Helga Gill

Helga Gill (1885-1928) was an organiser for the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and campaigned on behalf of Women's Suffrage across the UK.[1]

Helga Gill
Born1885
Bergan, Norway
Died1928
NationalityNorwegian
OccupationNUWSS Organiser

Early life

Helga was born in 1885 in Bergan, Norway to parents were Johan Klerk Gill and Karen Marie Ottilia Gill. She was their oldest child and had five siblings.[2] Her mother died when she was a child, and Helga helped raise her brothers and sisters.[3]

Work at NUWSS

Helga initially visited the United Kingdom for a holiday.[4] She made friends with members of the politically prominant Corbett family, Marie and her daughters Cecily and Margery. Helga was speaking at suffrage meetings and was the organiser of the NUWSS by 1909.[4] Sissel Rosland has argued that she was a 'popular and busy campaigner' between 1909 and 1914.[4] Newspaper reports show that Helga was critical of the militancy of the suffragettes,[5] and frequently referenced her Norwegian origins in her speeches.[6] Norway had given women partial suffrage in 1907, and so Helga's viewpoint of a voting woman was valued.[7] By 1912 she was an Organiser for Oxford, Berks, and Bucks and was sent on a tour of Ireland by the NUWSS to promote women's suffrage.[2]

Work in World War I

When World War One broke out in 1914, Helga signed up to join the Scottish Women's Hospitals, a wartime project funded by the NUWSS. Helga was a part of the French Hospital Unit and left for France in December 1914, where she was based at Royaumont Abbey. Helga worked as an ambulance driver, transporting injured soldiers to the hospital. This was a dangerous role that carried the risk of being killed.[2] This work took its toll on Helga's health, and because of this she left France and worked at HM Factory Gretna for the remainder of the war.[3]

Personal life

Helga adopted a war orphan, John Gill.[3] She was the only woman member of the British Legion, Danehill branch and also ran the Boy's Brigade and was a member of the Women's Institute.[1]

Later life and death

Helga's health was permanently affected by her wartime service.[3] Helga Gill died suddenly as a result of a car crash on 16th November 1928.[3] She was mourned both by the local community, in The Mid Sussex Times,[8] and by suffrage periodical The Common Cause.[3]

Awards

As a result of her wartime work in France, Helga was awarded the British War Medal, British Victory Medal, Croix de Guerre, and the Medaille des Epidemies.[2]

References
  1. "Helga Gill · Mapping Women's Suffrage". map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  2. Hewitt, Judith (2021-09-29). "Worker of the Week: Helga Gill". Devils Porridge Museum. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
  3. "Obituary: Miss Helga Gill". The Common Cause. 30 November 1928. p. 7.
  4. Rosland, Sissel (18 October 2017). "Norway as an Example in the UK Women's Suffrage Campaign". Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research. 25: 195–210 – via Taylor and Francis.
  5. "Mid Bucks Women's Suffrage Society". Bucks Herald. 25 December 1909. p. 6.
  6. "Votes for Women". Luton Times and Advertiser. 12 November 1909. p. 3.
  7. "Norway gives women partial suffrage". OUPblog. 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
  8. "Miss Gill's Tragic Death". The Mid Sussex Times. 27 November 1928. p. 9.
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