Queer Places:
Westholme (now Werneth Park Lifelong Learning Centre), Frederick St, Oldham OL8 1RB, United Kingdom
Oldham Crematorium, Hollinwood Cemetery, Roman Rd, Oldham OL8 3LU, United Kingdom

Marjory Lees (September 9, 1878 - May 11, 1970) was a prominent British suffragist, local politician, and philanthropist who devoted her long life to social reform, municipal governance, and women's rights in Greater Manchester.

Born in Oldham on September 9, 1878, she was raised in a family deeply committed to public service. Her mother was Dame Sarah Anne Buckley Lees, a pioneering figure who served as Oldham’s first female mayor and second female mayor in England. Surrounded by civic leadership from an early age, Marjory naturally aligned herself with the local women's movement, embarking on a career dedicated to political advocacy and public welfare.

Her political and social organizing began in earnest with her work for the National Union of Women Workers, where she served as the honorary secretary for the Oldham branch. Marjory soon expanded her leadership into the campaign for women’s enfranchisement, becoming the president of the Oldham Women's Suffrage Society. Unlike the militant tactics of the suffragettes, Lees advocated through democratic and constitutional non-violent means. A highlight of her suffrage activism occurred in the summer of 1913, when she participated in the historic Suffrage Pilgrimage—a massive nationwide march organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies that saw women from across Britain converge on London to demonstrate peaceful support for the vote. Beside her suffrage work, Lees served as a Poor Law Guardian, directly managing poor relief and advocating for humane conditions for vulnerable members of the local community.

Following the First World War and the partial enfranchisement of women, Lees transitioned into formal elected governance. In 1919, when her mother stepped down from her seat on the Oldham Town Council, Marjory successfully ran for election to fill the vacancy. She represented her constituency on the council for fifteen years, working on local public health, housing, and educational initiatives until her retirement from municipal office in 1934. Two years after stepping down, following her mother's death in 1935, Lees made a landmark philanthropic gift by donating her ancestral family home, Werneth Park, along with its extensive grounds, to the people of Oldham in 1936 to serve as a public park and educational center.

In recent years, modern historians and LGBTQ+ heritage researchers have taken a renewed interest in Marjory Lees, examining her personal network within the broader context of early 20th-century women's activist circles. During the suffrage movement and interwar period, many prominent female activists formed deep, lifelong domestic partnerships, shared households, or close romantic friendships with other women—often referred to as "Boston marriages" or female alliances—which allowed them to remain independent of traditional patriarchal marriage structures. While explicit personal documentation regarding Lees's private life remains sparse by contemporary standards, her lifelong unmarried status, her residence within female-centered social networks, and her active presence in women-led political movements place her alongside many historical women whose lives are studied within LGBTQ+ and queer women's history frameworks today. Marjory Lees lived in Oldham until her death at the age of 91 on May 11, 1970, and was subsequently commemorated at the Oldham Crematorium, leaving behind a lasting legacy of civic reform, public generosity, and female empowerment.

References:

The Women's Suffrage Movement (Women's and Gender History) 1st Edition by Elizabeth Crawford

Other references:

• Oldham Local Studies and Archives (Oldham Council)
• Lees Family Collection (Ref: M90) – Primary archival deposit containing family papers, photographs, correspondence, and estate records, specifically section M90/6 dedicated directly to Marjory Lees.
• Oldham Women’s Suffrage Society Records – Minute books, operational correspondence, and administrative files documenting her presidency from 1910 through 1918.
• Marjory Lees Scrapbook (1919) – A digitized commemorative album compiled by the Oldham Women’s Suffrage Society presenting photographs, press clippings, maps, and ephemera from the 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage and local campaigns.
• The Women’s Library at the London School of Economics (LSE)
• Records of the Oldham Women's Suffrage Society (Ref: 2OWS/2) – Organizational papers and correspondence detailing regional activity under the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
• Wildman, Charlotte. "Lees [née Buckley], Dame Sarah Anne (1842–1935), local politician, philanthropist, and suffragist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press). Includes integrated biographical entries and familial context for Marjory Lees.
• Hollis, Patricia. Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government, 1865–1914 (Oxford University Press, 1987). Covers early female Poor Law Guardians and municipal councillors in Greater Manchester.
• Bateson, Hartley. A Centenary History of Oldham (Oldham Corporation, 1949). Contains photographic portraits and historical overviews of civic leadership by the Lees family.
• Wyke, Terry, and Harry Cocks. Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester (Liverpool University Press, 2004). Records the public monuments, municipal gifts, and civic memorials tied to Werneth Park and the Lees estate.
• A. J. R. (Ed.). The Suffrage Annual and Women's Who's Who (Stanley Paul & Co., 1913). Contemporary directory listing Marjory Lees’s official roles within the NUWSS and local committees.
• The Manchester Guardian – Extensive local reporting on her Poor Law Guardian elections, the 1910 foundation of the Oldham Women's Suffrage Society, her 1919 municipal council win, her 1934 Freedom of the Borough award, and her 1936 donation of Werneth Park.
• The Times (London) – National coverage of suffrage activities, municipal honors, and her obituary notices in mid-May 1970.
• Common Cause – The official publication of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), tracking northern branch activities, caravan tours, and the 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage.
• General Register Office (GRO) for England and Wales – Birth indices (September 1878, Oldham), 1881–1911 Census Return entries for Werneth Park, 1939 Register entries, and official Death Registration records (May 1970).
• The National Archives (UK) – Discovery Catalogue record Lees, Marjory (1878-1970), suffragist (GB/NNA/P/141019).
• Oldham Council Parks & Heritage Services – Public historical documentation regarding Werneth Park's handover to the borough in 1936.

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