Personalities > Susan Francis-Wilkes
Susan Francis-Wilkes
Susan Francis (1877-1946), midwife and political activist, was born in Brisbane, fifth child of William Radford, labourer, and his wife Selina. In 1897 she married Arthur Rawlins, known as ‘Francis’, a widower and a seaman. About 1911 Susan came to Sydney with the two surviving of their three children, then assumed the name ‘Tarrant’ while living at Ultimo.
From the 1920s ‘Nurse’ Francis advertised her services as a midwife and attended many births in Pyrmont, Ultimo, Redfern and Waterloo - often without payment. Legislation in 1924 required nurses to be registered. She was reported for operating as an unregistered midwife and was the subject of two inquiries before the Nurses' Registration Board, which did not result in prosecution. She continued to describe herself as a nurse.
Francis was active in the Pyrmont branch of the ALP until 1926, then joined the Bondi branch. She was president and then secretary of the Labor Women's Organising Committee. She was one of three NSW delegates to the Interstate Women's Conference, 1930, and president of the Blind Workers' Union. Francis stood for Waverley Municipal Council as a (J. T.) Lang Labor candidate in 1932. In early 1931 she had been appointed as an employment relief inspector, raising parliamentary scrutiny of her bona fides. Francis had been convicted for witnessing false enrolment cards in Bondi before the 1930 election.
During the Depression Francis was secretary of a Labor women's committee that raised money to set up the Hostel for Homeless Women and Girls, which opened in October 1931. The committee ran the hostel for forty unemployed females. In 1935 Francis became matron of a hostel for women and girls at 45 Argyle Street.
Plump and short, Nurse Francis was much loved in the labour movement. When she announced in 1936 her forthcoming (second) marriage, a committee organised a huge function in Mark Foy's Empress Rooms. Tributes were paid to her work during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 and her tireless help for the poor. There was even a pause at that year's party conference to allow Lang to make a presentation to her. Aged 52, she married 44-year-old John Laurence Wilkes. From then on she was known as Nurse Francis-Wilkes.
Francis-Wilkes was secretary of the Darling Harbour Labor Party branch when she died.
