Florence Brown
Florence Mills Brown CBE (28 November 1898 – 6 March 1981) was Lord Mayor of Bristol in 1963–64. Brown was the first woman to be Lord Mayor of Bristol.
Early life[edit]
Florence Mills Burgess was born in Bristol in 1898, the daughter of Frank & Florence Burgess.[1] Brown was a tobacco stripper at the Wills tobacco factory in Bedminster, where she was also shop steward.[2]
Councillor, Alderman and Lord Mayor[edit]
Brown was a Labour candidate in St Augustine Ward in November 1936, narrowly losing to the incumbent Citizen candidate, Robert Lyne.[3] She stood again in a by-election in Ss Philip and Jacob South Ward in February 1937.[4]
Brown was elected unopposed for Ss Philip and Jacob South Ward in November 1937.[5] She became an Alderman in 1955.[6] She was Lord Mayor in 1963–64.[7] She returned to being a councillor, retiring when she lost her seat on Cabot Ward in 1973.[8]
She was awarded the CBE in 1966.[9]
Personal life[edit]
Brown married Frederick Hanson Brown (1897–1975) at St Augustine the Less, Bristol in 1923.[10] She died in 1981, aged 82.[11][12]
Legacy[edit]
Florence Brown Special Needs School in Knowle West was named after her; it existed from 1969 to 2010.[13][14][15] The school was named for her as Brown was active in disabled charities: she was the chair of Bristol Action Research for the Crippled Child.[16]
In 2022 it was announced that a road would be named after Brown on the Imperial Park development in Bishopsworth on the former Imperial Tobacco site. It had originally been proposed to call the road Navy Cut, after an Imperial Tobacco product, but Marvin Rees, the elected Mayor of Bristol, vetoed the proposal.[17]
References[edit]
- ^ GRO, Bristol, Vol 6a, p 73, March quarter, 1899.
- ^ "ITV News: Bristol road to be named after city's first female mayor following cigarette name row, 7 December 2022". Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ "Bristol Municipal Elections", Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror, 3 November 1936, p 7.
- ^ "Labour's Grandiose Plans A Danger", Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror, 30 January 1937, p 9.
- ^ "Labour Majority in Bristol: Unopposed Returns", Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror, 2 November 1937, p 7.
- ^ "Woman is Labour president", Bristol Evening Post, 13 March 1959, p 16.
- ^ Hubbard, Daphne, "Worthy of a Place in History: Triumph for Bristol's first woman Lord Mayor", Evening Post, 20 May 1964, p 18.
- ^ Webber, Jim, "How Labour stunned the opposition…", Evening Post, 8 June 1973, p 6.
- ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 43854". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1965. pp. 1–36.
- ^ GRO, Bristol, Vol 6a, p 115, September quarter, 1923.
- ^ GRO, Gloucestershire, Vol 22, p 1116, March quarter, 1981.
- ^ "Notices", Western Daily Press, 21 October 1981, p 11.
- ^ Webber, Jim, "Bristol Poly. gets bonus from Ministry", Evening Post, 24 October 1969, p 14.
- ^ "Honour in a school's name", Evening Post, 26 March 1968, p 26.
- ^ "Sports Facilities: Florence Brown Community School". Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ "New bid to boost research funds", Evening Post, 16 September 1965, p 3.
- ^ "ITV News: Bristol road to be named after city's first female mayor following cigarette name row, 7 December 2022". Retrieved 21 March 2024.