ref name="achieve">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=William Eric|title=Achievement : a short history of the London County Council|year=1965|publisher=Longmans|location=London}}</ref> and in 1958/1959, served as vice-chair of the council.<ref>{{cite news |title=New L.C.C. Begins Work. Aldermanic Vacancies Filled By Labour |work=The Times |page=6 |date=23 April 1958}}</ref>
In the late 1960s, Goodrich helped establish the Putney Arts Theatre in its long-term venue.<ref>{{cite news |title=Theatre gets its act together |url=https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/6426541.theatre-gets-its-act-together/ |access-date=23 November 2022 |work=News Shopper |date=12 March 2001}}</ref> She died in 1988.<ref>{{cite web |title=Eleanor Kathleen Goodrich |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp76173/eleanor-kathleen-goodrich |website=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref>
==References== <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodrich, Eleanor}} Category:1888 births Category:1988 deaths Category:British suffragettes Category:English trade unionists Category:Mayors of places in Greater London Category:Members of London County Council Category:Politicians from the London Borough of Hackney