Ann Lilburn

Ann Lilburn (1939–2007) was a British activist who became a leader in the Women Against Pit Closures movement during the 1984–85 coal miners' strike. She was national chair of the organisation.

Biography

Lilburn was a working-class miner's daughter, miner's wife and the mother of two striking miners, Billy and Alan, from Whittle Colliery in Northumberland.[1][2][3] Her family had £6.45 to live on a week during the strike.[4][5]

Lilburn became active in her local branch of Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC)[1] and was elected chair of both the local branch[5] and the national group.[6][7] Before her involvement in WAPC, she had not spoken publicly.[1][8]

A WAPC rally was at organised at Saltergate Football Stadium in Chesterfield for International Women's Day 1985, where Lilburn spoke alongside fellow activists Betty Heathfiled and Ann Scargill.[9][3]

After the end of the strike, Lilbun joined the Campaign For Coal.[5] She also continued to speak for working-class women, such as at the Women of the World conference in Athens, Greece.[1] Greek newspapers called her "The housewife, Thatcher's nightmare".[5]

Lilburn died in 2007.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Object in Focus: HAWAY THE LASSES - Museums Northumberland". Museums Northumberland. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  2. ^ "Miners' strike at 40: 'They were equal' - The North East women at the coalface of action". ITVX. 5 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b Gildea, Robert (19 September 2023). Backbone of the Nation: Mining Communities and the Great Strike of 1984-85. Yale University Press. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-300-27456-1.
  4. ^ Stead, Jean (1987). Never the Same Again: Women and the Miners' Strike, 1984-85. Women's Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-7043-3983-5.
  5. ^ a b c d Addy, Beverley (11 March 2004). "'I made our voice heard'". The Journal (Newcastle). Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  6. ^ "Miners' strike: 'Women felt empowered all of a sudden'". BBC. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  7. ^ "'They called us Scargill's slags'". The Northern Echo. 22 March 2004. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  8. ^ Women of the Whole World. Women's International Democratic Federation. 1985. p. 42.
  9. ^ Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, Florence; Thomlinson, Natalie (5 September 2023). Women and the Miners' Strike, 1984-1985. Oxford University Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-19-265482-3.
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