Jessie Stephen

Jessie Stephen MBE
1930 portrait (aged 36–37)
Born	(1893-04-19)19 April 1893[1]
Died	12 June 1979(1979-06-12) (aged 86)[1] Bristol
Nationality	British
Occupation	Journalist
Known for	Trade unionism Councillor

Jessie Stephen, MBE (19 April 1893 – 12 June 1979) was a twentieth-century British suffragette, labour activist and local councillor. She grew up in Scotland and won a scholarship to train as a teacher. Family finances dictated otherwise, leading to her becoming a domestic worker at the age of 15. She became involved in national labour issues as a teenager, via organisations such as the Independent Labour Party and the Women's Social and Political Union. Stephen moved to London during World War I and in the 1920s she toured the United States and Canada, where she held meetings with the public including migrant English domestic workers.

Stephen was elected as a local councillor several times and stood as a candidate in general elections. After moving to Bristol in the 1940s she became the first woman president of Bristol Trades Council. She was appointed MBE in 1977 and her life is commemorated by a blue plaque in Bristol.