Lady Laura Elizabeth Ridding (née Palmer; 26 March 1849 – 22 May 1939) was a British biographer, suffragist and philanthropist.

[1] In 1885 she founded the National Union of Women Workers at a conference in Nottingham that she had organised.

She founded the organisation with the writer Louise Creighton and the administrator Emily Janes.

[2] Although it was called a union its purpose was to co-ordinate the voluntary efforts of women across Great Britain.

[1] It said that it would "promote sympathy of thought and purpose among the women of Great Britain and Ireland"[3] Creighton became the first President and in time Ridding would also serve.