Teresa Hooley

Teresa Hooley in WLA Uniform. Source: Derby Telegraph

General Information

First Name(s): Teresea

Unmarried Surname: Hooley

Married Surname: Butler

Place of Birth: Derbyshire (?)

Employment

County: Derbyshire

Life After War

Information from Philip Dalling in the Derby Telegraph.

• “After the First World War, Teresa found the housing and working conditions of the agricultural workers in West Somerset to be, in her own words, “medieval”. She was genuinely shocked by the conditions she found behind the “chocolate box” facades of many of the thatched, white-washed cottages of the region. She campaigned vigorously for better housing and wages, infuriating local landowners. On one occasion, a local worthy, formerly a colonel in the Indian army, accused her of being a “class traitor” and threatened to horsewhip her.
• After a “disastrous” marriage to Frank Butler, she returned to Derbyshire with her only son. She established an independent life, becoming well known as a best-selling poet, making her name with a poetry column in the Daily Mirror, which she shared with fellow Derbyshire woman Edith Sitwell.”

For more information on Teresa’s life after her time in the WLA, please click here to read a longer article on the family.