Elizabeth Wilson Collection

Papers of Elizabeth Wilson, including files, notebooks, slides, photographs, newspaper cuttings, personal ephemera and miscellaneous items. The majority of the collection consists of an extensive collection of slides (EWC/3) from her various travels and events. Many slides are individually annotated and were probably used by Wilson to share stories from her travels.

Elizabeth Wilson's files (EWC/1) provide insights into her life and activism, including administrative material related to her imprisonment in 1962, newspaper cuttings, correspondence, certificates, and photographs. A small dedicated folder for cuttings (EWC/5) contains three more sheets of newspaper cuttings relating to her imprisonment. Listed separately are personal items (EWC/6) including passports, identity cards, her ration books, travel permits, and other personal documents.

Notebooks and memo books (EWC/2) authored by Elizabeth Wilson contain detailed notes about people and places she encountered on her travels, as well as more specific topics such as ‘Vegetable Cookery’ and ‘Women Mystics’. They also contain recollections of Elizabeth Wilson’s dreams, of which she was particularly interested.

In addition to photographs found in her personal files, a photograph series (EWC/4) contains three loose images of Elizabeth Wilson, one with her dog Kerry and the other with her husband Hugh. The miscellaneous category (EWC/7) consists of historically significant tea and coffee cosies as well as an unidentified piece of handwoven fabric.

Elizabeth Mary Wilson (née Elizabeth Mary Barker, ‘Molly’) was born in Richmond, Surrey, in 1910. She trained as a teacher at Homerton Teacher training College in Cambridge between 1928 and 1932, and then worked as a teacher in Hendon for some years.

In 1936 she married Robert Hugh Wilson [usually known as Hugh], a research chemist with ICI, and came to live in Huddersfield. At first the Wilsons lived in Meltham Road, Lockwood, then in 1947 they moved to Richmond Avenue, Fartown. They had four children, John, Robert, Peter and Erica. Both the Wilsons were involved with Labour politics and with pacifism. Hugh Wilson became a Labour councillor and was for some years the chair of Huddersfield county Borough Education Committee. In the 1930s the Wilsons were members of the Peace Pledge Union and through this activity Elizabeth Wilson came to know a number of local Quakers. She became a Quaker herself in the 1940s. In later life she also became interested in Buddhism. Her husband was a conscientious objector during the Second World War, but he was not connected to the Quakers.

During the Second World War, the Wilsons had Jewish refugees living with them, and later they became involved with the International Friendship League and offered accommodation in their home in Richmond Avenue to foreign students who were studying at Huddersfield Polytechnic. In 1943, the Wilsons were among the founders of the Huddersfield and District Famine Relief Committee (Hudfam). Hudfam operated as a sister branch of Oxfam in the North of England. The organisation ran its own shop, with profits funding relief projects in India and other places. Elizabeth Wilson retained her connection with this organisation until it amalgamated with Oxfam in 1991. In the 1960s-1970s she was also on the National Executive Board of Oxfam, and played a pivotal role in introducing the concept ‘fair trade’ handicrafts as a mechanism for raising aid money.

Elizabeth visited many countries in pursuance of her interest in developmental work, including India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Morocco and Kenya. She wrote articles for the Huddersfield Examiner describing some of her visits. Her son John, also a Quaker, shared her interest in overseas development and worked for many years running a clinic in the Nilgiri hills in southern India. Elizabeth Wilson maintained her participation in pacifism, and in 1962 she went to prison for ten days rather than paying a fine after taking part in an anti-Polaris demonstration at the Holy Loch base in Scotland. She was involved with the United Nations Association and the International Women's Society and helped to found the Home Tutor Scheme in Huddersfield in the 1960s which helped to teach English to Asian women in their homes. Elizabeth taught immigrant children at Moldgreen Infants School in the 1970s. She was also active in the Lockwood and Thornton Lodge Neighbourhood Project.

Hugh Wilson died in December 1983, and Elizabeth Wilson died in June 2000 aged 90.

Upon accession to the library the archive was rearranged in line with archival principles to enhance access. Efforts have been made to maintain original order where clear divisions were present. The order of the collection when it was transferred to the University Library has been recorded and is available on request.

The archive is arranged into the following series: 

• Files (EWC/1)
• Notebooks (EWC/2)
• Slides (EWC/3)
• Photographs (EWC/4)
• Newspaper Cuttings (EWC/5)
• Personal Ephemera (EWC/6)

The collection is open to any accredited reader.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. Under the Act 2018 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

Open parts of this collection, and the catalogue descriptions, may contain personal data about living individuals. Some items in this collection may be closed to public inspection in line with the requirements of the DPA. Restrictions/closures of specific items will be indicated in the catalogue.

This collection contains physical slides which will be difficult to consult without a slide projector. A lightbox is available upon request.

Biographical history based mainly on information provided by the West Yorkshire Archive Service (Ref: KC1030).

AI tools (Microsoft Copilot) were used to summarise the contents of the archive before writing the scope and content.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

This collection was donated by two of Elizabeth Wilson's sons; Peter and Robert Wilson in July 2021.

Some small accruals may be added.

Elizabeth Wilson papers (Ref: KC1030), West Yorkshire Archive Service. The Huddersfield and District Committee for Famine Relief collection (Ref: KC547) also contains scrapbooks of Elizabeth Wilson's travels on behalf of Hudfam, and records relating to Elizabeth Wilson can be found in the archives of the Huddersfield International Women's Society (Ref: KC795) and the United Nations Association, Huddersfield Branch (Ref: KC863).