ABSTRACT
Mrs. Paterson first became acquainted With many of the ladies who were her subsequent sympathisers and helpers, when in 1872 as Miss E. A. Smith she became the secretary of the Central Committee of the Women's Suffrage Society. (I believe it was before this time that ehe was secretary to the Workmen's Club and Institute Union.) She fulfilled the duties of the office for about a year and a-half with great zeal and ability, and only left the post when she went on a '\'isit to America. She married Mr. Thos. Paterson, who, like herself, was deeply interested in the lives and conditions of the working classes. Her active sympathies soon turned into efforts for the permanent benefit of her toiling sisters. The poor wages, uncertainty of employment, and helplessness during sickness, of women who were toiling for their own livelihood, forcibly engaged her attention, and mainly through her efforts a Conference was called together on July 8th, 1874, at the Quebec Institute, Mr. Hodgson Pratt taking the chair. A committee was then appointed called the Women's Proteotive and Provident Associa.tion, to enable women who were working for their living to combine for the protection of their own interests, and to form a benefit fund for their assistance during illness. Mrs. Paterson. was immediately appointed Hon. Secretary, an office which she retained and actively filled to the end of her life. This conference was followed by another in August, at Bristol, which she attended, and where she explained the action already decided on in London~ From that time forward her time was engaged in organising and speaking at these meetings, where both in England and Scotland benefit societies for women were established ; the first Women's Union under the League (the bookbinders) being founded in October of the same year. Twenty-three of these meetings were held during the first year. As the work of the League grew, other women undertook the work of
secretaries to the various branch societies, but she remained the centre of the organisation. Some years later when the League se>nt delegates to the annual Trades Congresses held each year, Mrs. Paterson was the first woman so appointed and was always one of the representatives. She was an able delegate and secured a hearing when others would have failed. She even received 42 votes for election on their Parliamentary Committee ( 49 was the lowest elected) last autumn at Hull, and probably would in a few more years have been placed on this important body. For many years she has advocated the appointment of women as factory inspectors, and her influence undoubtedly caused the insertion of this point in the resolutions of the Congress.
