A member of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union, she persuaded many of that organisation's patrons to serve in the same role for the new league.
She visited the United States in 1873, and there studied the Women's Typographical Society and Female Umbrella Makers' Union.
On her return to England, she wrote and article for Labour News, calling for an association of women trade unionists.
The league also established the Women's Halfpenny Bank in 1879, providing loans to members, in addition to a reading room, library and employment register, a swimming club and trips to Epping Forest.
[2] Paterson died in 1886, and the league was thereafter led by Emilia Dilke, who also contributed about £100 a year from her personal funds.
[5] Macarthur founded the Union of Jute, Flax and Kindred Textile Operatives in 1906, to improve the position of women workers in the city, and the difficulties of supporting the union led her to found the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW), with a constitution stating that three members of the league would serve on the federation's executive.
[6] In 1915, the league launched a campaign to get women undertaking war work, particularly in munitions factories, to join trade unions.