Glencross, Eleanor (1876 - 1950)

Eleanor Glencross was the second woman to stand for the Victorian Parliament. She unsuccessfully contested the seat of Brighton in 1928 as an Independent Nationalist. She had previously stood for the Federal seat of Henty in 1922 and in 1943 the seat of Martin. A former general secretary, chief speaker and organizer of the Australian Women’s National League in 1920 Glencross became president of the Housewives’ Association of Victoria. In 1923 she became president of the Federated Housewives Association of Australia. During World War II she was prominent in patriotic activities as a member of the State advisory committee of the Commonwealth prices commissioner, the council of the Lord Mayor’s Patriotic and War Fund and of the executive of the Women’s Voluntary National Register.

• Cameron, Eleanor (maiden name, 11 November 1876 - 2 May 1950)

Chronology

1911 - 1912	General secretary, chief speaker and organizer of the Australian Women's National League
1912 - 1913	Worked for the People's Liberal Party
1913	Returned to Sydney
1913	Women's organizer for the Liberal Association of New South Wales
14 March 1917	Married grazier Andrew Glencross (d. 1930)
1918 - 1928	Executive member of the National Council of Women of Victoria
1920	President of the Housewives' Association of Victoria
1922	Stood as an Independent for the Federal seat of Henty
1922	Encouraged the formation of the Victorian Women Citizens' Movement
1923	Served on the Victorian royal commission on the high cost of living
1923	President of the Federated Housewives' Association of Australia
1927	One of the first female justices of the peace appointed in Victoria
1927 - 1928	President of the National Council of Women of Victoria
1928	One of three women members of the Council of British Empire Exhibition, Melbourne
1928	Presided at the only Melbourne Women's Citizens' Function to entertain the Duchess of York
1928	Stood as an Independent for the Victorian seat of Brighton
December 1928	Appointed to the Commonwealth Film Censorship Board
December 1928	Returned to Sydney
1931	Joined the staff of the National Association of New South Wales
1938	Salaried chairwoman of directors of the Housewives' Association of New South Wales
1943	Stood as an Independent for the Federal seat of Martin

Member

• The Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria (1885 - )
• Women's Voluntary National Register, New South Wales (1939 - 1940)

Membership

• National Council of Women of Victoria (1902 - )

  Executive member

  [1918 - 1928]

Presided

• Australian Women's National League (1904 - )

  [1922 - 1927]

• Housewives Association of Victoria (1915 - )

  [1920 - ]

• National Council of Women of Victoria (1902 - )

  [1927 - 1928]

Book Sections

• Foley, Meredith, 'Glencross, Eleanor (1876 - 1950)', in Nairn, Bede and Serle, Geoffrey (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic., 1983, pp. 27-28. [ Details... ]

See also

• Alexander, Joseph A (ed.), Who's who in Australia 1944, 12 edn, The Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, 1944, 906 pp. [ Details... ]
• Fitzherbert, Margaret, Liberal women : Federation to 1949, Federation Press, Sydney, 2004, 224 pp. [ Details... ]
• Lake, Marilyn and Kelly, Farley (eds), Double Time: Women in Victoria - 150 Years, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood (Vic.), 1985, 476 pp. [ Details... ]
• Oldfield, Robert, The Early years of the Housewives Association of Victoria, 1915-1930, Monash University, 1989. [ Details... ]
• Smart, Judith, 'A Mission to the Home: The Housewives Association, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Protestant Christianity, 1920-1940', Australian Feminist Studies, vol. 13 no. 28, October 1998, 1998, pp. 215-234. [ Details... ]