Anderson, Lily

Anderson, Lily (1922–82), social campaigner and communist, joined the Communist Party in 1942 and served for many years on its subcommittees for social services, education, and women. She was best known as a campaigner for better nursery facilities in Belfast during the 1960s. Her children attended the Frederick Street nursery school. This was connected with the Mothers’ Club, which played an instrumental role in the formation of the Nursery Mothers’ Action Campaign of 1964–6. As chairman of the Mothers’ Club, Anderson played a significant part in this campaign, condemning the closure of nurseries which had first opened during the second world war. She argued that, by the 1947 Education Act, nursery facilities should be provided where required, and she criticised the attitude that nurseries were ‘for lazy mothers’. This resulted in the opening of nurseries at the Victoria Barrack Estate and New Lodge in Belfast. Anderson was an active campaigner in Belfast peace movements. She was married to Theo Anderson, with whom she had seven children. She died in a motor accident in Bulgaria in August 1982.