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Lilian Foxcroft (1885–1969)

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Lilian Foxcroft, née Norbury (1885-1969) community activist 

Birth: 1885 at Preston, Lancashire, daughter of William Ernest Norbury (1861-1915), master house painter, and Sarah Ann Thornley (b. 1862), cotton winder. Marriage: 4 March 1912 in the Register Office at Blackburn, Lancashire, to Gilbert Foxcroft (1891-1962), iron fitter (corn mill) later teacher. They had one daughter and one son. Death: 13 February 1969 at Berriedale, Tasmania. Religion: Quaker. 

  • Was a cotton warper at Blackburn in 1911. By her own account she was also a militant suffragette in England.
  • Arrived with her husband aboard SS Belgic in June 1912. Became a pioneer Perth feminist before World War I. Was associated with the Metropolitan Women’s Labor League by August the following year.
  • Lived in various places in WA where her husband worked as a teacher.
  • In 1913 addressed the Perth Metropolitan Labor League on behalf of Harriet Newcombe and Margaret Hodge, suffragettes from Britain, and campaigned for female equality.
  • Prominent member of Anti-Conscriptionist League in 1916. Convicted under War Precautions Act during World War One, receiving remission of sentence, but still having to pay court costs.
  • In 1929 was member of the central executive of Labour Women.
  • Worked towards establishment of King Edward Maternity Hospital.
  • Moved with her husband to Hobart, Tasmania in 1955.
  • Cause of death: cerebral vascular accident.

Sources
Robin Rosemary Joyce, Women's Labour: women's power? women in Western Australian labour movement from the early 1900s to the Depression, MA thesis, ANU, 1999.

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Citation details

'Foxcroft, Lilian (1885–1969)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/foxcroft-lilian-33857/text42406, accessed 17 March 2025.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Norbury, Lilian
Birth

1885
Preston, Lancashire, England

Death

13 February, 1969 (aged ~ 84)
Berriedale, Tasmania, Australia

Cause of Death

stroke

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

Passenger Ship
Occupation or Descriptor
Key Organisations
Political Activism