Helena Shearer

Helena Paulina Shearer
Helena Paulina Shearer
Born	Helena Paulina Downing; c. 1842; Dublin, Ireland
Died	8 March 1885 (aged 42–43); Stoke Newington, England
Nationality	Irish
Spouse(s)	John Ronald Shearer (m. 1881)

Helena Paulina Shearer (née Downing; c. 1842 – 8 March 1885) was an Irish socialist and suffragist in England.

Life

Shearer was born in Dublin around 1842, the daughter of Washington Downing, a journalist, and Mary Frances Downing.[1][2] She and her family moved to London by 1848.[3] Her family was Catholic.[4]

In 1875 she was on the executive committee of Emma Paterson's Women's Protective and Provident League where her knowledge of employment legislation and women suffrage campaigning and a talent for public speaking was noted. Her uncle, McCarthy Downing, was a member of Parliament for Cork. She also served the Vigilance Association for the Defence of Personal Rights and for the Amendment of the Law in points wherein it is Injurious to Women.[3]

In 1879, she stood for election to the Tower Hamlets School Board. She proposed free non-religious education and more democratic control. Despite some good supporters she finished last and her critics blamed her over-confidence.[3]

In 1881, she was speaking on a suffrage platform in Leicester.[5] The same year on 24 November she married an accountant, John Shearer, in Bradford, Yorkshire,[6] and she may well have served on the executive committee of the Married Women's Property Committee.[3] She stood to be a Poor Law Guardian in Islington and she was elected which made her one of first five or six women to be elected to this role. This was a job traditionally done by men of property[7] but she was later disqualified. She had identified that she needed to be a rate-payer and to enable this she had her home placed in her name. However the authorities refused her payment for rates which meant that she failed to qualify.[3]

Shearer died in Stoke Newington in 1885 of tuberculosis.[3]

References

1851 England Census
1871 England Census
Jane Martin, ‘Shearer , Helena Paulina (1839x47–1885)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 26 Nov 2017
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915
Elizabeth Crawford (15 April 2013). The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey. Routledge. pp. 67–. ISBN 978-1-136-01062-0.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
Sarah Richardson (5 March 2013). The Political Worlds of Women: Gender and Politics in Nineteenth Century Britain. Routledge. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-1-135-96493-1.

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[1] 1851 England Census

[2] 1871 England Census

[biog-3] Jane Martin, ‘Shearer , Helena Paulina (1839x47–1885)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 26 Nov 2017

[4] Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915

[Crawford2013-5] Elizabeth Crawford (15 April 2013). The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey. Routledge. pp. 67–. ISBN 978-1-136-01062-0.

[6] England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915

[Richardson2013-7] Sarah Richardson (5 March 2013). The Political Worlds of Women: Gender and Politics in Nineteenth Century Britain. Routledge. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-1-135-96493-1.