Florence Barry

Florence Barry was a British suffragist, member of the Women's Social and Political Union and leader of the Roman Catholic feminist organisation St. Joan's International Alliance.

Early life

Barry was born in 1885 in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Her father Zacharie Balthazar Barry was a Persian immigrant who had been born in Smyrna, became a naturalised British subject and worked as a fruit merchant. Her mother Frances Jane Barry was a charity worker of Austrian heritage, who worked for the poor.

Education

Barry was educated at the Faithful Companions of Jesus Convent School for Young Ladies, Upton, Cheshire, and the English Convent at Bruges, Belgium, before attending the Liverpool University School of Social Sciences.

Activism

Barry became active in the women's suffrage movement, and joined the WSPU. In 1912, she became a member of the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society, later known as the St. Joan's International Alliance, and was appointed the honorary secretary of the Liverpool branch. She held this post for fifty years. Also in 1912, she attended the Catholic Congress at Norwich. She would argue against ideas that politics and religion shared no common ground, stating that "in the Church we have the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, so surely we should have political works of mercy too."
By 1915, Barry had been appointed to the CWSS National Executive Committee. In 1927, Barry was amongst the signers of a letter to The Times newspaper supporting the vote for women over the age of 21.
Barry also liaised with international Catholic organisations and women's rights activists on other issues, such as communicating with the Trusteeship Council in support of questions they added to a questionnaire about the "physical integrity of women," which meant female circumcision. She campaigned against "physical violations" of women.
After being appointed International Secretary of St. Joan's International Alliance, Barry supported the First Secretary of the French Branch, Marie Lenoel, campaigning against prostitution, modern slavery and the slave-trade. She collated evidence which was presented to the Commission Against Slavery and to committees set up by the League of Nations and the British Government.
Pope Pius XII awarded Barry the Pro Ecclesia ''et Pontifice'' medal in 1951, which is the highest papal honour that women can receive.
She died in February 1965. A requiem mass was held for her at Westminster Cathedral in London.