# Kate Spurrell

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{{Short description|British trade unionist and socialist activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
thumb|right|Spurrell in 1924
'''Kate Florence Spurrell''' (March 1886 – c.1968<ref>Spurrell's death was reported in the Labour Party's Report of the Annual Conference in 1968</ref>) was a [British](/source/British_people) [trade unionist](/source/trade_unionist) and [socialist](/source/socialist) activist.

Born in [Devonport](/source/Devonport%2C_Devon), [Devon](/source/Devon), England, Spurrell became a schoolteacher in [Plymouth](/source/Plymouth) and joined the [Liberal Party](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)) and the [National Union of Teachers](/source/National_Union_of_Teachers) (NUT).  In 1918, she left the Liberals and joined the [Independent Labour Party](/source/Independent_Labour_Party) (ILP).  She was elected to the executive of the NUT, and served as its president in 1922.<ref>''The Times House of Commons: 1929'', p. 67</ref><ref>''The Times House of Commons: 1935'', p. 89</ref>

The ILP was affiliated to the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)), and at the [1924 general election](/source/1924_United_Kingdom_general_election), Spurrell stood in [Totnes](/source/Totnes_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) for Labour, but took only 6.1% of the vote.  She was again selected in [1929](/source/1929_United_Kingdom_general_election), when she increased her vote share to 12.9%.<ref name="craig">[F. W. S. Craig](/source/F._W._S._Craig), ''British Parliamentary Election Results: 1918-1949''</ref><ref>Stephen Brasher, "[http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/01/returning-officer-totnes The Returning Officer: Totnes]", ''[New Statesman](/source/New_Statesman)''</ref>  That year, she was elected to the ILP's [National Administrative Council](/source/National_Administrative_Council) (NAC), representing South West England.<ref name="cohen">Gidon Cohen, ''The Failure of a Dream: The Independent Labour Party from Disaffiliation to World War II'', p. 69</ref><ref>Paul Cothorn, ''In the Shadow of the Dictators: The British Left in the 1930s'', p. 193</ref>

For the [1931 general election](/source/1931_United_Kingdom_general_election), Spurrell was selected by the [Camborne](/source/Camborne_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) Constituency Labour Party as their candidate.  She was supported by the ILP, but the Labour Party's national executive refused to back her.  Despite this, she took 24.5% of the vote and a strong third place.  She stood again at the [1935 general election](/source/1935_United_Kingdom_general_election), but was on this occasion opposed by an official Labour Party candidate, and took only 1.9% of the vote.<ref name="craig" /><ref name="cohen" />

Spurrell lost her seat on the ILP's NAC in 1938,<ref>Gidon Cohen, ''The Independent Labour Party 1932-1939''</ref> but remained active in the party into the 1950s.  In 1965, she was interviewed for the [BBC Home Service](/source/BBC_Home_Service) on her experience of standing as an ILP candidate in the 1920s.<ref>[BBC](/source/BBC), "[https://web.archive.org/web/20141019033932/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbchomeservice/basic/1965-06-25 BBC Home Service Schedule: 1965-06-25]"</ref>

==References==
<references />

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{{succession box|title=South West member of the National Administrative Council of the [Independent Labour Party](/source/Independent_Labour_Party)|years=1929–1939|before=[Fred Berriman](/source/Fred_Berriman)|after=[Fred Berriman](/source/Fred_Berriman)}}
{{succession box|title=South West member of the National Administrative Council of the [Independent Labour Party](/source/Independent_Labour_Party)|years=1942–1948|before=George Woodall|after=Amy Woodall}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spurrell, Kate}}
Category:1886 births
Category:1968 deaths
Category:English trade unionists
Category:Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members
Category:Independent Labour Party parliamentary candidates
Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Category:People from Devonport, Plymouth
Category:British women trade unionists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kate Spurrell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Spurrell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Spurrell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.