Dawson was born in
Peckham, she became a
pupil-teacher in
Camberwell before qualifying as a teacher at
Saffron Walden Training College. She campaigned for
women's suffrage, joining the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and taking part in a boycott of the
1911 UK census. In 1913, Dawson became a
head teacher. She was also heavily involved in the
National Union of Women Teachers (NUWT); a founder member, she was its vice-president in 1918, and its president in 1919/20, leading campaigns for
equal pay and for
married women to be allowed to teach. but won
Camberwell North in 1925, and quit teaching to become a full-time politician. She was re-elected in 1928 and 1931, becoming
senior whip of the Labour group on the council in 1929, then vice-chair in 1931. In 1934, Dawson was again re-elected to the council, for the first time with a Labour majority. She became chair of its Finance and General Purposes Subcommittee. She also persuaded
Herbert Morrison to lift the ban on married women teachers in London. In 1937, she stood down from the council, cut her links with the union, and moved to
Newport, Essex, with her long-term companion, Anne Munns, who she described as her "pal and partner". Dawson served as a
magistrate and stood for the
parish council. Munns died in 1952, and Dawson died the following year. ==References==