Ann Wigglesworth
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21 March 1939
Ann Wigglesworth | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ann Livesley 21 March 1939 |
| Died | 24 September 2022 (aged 83) |
| Education | Girton College Cambridge |
| Known for | Fair trade and social justice leadership, and education in Scotland and India |
| Awards | Aberdeen Woman of the Year, 1985 |
Ann Wigglesworth (21 March 1939 – 24 September 2022) fair trade pioneer, educator and Aberdeen Woman of the Year 1985.[1]
Born Ann Livesley on 21 March 1939, in Wallasey, Merseyside.[2] Her parents were Cliff and Mary Livesley, and she had a younger brother, John.[3] She went to Oldershaw School and was studious, sporty and became one of the first Queen's Guides in that area.[3] She studied zoology at Girton College, Cambridge University, graduating in 1961.[1]
Wigglesworth was later to become a science teacher at four senior schools in the city of Aberdeen: Aberdeen Grammar School, Hazlehead Academy, Northfield Academy, Torry Academy.[1][3]
Work and volunteering
Following the Second World War, Ann Livesley spent a year working in a refugee camp in Austria.[1] In 1958, as she was going to a Christian study camp on the Isle of Raasay, she met her future husband, Reverend Chris Wigglesworth, who later became an OBE. They married in 1962, and lived in Huddersfield where they both taught in the local schools[4] and had a daughter, Judith. In 1964, the Wigglesworths moved to Edinburgh, where her husband studied for Christian ministry, and they hosted international students regularly. Wigglesworth worked for the 'cutting edge' Traverse Theatre.[5][3]
The Wigglesworths went to India, when Chris Wigglesworth was sent to Maharashtra, a Church of Scotland mission to develop hydro-engineering facilities for irrigation using his skills to develop a hand-pump still in use today (India Mark II).[4] Their son John was born there. Ann Wigglesworth opened a Montessori school and volunteered with slum dwellers in Bombay (Mumbai),[1] when her husband was minister at the Scots Kirk.[4] She helped local women to use their skills to create a craft business that could generate a regular income, a method later known as fair trade.[6]
In 1979, on returning to Scotland, Wigglesworth was in Aberdeen, teaching again in local secondary schools.[1] She had another two daughters, Karen and Sara.[1] With her husband's active role as a Labour councillor, as well as university lecturer, she was involved in the Labour and social justice movements,[3] and hosted leading anti-apartheid campaigners such as Adelaide Tambo and Desmond Tutu.[4]