Mabel Race Norton lived through two world wars, and despite the constraints of social convention and the church, was at the forefront of social change. She devoted her time, energy and skill to work both within the Church of England as a linchpin of the Mothers’ Union, and within her community as a quiet influencer for the rights of disabled war veterans, child evacuees and young women struggling to find their place in a post-war world.
Mabel Race Norton’s early life
Born in 1878 at Bagden Hall, Scissett, West Yorkshire, Mabel Norton grew up within the confines of suffocating privilege. She came from a line of socially aspirational businessmen of a conservative nature, who courted favour with local gentry, bishops and magistrates, and who exploited the feudal system to their economic advantage.
Apart from a fine for driving recklessly in her 81st year, Norton lived a life her father, a “courteous & polite” banker, successful mill owner and chair of the Barnsley West Riding Bench, would have been proud of.
The death in Southport of her younger brother, Ernest, aged six, was devastating for the 12-year-old Norton, and may have influenced her to become involved in child welfare. But it was after the death of her mother, Alice Ada, in 1897 (memorialised in the east window of Denby Parish Church), that Norton became Scissett’s enrolling associate for the Mothers’ Union, a position she held for 63 years.
Female activism in unexpected places
Established in 1876 by Mary Sumner, the Christian faith-based Mothers’ Union encouraged women to speak openly and publicly so they could “love and help one another” through their common experiences as mothers. Sumner broke with convention, normalising public speaking by a woman to large mixed groups, at a time when that was considered scandalous. She was a trailblazer in influencing change across all political parties, finding a non-partisan stance on social matters to be effective when appealing to the men in power.
Although the Mothers’ Union was not overtly political, its publications educated and encouraged women to think about how to use their voices. They made it clear that, while a mother’s priority was to her family, the idea that women would limit their interests and activities to the home was discouraged. “We have no use for that type today” readers of the Mothers’ Union Journal were told firmly in September of 1934.
When Mabel Norton became secretary of Wakefield Diocesan Mothers’ Union in 1900, it was already well established under the presidency of Constance Margaret Eden, whose contributions to the movement are honoured in a plaque erected in Wakefield Cathedral in 1906.
As the diocesan speaker at that time, and with the blessing of her president, Norton was at the vanguard of many a contentious issue: discussions amongst members were often exciting and difficult. The Wakefield branch had a reputation for speaking out about and campaigning on issues directly affecting women: poverty, unemployment, sanitation and education. One such campaign encouraged men to become involved in the lives of their families, as Augusta Dartmouth wrote in the 1904 report asking members to consider: “How our Union might be of use in also raising in the fathers a higher sense of their responsibilities.” As grassroots opinions influenced policy decisions at the highest level and, as the Mothers’ Union began to influence change, Norton was at its heart.
Norton worked hard her entire life to increase membership and, by the time she resigned at the grand age of 83 in 1961, she had recruited a further 11,000 members (up from 1000 by the time of Eden’s death), thus ensuring the progressive activities of the union were supported by over 12,000 families across the district.
A post-war moral dilemma
Changes in attitudes to women and motherhood after World War I created a huge moral dilemma for the Mothers’ Union. As the potential partners of ‘the lost generation’, women’s chances of marriage and motherhood had been greatly diminished. Progressive liberals argued that the mother of a child born from an extra-marital affair must no longer be judged as being a woman of loose moral character. Surely, all women had the right to have children, no matter their marital status?
The issue was hotly debated in the press and caused deep distress to established, traditional organisations like the Mothers’ Union who were trying to hold the fabric of the family together in the wake of overwhelming death and destruction.
The Mothers’ Union pushed back. Their stance was clear: women should behave appropriately and uphold their moral virtues. “Any lowering of the standards of morality are a menace.”, wrote Mrs Barclay, central president of the Mothers’ Union in a letter to the local paper in Leicester.
Although in Wakefield, local president Beatrice Lister Kaye’s opening remarks in the 1920 annual report referred to this sticky issue as “terribly difficult times”, she went on to support the view of the national presidency. It would have been difficult to do otherwise.
In the same annual report, Mabel Norton, in her secretary’s role, preferred to focus pragmatically on the nuts and bolts of branch administration. Norton never allowed herself to get caught up in politics, but chose rather to focus quietly on the practicalities of helping children, girls and young women who were suffering because of poverty, prosecution and economic inequality.
Quiet devotion and careless conservation
1925 was a big year for the Mothers’ Union. Princess Mary opened Sumner House in Westminster, London as their new headquarters and a memorial to the movement’s founder. Every branch made presentations, including Wakefield, whose first diocesan banner, made entirely by Mabel Norton, stood proud.
Over 400 hours of mediative stitching went into creating this beautiful work of art. Its foundation was of cream silk damask, with the figures of the Blessed Virgin and Holy Child worked, the faces and hands being painted, and stones of Oban topaz set in the halo.
Dedicated at Wakefield Cathedral, and again at Holy Trinity, Huddersfield, the banner was an inspiration to members in other regions who in turn made their own banners. It was held proudly aloft when it led the Mothers’ Union Golden Jubilee procession to Westminster Abbey from Sumner House.
Norton’s hand-stitched banner embodied her commitment: it was blessed and hailed as the highest and most honourable expression of dedication and devotion. The banner also featured at the Jubilee Pilgrimage to Winchester, and took pride of place at the Newcastle Central Conference. Sadly, though, the work so lovingly stitched by Norton’s own hand, is so fragile it now lives in the crypt of Wakefield Cathedral, encased in a wooden and glass frame.
At the same time, Norton was honoured for her devotional work as secretary. To give thanks for her 25 years of service, she was presented with a silver cross and a bible with the inscription: “Presented to Miss Norton by Members of the M.U. in recognition of 25 years’ faithful service as Diocesan Secretary, from 1900 to 1925.” The silver cross, passed to the church for safekeeping is now kept at Scissett church.
Defender of the disabled
Picking up the pieces post-World War I, Norton and her stepmother, Jessie Jane Jardine Norton, stepped into other roles outside of the church, ensuring Bagden Hall, where the pair lived until 1958, was always a hive of activity.
Mabel Norton became involved in the Huddersfield Cripples’ Guild (later Huddersfield Guild for the Disabled), raising funds for wounded soldiers left with both physical and mental disabilities.
Jessie Norton, who in 1919, had been awarded the Order of the British Empire for her war work and, in 1923 became a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, was also a stalwart member of the Women’s Section of The British Legion. In 1936 they were collecting money for blind servicemen. Their support ensured disabled soldiers, who often faced social prejudice, were taken care of within the community.
Core principles: women and children
However, Norton never strayed far from her core principles of advancing the lot of mothers and their children. She was a powerhouse in raising funds for the Church of England Waifs & Strays Society. Recognising the role of the Church of England in providing safe houses and education for young people thrown on the mercy of the streets through no fault of their own, Norton organised regular collections for them. She also became actively involved in the work of The Girls Friendly Society (GFS), whose core principles aligned closely with her own.
The Girls Friendly Society and the Yorkshire Aunties Scheme
Now recognised as one of the first feminist organisations in the country, the GFS had radical roots as a pioneer youth organisation protecting working class country girls who left home to take up urban employment. The GFS provided safe houses and worked in conjunction with other women’s organisations to prevent harm from coming to vulnerable girls.
Norton’s involvement had begun early, as women began migrating in ever larger numbers from the country to the towns to work in factories during World War I. Support for young women to empower themselves included more educational opportunities, retreats, physical training and wellbeing holidays, all things Norton already embraced wholeheartedly within the Mothers’ Union.
A thousand lives saved
During World War II, from 1941 onwards, 1,000 babies and small children at the mercy of the London blitz found homes, sanctuary and safety from the bombs, thanks to Norton’s organisational skills, wide network and the Yorkshire Aunties Scheme. This work made Norton a pioneer in child welfare, and a figurehead for motherhood within the Mothers’ Union, as she organised medical, social, emotional, spiritual and economic care and security for some of the county’s most vulnerable children.
“The Yorkshire Aunties Scheme bringing sunshine and laughter into the lives of Britain’s blitzed babies. Over 300 babies, mostly from London’s dockland, have been placed in comfortable, sympathetic homes in this district, and there they will stay for the duration of the war. The work goes on, its pace increasing, and day to day the scheme catering not only for babies from bombed London, but also for those from any other area which has suffered.” – 1941Thursday 9 October Yorkshire Post
Norton herself adopted a three-year-old girl, Barbara Butler, who grew up, along with two other evacuees, at Bagden Hall. Barbara attended The Wakefield Girl’s High School and became part of the increasingly active community of women fighting for women’s rights after the war.
Helping family finances
Mabel Norton was at the forefront of and central to a movement that, after an intensive campaign, saw the introduction of the family allowance in 1944. An effective way of reducing high levels of child poverty, the allowance would be paid to mothers and provide some form of economic independence.
When the Mothers’ Union discovered that payments would be paid to fathers instead, they were horrified. Breaking with their previous position on not associating with feminist societies, the union partnered with the Women’s Freedom League and, along with the National Council of Women and the Women’s Institute, they lobbied MPs for an amendment to the bill. Their efforts were successful, and the 1945 Family Allowances Act saw mothers receiving the monthly payment in cash at their local post office.
Over half a century of change
By 1950, at the age of 72, Norton had given 50 years to the church and the Mothers’ Union and continued to be at the heart of some radical and difficult changes. These ranged widely from lobbying for legislative improvements in housing that included indoor bathrooms, gas and electrical appliances to highlighting the stigma attached to the discriminatory phrase ‘common prostitute’, with its presumption of guilt. Norton, as secretary, supported this latter campaign, showing how much of a shift in stance on women’s morality the Mothers’ Union had made since the start of the century.
At a Thanksgiving Service on 21 September, she was presented with a platinum and diamond brooch in honour of her work.
As Norton found herself looking after her increasingly frail stepmother, she took the difficult decision to resign her secretary’s role in 1952, but continued her volunteer work within the wider community, and thoroughly enjoyed organising the Wakefield Diocese Mother’s Union pilgrimage to York Minster.
Finally selling Bagden Hall and moving to Park House in Clayton West by 1961, at the age of 83, her achievements were honoured by a very modern and very different Mothers’ Union from when she first became involved in 1900.
Mabel Norton, founding member of the ‘Wave of Prayer’ established in 1920 (a daily commitment by Mother’s Union members to pray for each other), died on 20 March 1962 at St Luke’s Hospital in Huddersfield age 83. Prayers were received for her work and legacy from across the world.
Mabel Norton is the 36th woman in Dream Time Creative’s campaign for #blueplaqueparity and, as a pioneer of child and woman’s welfare across eight decades, we are proud to have told her story to enable she gets the recognition she deserves.
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