Noel, Frances

Biography

Frances Noel was born in Saxony, near the Bohemian border, 1873; left home to travel the world, 1893; married Primrose D. Noel and settled in Los Angeles, 1904; vice president, Women's Union Label League, California, 1910, and president, 1914; president, Wage Earner's Suffrage League, 1911; struggled to establish recreational camp for working women, Camp Aliso, 1918; chaired the Conference of Union Women of Southern California, 1921; established Women's Annex, Los Angeles Labor Union Temple, 1922; president, Los Angeles Chapter of the American Birth Control League, 1926; appointed to Executive Board of the Central Labor Council in California, fighting for minimum wage laws and eight hour working days; fought to preserve the Arroyo Seco area in Pasadena, California, 1920s; fought for public transportation improvements; date and circumstances of death unknown.

Biographical Narrative

At an early age, Frances Noel expressed the independent nature and pioneering spirit which were to characterize her struggles and lead to her achievements for the causes of labor and women's rights. Born in Saxony, near the Bohemian border in 1873, she left home at age 20 to see the world. Working variously as a governess, kindergarten teacher and waitress, she travelled to New York, Chicago and Denver where the early fight for woman suffrage in Colorado left a strong impression upon her. Travels also took her to California where, deeply interested in the principles of socialism, she attended meetings of the Socialist Party in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the late 1890s. During several subsequent trips back to the eastern United States and Europe, she continued to make important contacts with other socialist groups and leaders.

In 1904 she returned to Los Angeles to marry Primrose (Primm) D. Noel who became a noted columnist for labor news publications and an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union until his death in 1943. At one point, Primrose D. Noel's career was associated with banking, and was abruptly interrupted due to his wife's socialist activities. He was fired and became an insurance broker, a business taken over by Frances after his death.

As a result of her own office workers union membership and a large and growing concern for the interests of working people, Frances Noel became vice president of the Women's Union Label League in California in 1910, and was in 1914, president of the Women's Trade Union League in Los Angeles. As a proponent of the rights of women workers, she joined the Woman Suffrage Movement and became president of the Wage Earner's Suffrage League in 1911. And as a proponent of their welfare in the fullest sense of the word, she struggled to establish a recreational camp for working women, Camp Aliso, in the San Dimas Canyon, California in 1918.

Eventually, counterproductive political conflicts, which were brewing in the Social Party over alliances with labor, led to Frances Noel's separation from the Socialist Movement. However, in spite of this, and other kinds of factional disputes within the Women's Movement, her career continued to reflect a commitment to the well-being of all working people. She was instrumental in promoting numerous meetings and organizations, effectively unifying people in common cause. Notably, she organized and chaired the Conference of Union Women of Southern California in 1921, and was largely responsible for establishing the Women's Annex to the Los Angeles Labor Union Temple in 1922.

By contributing to the Women's City Club of Los Angeles, she developed the alliance of many women's groups in addition to those which were labor-oriented, and her involvement with the Birth Control Movement was vital. In 1926, she was president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Birth Control League which also administered the health-oriented Mother's Clinic.

Frances Noel's impact as a social reformer was not limited by the concerns of women alone. Expressions of confidence in her were made on the part of many men as she was appointed to a number of forceful organizations, such as the Executive Board of the Central Labor Council in California. There, she was active in legislative concerns, and contributed to creation of the Humane Legislation League in 1911 which fought for minimum wage law and eight hour working days. In varying capacities, she participated in the Los Angeles Industrial Commission, and in 1916 became an active member of California's Social Insurance Commission, concerned with health, unemployment, maternal and retirement plans.

Mrs. Noel's dedication to principles of human welfare was localized within her community as well as expanded to the natural environment. She was a member of the City Council in Los Angeles in 1913 and a committee member associated with the City Planning Commission. Her work to preserve the Arroyo Seco area near her home in Pasadena, California, in the 1920s, was highly commended. She pursued issues pertaining to public ownership of utilities in the Municipal Light and Power Defense League, and became an ardent conservationist in her later years, belonging to such organizations as the Sierra Club and the Save the Redwoods League.

Frances Noel's dedication to public welfare continued to the last years of her life. It was well past her eighieth year when she was organizing her community in Highland Park, California to fight for safer access to public transportation. And, indeed, the Marmion Way bus stop was improved in 1957. The date and circumstances of her death are unknown at this time. It is fitting, though, that the last dated items of correspondence in the Frances Noel Collection pertain to the activities of organizations which are now taken for granted as foundations for the rights of working women.

[Compiled from papers of the Frances Noel Collection (814) and her recollections taped in an interview, 1952 (Collection 100 box 98)]

From the guide to the Frances Noel Papers, ca. 1900-1960, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)