WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE AND PROVIDENT LEAGUE.

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Fifth Annual Report [and] Sixth Annual Report. Two publications from the early years of the organization founded in 1874 by Emma Paterson. The Women's Protective and Provident League (WPPL) aimed to increase women's access to trade unions, either by persuading existing societies to admit women, or encouraging women to found their own. Topics covered in the reports include newly established unions and the Women's Halfpenny Bank.Emma Paterson (1848-1886) visited the United States in 1873, where she was impressed by the women's trade unions. In April 1874, she wrote in a left-wing newspaper, the Labour News, calling for women to form a central association for trade unions. Later the same year, a mixture of women's rights, trade unionist, and Christian socialist groups formed the WPPL.Along with providing legal and financial aid to its members, the reports demonstrate that the WPPL had "the structure of a modern trade union" (Roe, p. 177) in its provision of recreational opportunities. Both reports mention the Women's Union swimming club, whose success and saw the pool "crowded every Wednesday evening" (1880, p.10). Both also mention social meetings featuring lectures, music, and singing, and the 1880 report provides details of a circulating library and a seaside house for summer holiday.Within the UK, we have traced copies of both pamphlets at the London Metropolitan University and the British Library. A copy of the 1879 report is held at the Bishopsgate Library.

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