Elizabeth andrews
Elizabeth Andrews was one of the most influential Welsh female political activists of the early 20th century. She was an internationalist, a suffragist and a socialist. One of 11 children born into a poor mining family, Elizabeth dreamed of being a teacher but was forced to leave school at 13 to help her parents make ends meet. This Welsh-speaking dressmaker brought the needs of working-class women into the political arena because she shared their lives and voiced their hopes and fears.
Moving to the Rhondda at the age of 26 proved the catalyst for Elizabeth’s political awakening as she saw the social problems suffered by her community. As the first Labour Party Women’s Organiser for Wales, she set up women’s sections, describing them as “working women’s universities.” One of her earliest tasks was translating leaflets from English to Welsh to urge women to use their newly-won vote. She also became one of Britain’s first female magistrates. She put the needs of women and children at the heart of her campaigns.
Giving evidence in the House of Lords to a Royal Commission on the mining industry in 1919, she spoke powerfully about the impact of the pits on family life. As a miner’s wife she knew how dangerous the industry was for the men but she stressed that women’s lives were at risk too as they coped with overcrowded houses, poor sanitation and the high death rates among their children. She became a leading figure in the campaign for pit head baths, arguing they could help transform women’s lives by removing the relentless dirt brought in by the colliers and the significant danger of lugging heavy tin baths of boiling water from the home. The strain of such heavy lifting had a serious impact on women’s health -particularly during their frequent pregnancies - while many children were scalded by the boiling water. Drying clothes in cramped kitchens also played havoc with children’s health.
Elizabeth spoke alongside two English miners’ wives in the House of Lords. The sight of working class women in these rarefied surroundings caught the attention of the media, as she recalled in her memoir A Woman’s Work is Never Done: “When we arrived in London we were besieged by the Press at the hotel and during the time we were giving evidence we were photographed and a minute description given of our dresses. Many of the personal remarks amused us greatly. They expected us to be overawed at being in the King's Robing Room in the House of Lords where the Commission was held. They also expressed surprise at our calmness when giving evidence. But why would they think we would be daunted? We had something very important and serious to tell them about women suffering and dying and how the baths would take away the arduous toil they were engaged in.” Very important indeed. And Elizabeth’s campaign made an impact. Pit head baths were made compulsory in 1924. Elizabeth was at the heart of relief efforts during the miners’ lock-out following the General Strike in 1926 and the hungry years of the Depression in the 1930s.
And in these pre-NHS times Elizabeth also turned her attention to improving maternity and childcare, establishing a service of clinics, midwives, home helps and one of the earliest nursery schools in Wales. Raising such “domestic” issues in the male-dominated world of Welsh local government at the time was often unpopular but Elizabeth never wavered in her commitment to the politics of the home front. Her motto was “Educate, Agitate, Organise”. And to the generations of women she helped and inspired she was simply known as Our Elizabeth.
To listen to a podcast by Carolyn Hitt telling the story of Elizabeth Andrews, click here.
To here Elizabeth herself give evidence to the House of Lords, listen here to a programme made by Glenys Kinnock for International Women's day.
The Statue
The statue of Elizabeth Andrews was created by Sculptor Billie Bond. Born in Northumberland in 1965, Billie Bond grew up in Essex and now lives in Suffolk. An early career in nursing gave her an appreciation of human anatomy, which she considers sensitively in her figurative representations.
Billie gained an MA in Sculptural Practice 2016 and a 1st class Honours Degree in 3D Design 2011 at Colchester School of Art. She was also awarded a research residency at the Henry Moore Institute Leeds and in 2018 was selected to be a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.
Billie won the Pure Arts Sculpture Prize in 2013, with the winning piece A Link With The Past being exhibited in a curated space at Saatchi Gallery, London as part of the Strarta art fair. The work is now part of the Birth Rites collection residing at Kings College, London.
In 2009 Billie sculpted her sister, who has Downs Syndrome, on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Anthony Gormley’s One & Other highlighting the importance of art for everyone.
The unveiling ceremony for the statue of Elizabeth Andrews took place on Thursday, 25 June at 11am at Rhondda Heritage Park Museum, Lewis Merthyr Colliery, Coed Cae Road, Trehafod, Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff, CF37 2NP.
We are delighted to have finally unveiledl our fifth and final statue of a real Welsh woman. Elizabeth Andrews’ tireless work for her community - and for working families everywhere - continues to be seen in a tangible way today. We hope that highlighting her legacy, and the legacies of all five women honoured by the Monumental Welsh Women campaign will act as an inspiration to women and girls throughout Wales. Now Wales has five statues telling the stories of these wonderful women who stand as an example to everyone of what can be achieved when women use their voices to speak up for change.
Sculptor Billie Bond said,
“I feel very honoured to have been part of this remarkable project, creating the fifth and final statue for Welsh Monumental Women. It was important to me not only to portray Elizabeth Andrews OBE as the strong, determined woman she was, but also to tell the story of some of her most significant achievements in improving the lives of mining communities. Her campaign for compulsory pithead baths and her dedication to supporting children during the 1926 miners’ lockout were particularly important aspects of the narrative I wanted the sculpture to convey.
“It was also a pleasure to involve the local Hirwaun sewing group in the design. I hope this serves as a fitting tribute to Elizabeth Andrews’ legacy and an inspiration to future generations of women in Wales.”
Depicted standing, papers in hand on an upturned tin-bath, the statue provides a visual narrative of a campaigner who placed improving the lives of working families at the heart of her work.
Her motto was “Educate, Agitate, Organise”, included in the statue as hand stitched lettering on the front of the tin bath. Symbolising the craftivism of women’s groups, the intricate details and domestic textures associated with campaign banners from the Suffragettes to Greenham Common and beyond. The banner itself is modelled on hand stitched lettering made by The ‘Dare to Stitch’ sewing group, a local community craft collective based in Hirwaun, near Aberdare. It is also a nod to Elizabeth’s time as a dressmaker.
A young girl sits at the edge of the tin bath, representing the children helped by Elizabeth Andrews during the turbulent times of the 1926 miners’ lockout, where families struggled to put food on the table. She helped to organise a relief campaign to ease that intense financial pressure by sending children from mining communities to be temporarily housed with volunteer families.
The girl in the statue is Rhona Allen, who was born to a large mining family in Llwynypia, Rhondda. During the General Strike, Rhona, then aged six, was fostered to a wealthy family in England for several months. She was the aunt of journalist and broadcaster Carolyn Hitt, also a founder member of Monumental Welsh Women.
Carolyn Hitt said,
“Billie Bond was particularly drawn to the story of the miners’ children being looked after through the General Strike and asked our Monumental Welsh Women group if we knew of anyone whose ancestors were involved as she would love to have a real child in mind when creating the statue - by fortunate coincidence she didn’t have to look too far.
“It’s emotional enough to think we have completed our mission of five statues of Welsh women in five years but to have this personal connection to our final statue through the figure of the little girl with Elizabeth is just so special. My aunt died 30 years ago but she will now live on as a reminder of the hardship previous generations endured in the mining valleys of South Wales and how Elizabeth Andrews fought so passionately for their welfare.”
The unveiling event included performances from Hirwaun School Choir, and a choir made up of members of Côr Cwm Rhondda and Côr Cwm Cynon and a reading of a poem by the National Poet of Wales, Hanan Issa, specially commissioned by Literature Wales which you can read below.
The statue was unveiled by members of Elizabeth Andrews’ family including her great-great-niece Melinda Hawthorne and her great-niece Maura High, who travelled from her home in the United States for the event. During her visit with her daughter and granddaughter, Rhondda-born Maura was eager to practise the Welsh she has been learning online since the pandemic with Learn Welsh Cardiff, run by Cardiff University on behalf of the National Centre for Learning Welsh.
"Write, Mend, Build'
A poem by Hanan Issa, National Poet of Wales
Commissioned by Literature Wales
'There is no room for hubris in her. Memories may erode
but she does not force her footprints into the sand.
She knows her stone feet were not meant to last.
Her mark was made in a different way -
Acts of care ripple over time, etching
into both soil and sea. Her legacy is not lost when the wind blows.
No, it spreads. Constellating across new minds
alive with that same coiled kindness.
She is memory embalmed: in a soot-covered child’s exhausted sigh,
or the careful sounds of a woman reading her name aloud.
That legacy canopies. It is a safe shade that time dapples through
onto those glancing back before taking a step.
Girls unfurling, dream of winning a marathon,
women whisper their band’s name into a pillow at night.
Maybe others cut hair, lead the charge, chart the stars, write, mend, build?
Within us we carry all of what was and what will.
But, always, we must live bright and care loudly.
For that is how the stars mark the passing of time.
They watch, giving names to radiant shimmers in the dark -
Betty, Cranogwen, Elaine, Margaret, Elizabeth. '
Elizabeth has inspired another poet to contribute to her legacy. This poem was sent to us by Philip Dunn
The Hirwaun Seamstress: Elizabeth Andrews
"No revelation then, nor even news:
the half-clothed miner kneeling at the tub
and blackened to the eyes, the worn-out wife
who takes the flannel to his sacred back
then to her sons’ … her thwacking of the clothes
against the back yard wall close by the tap,
and “endless dirt” depleting families.
Who’d stain the Lords’ stark Robing Room with this?
Her testament and gains were valleys-wide:
the pit-head baths; the steaming, glorious showers;
the prize – the Clean and Dirty locker rooms.
The Mardy men, they called her ‘Our Elizabeth’,
the dearer still for their infants’ nurseries –
between two wars, these home-front victories."
© Philip Dunn, 2026
