Saidie Patterson

Saidie Patterson MBE (25 November 1906 – 16 January 1985) was a feminist, trade unionist and peace activist in Northern Ireland.

Early life Saidie Patterson was born Sarah McKinley Moore on 25 November 1906 in Belfast. Her parents were Sarah and William Patterson. Her father was a blacksmith for Harland and Wolff. Saidie's father died when she was six years of age. Her family were Methodists. She was the eldest of three children. Saidie's mother remarried and her new husband had five children. Saidie received a general education at Woodvale National School but was frequently absent as she was needed at home to assist with childcare. Saidie's mother died in childbirth in 1918, leaving Saidie to shoulder the burden of looking after her siblings, as her step-father was suffering from a debilitating mental illness. Despite many local men opposing female union activism, Patterson garnered the support of two powerful union members: an Englishman, Ernest Bevin and Belfast's Bob Getgood Patterson pushed for a female membership of one-hundred per cent of the workforce, and for support from male members.

In February 1940 Patterson led 2,000 women on a strike that lasted seven weeks. As a result of the strike, they achieved better working conditions, and a thirty-three per cent pay rise, in addition to paid holidays. Patterson began working full time as head of the textile branch of the Transport and General Workers' Union, where she had a special responsibility for women, a position she was to hold for twenty years. She developed a close working relationship with Bob Getgood and made new connections such as with William Walker. Her increased influence led to meetings with Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee.

Patterson's commitment to the labour movement was rewarded in 1950 by her appointment as treasurer to the NILP, and in 1956 she was appointed as Chairperson. Her campaigning contributed to the resurgence of the NILP in Ulster throughout the 1950s. Despite her best efforts to promote the non-sectarian party, NILP's influence decreased steadily throughout the 1960s. Patterson retired from the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1960 when she was to concentrate on Moral Re-armament.

Early in the 1970s Patterson joined Women Together, a peace group who supported working-class women who were facing financial hardship and sectarian strife. By the spring of 1972 Patterson had become the chairperson of Women Together.

She was also an active member of the Girls Club Union for fifty years, where she organised classes and short breaks for underprivileged women and children. The Women's International League for Peace named her one of the 50 most distinguished women of 1975. In 1977 Patterson became the first recipient of the World Methodist Peace Award. Patterson was at the reception for this award in Geneva when she received the news that her nephew had been murdered by the PIRA. In the same year she received the Joseph Parker Peace Prize. Patterson also gained an honorary Master's degree from the Open University in 1977.

Death and legacy Patterson died in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast on 16 January 1985 aged 78. Patterson was unmarried and had no children. Patterson is commemorated with a blue plaque on the Shankill Road Methodist Church in Belfast, unveiled by the Ulster History Circle on International Women's Day 2018.

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