Anne Harper
Anne Harper (born 22 August 1941) is a British community organiser, activist and co-founder of the National Women Against Pit Closures (NWAPC) movement from Barnsley, South Yorkshire. She was politically active during the 1984–85 miners' strike as an activist, community organiser and wife of the then President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Arthur Scargill. The couple divorced in 2001. Harper was integral to community organisation and activism efforts by women to provide welfare within mining communities and to prevent pit closures during the 1984-1985 miners' strike, which was a landmark event in the history of the British labour movement. She remained active through political activism and media appearances during the 1990s. In 2018, Harper was the subject of a play about her life, Queens of the Coal Age, written by Maxine Peake and directed by Bryony Shanahan. She is best known for her role in the NWAPC movement, her prominence as a public speaker during the 1984–1985 miners' strike and due to her marriage to Scargill. More recently, Harper has been viewed as a pioneer of feminist community activism and discourse by scholars and within the media and arts. Early life and marriage to Arthur Scargill Anne Harper