Ann Ellis

Ann Ellis born Ann Waite (28 June 1843 – 8 September 1919) was an English power loom weaver and a trade union leader. She became the main person in a new textile union that led a successful three-month strike that was notably led by women in 1875.

Life Ellis was born in 1843 in Guiseley in Yorkshire. She was one of several children born to Hannah Whalley (born Sladen) and a clothier named Samuel Waite. She was their third child and she was baptised and schooled in Guiseley. At some point the Waite family moved to Batley and she went to work as a power-loom weaver.

In January 1875 owners of the shoddy mills in Batley proposed to reduce the workers' wages. Ann strongly opposed this proposed wage cut and on the 13 February 1875 stood on a platform facing a crowd of 9,000 who gathered to hear her speak near Spinkwell Mills in Dewsbury. Ann was quoted in the local Huddersfield Examiner saying the owners could stand to reduce profits, but the workers could not live on less to eat. Ellis was the committee's treasurer and Hannah Woods was the president. The secretary was Kate Conran.