Alice Henry

Alice Henry (21 March 1857 – 14 February 1943) was an Australian suffragist, journalist and trade unionist who also became prominent in the American trade union movement as a member of the Women's Trade Union League.

Henry Street in the Canberra suburb of Cook is named in her honour.

Early life

Henry was born on 21 March 1857 in Richmond, Melbourne. She was the daughter of Charles Ferguson Henry, an accountant and his wife Margaret (née Walker), a garment worker. She had one brother, Alfred, who was born in 1859. Both of her parents were Scottish and moved to Australia in 1853. She attended several schools in Melbourne, eventually matriculating with credit from Richard Hale Budd's Educational Institute for Ladies in 1874.

Career

After completing high school, Henry taught briefly and eventually became a featured reporter for The Melbourne Argus and the Australian. Her journalism mainly focused on progressive causes such as labour reform, disabled children and proportional representation. She also became involved with Australian politics in the 1890s, and began to lecture on topics such as women's rights, suffrage and labour. She became closely associated with the progressive movement in Melbourne. Henry moved to the United States from Australia in 1906 and became office secretary of the Women's Trade Union League in Chicago. While working for the Women's Trade Union League she became prominent in the fight for women's suffrage, union organisation and labour rights. She served a variety of jobs within the union including field organiser and director of the education department.