Statue honours 'remarkable' woman 'hidden' from history

Elizabeth Andrews was one of the most influential Welsh female political activists of the early 20th Century, but campaigners say her story has been forgotten.

The internationalist and suffragist was born in the former mining village of Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley in 1882 and she championed women's and children's rights.

On Thursday, a statue in her honour will be unveiled at Rhondda Heritage Park, as the fifth and final statue of a real, named woman in the Monumental Welsh Women campaign.

The women already honoured through the project are Betty Campbell, Elaine Morgan, Sarah Jane Rees, known as Cranogwen, and Lady Rhondda.

Elizabeth Andrews was one of 11 children, born in Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf in 1882 into a poor, working-class mining family,

She left school aged 13 to help her parents make ends meet.

"The people of Hirwaun were not really aware of her," said community councillor Eryl O'Neill.

"I've got to confess, I didn't know anything about her either."

Andrews turned to politics from an early age, her great-great-niece Melinda Hawthorne said.

"She started quite young because she sat at her father's knee, and there was a lot of discussion about politics," Hawthorne added.

"She wasn't fully educated, but she was able to go out and talk to people. She was amazing, and quite a remarkable woman.

"She was a suffragist, she was the first secretary for the women's guild in the Rhondda, the first woman Labour Party Organiser for Wales.

"But she's another one of these women that have been hidden."

Hawthorne said she was known by local women as "Our Elizabeth" because she wanted "better equality".

"Her motto was 'educate, agitate, organise'," she added.

"This is really about educating people about what their rights are, what is available to them. Agitate is getting people out there on the streets to get the things they need, and then organising that."

Andrews fought for better maternity and childcare and helped to establish one of the earliest nursery schools in Wales.

As the first Labour Party Women's Organiser for Wales, a role created following some women receiving the vote in 1918, Andrews set up women's sections, describing them as "working women's universities".

One of her earliest tasks was translating leaflets from English to Welsh to urge women to use their newly-won vote.

She successfully campaigned for the creation of pit-head baths for miners, communal washing facilities which removed the dangers for women who once had to lug heavy tin baths of scalding water from the home.

Andrews also played a pivotal role in the 1926 General Strike and the period that followed, when miners were locked out for six months until they accepted wage cuts in an extremely turbulent time.

"She was involved in trying to get food parcels, in sewing organisations," historian and professor Angela V. John explained.

"She also gave endless talks in the Rhondda, trying to encourage women in particular to pull together and to work, to try and alleviate the hardship that existed even before 1926."

Andrews - along with another campaigner, Beatrice Green from Abertillery - also organised a relief campaign to ease intense financial pressure on families by sending children from mining communities to be temporarily housed with volunteer families in cities like London after the strike.

Sculptor Billie Bond said that was one of the stories that inspired her as she designed the 6.5ft (2m) bronze statue, which includes a young child.

The girl in the statue is Rhona Allen, who was born to a large mining family in Llwynypia, Rhondda.

"A child had to be a part of it," Billie said.

"What struck me when I first learned about what she achieved was what she did for the mining community and families.

"Her achievements with the compulsory pit-head baths, that was another thing that stood out for me, so I have her standing on an upturned tin bath.

"She's very accessible, you can go up to her and touch her. This is the first life-size public statue that I've done. It's been so interesting and fascinating."

Andrews died in Ton Pentre in 1960.

The chair of Monumental Welsh Women, Helen Molyneux, said Andrews' statue, as well as the four others organised by the Monumental Welsh Women campaign, will "act as an inspiration to women and girls".

She added: "Before the statue of Betty Campbell was unveiled in Cardiff, there was not a single statue of a named Welsh woman in Wales.

"Now Wales has five statues telling the stories of these wonderful women who stand as an example to everyone of what can be achieved when women use their voices to speak up for change."

Additional reporting by Tony Brown