 At the end of the war in 1918 , Bessie left the Co @-@ op and took a clerical post with the Warehouse Workers ' Union . In the course of her ILP activities she met and befriended John " Jack " Braddock , a wagon builder and union activist with a reputation as a firebrand . He had arrived in Liverpool from Dewsbury in 1915 , hoping to emigrate to Canada , but had stayed in the port and immersed himself in left @-@ wing politics and the fight to improve working conditions . He and Bessie became very close ; in 1919 they helped Mary Bamber to fight for a Liverpool council seat , as the ILP 's candidate in the Everton district . The election campaign was bitter and at times violent , but resulted in Bamber 's victory by the slim margin of 13 votes . 
