Amy Williams was born in Ferndale Street, Burnley, on 31 December 1895. Her father William Henry Williams was a Welshman, born in 1874 in Monmouth, and her mother Emma was born in 1875 in Burnley.
By 1911, at the age of 15, she was working as a cotton loom weaver, and her experiences as a worker informed her later strong interest in workers’ rights, and inspired her to seek ways of changing the world, especially the world as it was for working class people..
On 11 November 1915 she married Herbert Hargreaves, and they had three children, Norah, John and Frank.
Amy became very active in the local Communist party during the 1920s, 30s and 40s, and was a leading light in local activities, giving many public talks both locally and elsewhere. In 1922, she went to Russia as a Communist Representative of workers to attend a Conference – ‘Workers of the World Unite’. At that time, Communism was seen as the way that workers would achieve justice and fair wages for their labour. Amy was a fiery activist, wholeheartedly pursuing her goal of bettering the lot of the working classes. In 1931 she was arrested and fined for participating in a local demonstration near Queen’s Mill, Harle Syke, Burnley, but this did not discourage her.
However, some time after the loss of her youngest son Frank, who was killed in action in 1943, she started to attend a Spiritualist church, but in the longer term she found herself unable to sustain a belief that could help her come to terms with the loss.
Amy became Baha’i in 1961. Early in 1962, she made the epic journey to Haifa, Israel, to visit the World Centre of the Baha’i Faith This was reported fully in the Burnley Express. She was an enthusiastic member of the Baha’i Community in Burnley and was always eager to share her belief.
As a Baha’I, she spoke at numerous local and public meetings with great enthusiasm, and was an inspiring and energetic role-model for the local community, until her failing health in her late 80’s prevented her from doing more. Amy died in 1988, aged 92, in Bank Hall Nursing Home, Burnley.
In a 1968 recorded interview, she tells,in her own words, the story of how she came to be Baha’i.
| The Times, Thursday, Oct 15, 1931; pg. 4 WOMAN COMMUNIST FINED AMY HARGREAVES, 34 married, an unemployed weaver, of Burnley, and well know Communist, was charged at Burnley on Monday with assaulting Police sergeant Heap, and also with disorderly conduct in the vicinity of Queen’s Mill, Burnley, on Friday night. It was stated by the police that after four warnings the crowd, led by Hargreaves, attempted to break through a cordon. She was carrying a board and she struck a sergeant on the helmet. Hargreaves was convicted on both charges. For assault on the sergeant she was fined £5 and ordered to pay special costs, with the alternative of two months imprisonment in default: and for disorderly behaviour 20s. with the alternative of 14 days imprisonment. Hargreaves said the money would be paid. |