Ellen Wilkinson

The Right Honourable Ellen Wilkinson
Wilkinson in 1924
Minister of Education
In office 3 August 1945 – 6 February 1947
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Richard Law
Succeeded by	George Tomlinson
Chairman of the Labour Party
In office 4 January 1944 – 3 August 1945
Leader	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	George Ridley
Succeeded by	Harold Laski
Junior ministerial offices Parliamentary Secretary for the Home Department In office 8 October 1940 – 23 May 1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Pensions In office 17 May 1940 – 8 October 1940 Prime Minister Winston Churchill Preceded by Cuthbert Headlam (1932) Succeeded by The Lord Tryon
Parliamentary offices Member of Parliament for Jarrow In office 14 November 1935 – 6 February 1947 Preceded by William Pearson Succeeded by Ernest Fernyhough Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough East In office 29 October 1924 – 7 October 1931 Preceded by Penry Williams Succeeded by Ernest Young
Personal details
Born	Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (1891-10-08)8 October 1891 Manchester, England
Died	6 February 1947(1947-02-06) (aged 55) London, England
Political party	Labour
Other political affiliations	Communist Party of Great Britain (1920–1924)
Alma mater	University of Manchester (BA)

Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her career, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, she became a national figure when she played a prominent role in the 1936 Jarrow March of the town's unemployed to London to petition for the right to work. Although unsuccessful at that time, the March provided an iconic image for the 1930s and helped to form post-Second World War attitudes to unemployment and social justice.

Wilkinson was born into a poor though ambitious Manchester family and she embraced socialism at an early age. After graduating from the University of Manchester, she worked for a women's suffrage organisation and later as a trade union officer. Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, Wilkinson joined the British Communist Party, and preached revolutionary socialism while seeking constitutional routes to political power through the Labour Party. She was elected Labour MP for Middlesbrough East in 1924, and supported the 1926 General Strike. In the 1929–31 Labour government, she served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the junior Health Minister. She made a connection with a young female member and activist Jennie Lee. Following her defeat at Middlesbrough in 1931, Wilkinson became a prolific journalist and writer, before returning to parliament as Jarrow's MP in 1935. She was a strong advocate for the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, and made several visits to the battle zones.

During the Second World War, Wilkinson served in Churchill's wartime coalition as a junior minister, mainly at the Ministry of Home Security where she worked under Herbert Morrison. She supported Morrison's attempts to replace Clement Attlee as the Labour Party's leader; nevertheless, when he formed his postwar government, Attlee appointed Wilkinson as Minister of Education. By this time, her health was poor, a legacy of years of overwork. She saw her main task in office as the implementation of the wartime coalition's Education Act 1944, rather than the more radical introduction of comprehensive schools favoured by many in the Labour Party. Much of her energy was applied to organising the raising of the school-leaving age from 14 to 15. During the exceptionally cold weather of early 1947, she succumbed to a bronchial disease, and died after an overdose of medication, which the coroner at her inquest declared was accidental.