Winifred Mary Fowler

Mayor of Bedford 1971

Winifred Mary Fowler was the first woman to become Mayor of Bedford. Winifred Mary Hull was born in Queens Park, Bedford in 1914 and was educated at Queens Park School and then Dame Alice Harpur School. She left school at the age of fourteen and went to work at the Post Office as a sorting, counter and telegraphist clerk. While working in the Post Office she met her future husband Ronald Fowler; they married in 1937. They set up home in Luton where he was working for Electrolux. She founded the Challney Townswomen’s Guild and in the late 1950s as Social Studies Chairman of the Luton Group of Townswomen’s Guilds she ran a campaign to improve the state of Luton’s public conveniences.

In 1961 the Fowlers moved back to Bedford and Winifred became involved in local politics. She became a Borough Councillor in 1966 and Mayor in 1971. Her husband died during her term in office and she was often accompanied at engagements by her sons. In 1973 she was co-opted onto Bedfordshire County Council as councillor for Castle Ward, and served on the social services, leisure and personnel committees before her time as a councillor ended in 1981. She continued to serve on many committees and as a school governor. She was involved with Sight Concern, Bedford, the Lovell Homes, Oakley, and Bedford Association for the Disabled, and in 1992 received a chairman’s gold medal for services to Macmillan Cancer Relief. Winifred Fowler died in 2001.