Leonora Emma ('Leo') Lloyd (1902-1983) stenographer, trade union and Labor party official
Birth: 12 December 1902 at Leyton, Essex, England, daughter of Maurice Edward Lloyd (1877-1948], cabinet-maker, and Emma, née Lambert (1878-1964), nurse. Unmarried. Death: 27 August 1983 at Fitzroy, usual residence for Auburn Grove, East Hawthorn.
- Arrived with parents and her sister in Australia about 1913.
- Joined Federal Clerks Union (FCU) in 1927, working in clerical positions, at that time Metropolitan Gas Company, later Dunlop Rubber and Burns Philp where she worked until 1938, giving up her job to protect position of young married man with family.
- Lived with her parents at Auburn, Melbourne, from about 1931. Joined Australian Labor Party in 1934. Was an executive member of Hawthorn branch, later secretary of Camberwell branch.
- From 1938 to 1969 she worked in office of Cold Storage Union.
- FCU executive member from 1938 to 1940. In 1953 led strike of female workers at Trades Hall who had been denied access to toilet facilities by Stout, Trades Hall Council secretary.
- Became prominent Grouper activist, particularly within FCU from early 1950s. Member of FCU Victorian State Branch Council from 1951. Victorian State vice president of the FCU from 1957 to 1973.
- Was endorsed as ALP candidate for East Yarra in June 1954. In 1955 was expelled from ALP (three times in one week). Stood as an Anti-Communist Labor candidate in elections for East Yarra in the Legislative Council in June 1955 and the Federal seat of Chisholm in November 1955.
- In 1962 was Victorian State president of the Australian Democratic Labor Party (DLP) – the first woman to be a State president of a political party in Australia. In October 1976 was made honorary member FCU.
- Appointed Justice of the Peace in August 1954 and was a member of the Honorary Justices Association. A member of Council for Adult Education.
- In later life she resided with her younger sister and brother-in-law in their parental house at Auburn.
- Cause of death: acute myocardial infarction (1 day), coronary atherosclerosis (years) and left deep venous thrombosis (1 day).
Sources
Labor, November 1954; Merrifield papers, State Library of Victoria; The Clerk, April 1970, August 1973; August 1978; September-October 1983.
Citation details
'Lloyd, Leonora (1902–1983)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/lloyd-leonora-34282/text43010, accessed 1 September 2024.