(1899 – 1970)
Hailed as one of the most distinctive political personalities of the century and earning the name of ‘Battling Bessie’, she was believed to have inherited much of her campaigning spirit from her mother Mary Bamber; an early socialist and trade union activist.
A member of the Liverpool County Borough Council from 1930 to 1961 and a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1970 Bessie was described as being frequently at odds with her party while pursing social reform. She won a national reputation for her forthright campaigns in housing, public health and other social issues such as child welfare, maternity care and youth crime. She was a staunch supporter of the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 and served on the Royal Commission for Mental Health, leading the way for the 1959 Mental Health Act. By the time of Labour’s victory at the 1964 general election her health was deteriorating, and her work took a back seat. Towards the end of her life she became Liverpool’s first woman freeman.
She is placed next to fellow Liverpudlian and comedian Ken Dodd. The statue depicts Bessie clutching an egg, as she was the politician responsible for the implementation of the Lion Quality Mark on British products. I’ll leave you to ponder if you would like to be immortalised holding an egg.
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