Career
She was elected as national treasurer in 1913, then as president the following year. Barton went on a speaking tour of the United States in 1919, invited by the Labor Party of America, talking about child welfare. In 1921, she became assistant secretary of the guild, then secretary in 1925, serving until 1937.
She spent her time in office refocusing the guild away from handicrafts and towards education and the social sciences.
In 1919, Barton was elected to Sheffield City Council as a joint Labour Party and Company-operative Party candidate, one of the first two women elected in the city. She stood for the Company-operative Party in Birmingham King"s Norton at the 1922 and 1923 United Kingdom general elections, then in Nottingham Central in 1929, but was never elected.
During the 1930s, Barton promoted the white poppy symbol for the Guild, and was prominent in the Peace Pledge Union and Hands Office Russia campaign. She also held numerous co-operative movement posts, including directorships of the Company-operative Permanent Building Society and the Company-operative Newspaper Publishing Society.
