Legacy
The Times nostalgically describes Wilkinson as "a passionate, intelligent old-school socialist", She is remembered as "one of the leaders of the Jarrow March and among the best known pioneer women MPs". On her death the Times Educational Supplement said: "Ellen Wilkinson illustrated not unfairly in her political career, which was her life, the broad evolution of Labour views and attitudes over the past quarter century".
According to The Independent, "She was not the only significant Labour woman MP at that time – Edith Summerskill, the scourge of the boxing fraternity, Bessie Braddock, that larger-than-life Liverpudlian, such compassionate personalities as Peggy Herbison and Alice Bacon – but no one else quite spelt out the grievances of her people with Red Ellen's power and charisma." Her feminism and concern for social justice inspired others to similar political activity.
Two schools in England still bear her name, but Ellen Wilkinson High School in Ardwick, Manchester was merged with Spurley Hey to form Cedar Mount in 2000. A Humanities building at the University of Manchester has been renamed in her honour. A block of flats in Bethnal Green, East London is named Ellen Wilkinson House and was built in 1949.
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)