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Jessie Eden (1902-1986) was a prominent figure in the UK labour movement and the Communist Party of Great Britain. She led several strikes, including the 1931 Birmingham women's strike, and travelled to the Soviet Union to help build the Moscow Metro.
- Character History
- Real Life
- Relationships
- Quotes
Background
Jessie was born Jessie Shrimpton on February 24, 1902 at 61 Talbot Street in Winson Green. After WWI, her boyfriend returned from Passchendaele with “shell-shock,” now known as post-traumatic stress disorder. He subsequently committed suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and she still grieves his death. Jessie is a union leader at one of Thomas Shelby's factories and is a member of the Stechford branch of the British Communist Party. In 1924, Jessie is a shop steward at the...
Series 4 · 1925 - 1926
Jessie first appears in the men’s toilet in Thomas Shelby's factory because there are no women’s toilets higher up in the factory. She comes to Thomas Shelby to bravely speak with him about equal pay for women across all his factories. She warns him that she can blow a whistle and bring his workers out on strike. Later, Thomas turns up out of the blue at her home. Under the false pretense of an “improved offer” for his factory workers, she allows him in, but he quickly reveals that he’s actua...
Series 5 · 1929
Jessie does not appear much throughout 1929, but connections are made between her and Tommy. Ben Younger eventually questions why the information he is providing on Jessie has stopped, but Tommy is unable to provide an answer. She does, however, continue to ramp up the riots outside of Mosley's speeches and other public gatherings.
Jessie Eden is based on the real person Jessie Eden (née Shrimpton), a British trade union leader and communist activist. She is most famous for leading 40,000 to 50,000 households during the Birmingham rent-strike of 1939. She also led an unprecedented and successful strike of 10,000 factory worker women in 1931. Her involvement in the trade union...
Jessie Eden has a tendency to make whimsical remarks to Tommy regarding the hypothetical Communist Revolution, which always seems distantly on the horizon. Tommy usually disregards these statements. With Jessie doing her research on Thomas, she has a real glimpse into what Thomas was in the past, before the war and life had tainted him along with his hopes and dreams. She unearths something in his past that shows his vulnerable side, which not a lot of people would have seen. Moreover, she di...
"You've never been a friend of the government. They've used you. Now I image you've found out already that no amount of money allows you to pass through the steel sheets that separate class from class." - Jessie Eden to Thomas Shelby "You don't have a women's lavatory on the second floor because no women get this far up." - Jessie Edenin response t...
Learn about Jessie Eden, a Birmingham trade union activist and Communist Party member who fought for women's rights and social justice. She led strikes, marched with 10,000 women, and inspired the 1918 suffrage campaign.
- Catherine Hokin
Nov 16, 2017 · Jessie Eden is a real-life union activist who brought women workers out on strike for equal pay in Birmingham in 1924. She meets Tommy Shelby, the gangster boss, in the series four opener and challenges him with her intelligence and confidence.
Jan 11, 2023 · Following a brief marriage to Albert Eden in 1923, Jessie Eden became a union steward for unionized female factory workers. She led their walkout during the 1926 general strike, a true story shown in Peaky Blinders , before organizing the 1931 Birmingham women's strike.
Dec 21, 2017 · Jessie Eden was a working-class activist who led the 1926 General Strike and founded mass trades unionism for women in Britain. She will be portrayed by Charlie Murphy in the Netflix series Peaky Blinders, which is inspired by her story.
Mar 8, 2019 · Jessie Eden, as she was still commonly called amongst older Communists, was still revered by them, when she died, as a towering figure of the pre-war Party. She now became remembered by her Party as a heroine of early Communist mass leadership at a local level.
