{"id":5411,"date":"2023-03-26T15:18:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T14:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/harrogate\/?p=5411"},"modified":"2023-03-26T15:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T14:30:58","slug":"forgotten-women-alderman-mary-fisher-mbe-jp-1884-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/harrogate\/2023\/03\/26\/forgotten-women-alderman-mary-fisher-mbe-jp-1884-1972\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Women – Alderman Mary Fisher MBE JP 1884-1972"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this year’s International Women’s Day<\/a> the \u00a0Club celebrated the lives of local Women who were trail blazers. This included our First Club President Dr Kathleen Rutherford<\/a>\u00a0and Dr Laura Veale<\/a> the First Woman from Yorkshire to qualify as a Doctor. \u00a0We also celebrated the life of Alderman Mary Fisher, the First woman to become \u00a0Mayor of Harrogate in 1949. \u00a0Dr Kathleen and Dr Laura are both celebrated with Harrogate Civic Society<\/a> plaques. Mary Fisher has a local Care Home named after her. Though the death of this ‘much beloved’ woman made \u00a0front page news in the local papers \u00a0in 1972 she is now all but forgotten.<\/p>\n

MARY FISHER \u00a0MBE JP<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Who was Mary Fisher MBE JP?<\/h3>\n

It was pure chance, whilst waiting for a funeral of a Club member that Club President Val noticed a grave at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate. She \u00a0had never heard of Mary Fisher, this woman, \u00a0whose grave cited \u00a0was the first Lady Mayor of Harrogate, an Alderman, \u00a0Justice of the Peace and Member of the British Empire. Further enquiries revealed \u00a0a Care Home for people with Dementia named after her in Cold Bath Road. Information of the \u00a0Care Home’s website stated that the \u00a0then Councillor Fisher and other Councillors had founded the home in 1946.<\/p>\n

But who was she? –\u00a0 this first Lady Mayor and when was she the Mayor?<\/p>\n

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Google searches revealed a photo of her being presented to the then Princess Elizabeth at the Majestic Hotel in July 1949 when she was the Mayor. \u00a0This was the only information on Google directly about her. \u00a0To find out more about who she was and what she achived required further research.<\/p>\n

Ancestry.co.uk – \u00a0Facts and Figures<\/h3>\n

Where to start – \u00a0Ancestry.co.uk helped provide some of \u00a0the answers. The gravestone provided her name, year of birth and death and also that of her husband – though no indication of her maiden name.<\/p>\n

Mary is the daughter of Swiers and Jane Stott. She was born on 6th June 1884 in the village of \u00a0Kirby Hill, just north of \u00a0Boroughbridge.\u00a0 She had two brothers and two sisters. \u00a0By 1901 the \u00a0family had moved to Harrogate and lived just off Skipton Road in Grove Park Walk. Her father\u2019s occupation was a Gardener. \u00a0She married Frank Fisher in 1913. Frank was a butcher with a shop was on Commercial Street in Harrogate. \u00a0They lived near the shop on Mount Parade. \u00a0Mary and Frank had two children Arthur and Clara, she was widowed in 1938. She then ran the butchers shop with her son Arthur. Sadly, both her son and daughter died in the 1960s.\u00a0 She had 5 grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Mary died in 1972. She was living with her son and his wife on 20 Ripon Road at the time of her death<\/p>\n

These are bare facts but what of the woman herself.<\/p>\n

National Newspaper Archive – \u00a0Girl Guides, the Bench and Politics<\/h3>\n

Searching the National Newspaper Archives revealed that she was instrumental in bringing the Girl Guide movement to Harrogate in the late 1920s and was very involved in Community life. In 1939, a year after her husband’s death she was appointed to the Magistrates’ bench in Harrogate and became a Justice of the Juvenile Court in 1943. This was the year she was also elected as Coucillor for the West Ward in Harrogate. The beginning of her political life.<\/p>\n

Post World War Two Era<\/h3>\n

During her time as Mayor, she attended many functions including welcoming 20 Austrian children and meeting and being interviewed by Richard Dimbleby for the radio programme \u2018Down your Way.<\/p>\n

It is interesting though how patronizing the local papers were in reporting her activities.\u00a0\u00a0 Indeed, the Institute of Journalist, whist at Conference in Harrogate, described her and the Mayoress thus, The grey-haired, spectacled Mayor (Mrs. Mary Fisher) and her niece, the chubby-faced Mayoress (Mrs. Kathleen Mary Niner), became great favourites with the conference. They were personifications of a homely Yorkshire welcome. A London delegate described them as a ” couple of dears.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A visit to Harrogate Library<\/h3>\n

A visit to Harrogate \u00a0Library’s microfiche collection of the local papers revealed much more information about her year in office as the Mayor in 1949 and \u00a0her obituary. This \u00a0included photos. So, at last, a photo of Mary in all her Mayor Regalia.<\/p>\n

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Cllr Mary Fisher, Mayor of Harrogate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her death on the 28th of<\/sup>February 1972 \u00a0made the front page of the Harrogate Herald.<\/p>\n

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Front Page Obituary marks the death of Mary Fisher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her obitury revealed that she was:<\/p>\n