People Australia

Susan Francis, 1936

Labor Daily (Sydney), 23 March 1936, p 9

Susan Francis, née Radford, later Wilkes (1877-1946) nurse and political and community activist 

Birth: 14 October 1877 at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland, daughter of English-born parents William John Radford (1847-1919), a labourer, born at Hamilton, Devon, and Sabina Selina, née Stapleton (1852-1930), born at Guernsey, Channel Islands. Marriages (1) 20 February 1897 at Brisbane Queensland, to Arthur Rawlins, known as Arthur Francis (c.1875-1929), a widowed labourer, born at Plymouth, Devon, England. They had a daughter and two sons. (2) 18 April 1936 at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Sydney, to native-born John Laurence Wilkes (1887-1963), labourer. He remarried in 1947. Death: 22 April 1946 in her residence at Argyle Street, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Trained nurse, active in labour circles in Queensland before moving to Sydney.
• Anti-conscriptionist, during Great Strike of 1917, she assisted mothers and wives of strikers. She was similarly active in the 1919 influenza pandemic. Honorary secretary of Hostel for Homeless Woman and Girls, Ultimo.
• Office bearer, holding many positions, in the Pyrmont branch of the Australian Labor Party. Elected to ALP Federal Electorate Council 1925.
• Contested seat of Bondi in the NSW Legislative Assembly election in 1927. Was a candidate in local government elections for Bondi in 1931.
• President and then secretary of the Labor Women's Central Organising Committee. President blind workers organisation in 1931.
• Cause of death: myocardial infarct and diabetes. 

Sources
H. J. Gibbney & A. G.  Smith; Labor Daily, 10 October & 7 November 1924, 24 October 1931; Australian Labor Year Book, 1933 & 1935; Tramway Record, 31 August 1933, 28 September 1933, 26 October 1933, 18 January 1934; information from Sue Tracey 1997.