Together with Gertrude Horton, she shaped the society from its suffragette roots into an organisation that was apolitical and inclusive, but also provided considerable space for feminist and lesbian women.
[5][6] Finding significant resistance to the idea from British colonies, Alice embarked on a speaking tour across Canada to promote the SOSBW to a public sceptical of immigration,[6][7] and for her services was given an OBE in the 1931 Birthday Honours.
Within NUSEC, Hubback was part of an experiment to start a number of friendly societies for women called Townswomen's Guilds.
[9] During the Second World War, many of the staff at the headquarters of the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds (NUTG) were dismissed except for Alice, who took control of the organisation to keep it "ticking over".
[10] The NUTG was pulled in two directions, between a more politically-active section drawn from NUSEC and a non-partisan faction who wanted to emulate the Women's Institute with its focus on teaching housekeeping and handicrafts.
Tensions reached breaking point in 1948, when Franklin, Horton and Joan Loring (the National Chairman) resigned from the organising committee of the NUTG.