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Ronald (Ronnie) Haig Wilson (1917-2005) was a prominent educationalist who devoted his life to the advancement of international adult education in UK and Europe.

Born 1917; studied German and French at St Andrew's University, 1935-1938; part of an exchange scholarship to Germany from 1938-1939, where he had first-hand experience of the Third Reich regime and Nazi propaganda. Joined the army after completing his MA , 1940, Royal Artillery; volunteered for the intelligence corps and was based at Fort William, where he was responsible for military security and counter intelligence. In the last months of the War he was stationed in Germany; after the war he was in a unit which gathered intelligence necessary for the aims of the occupation to be carried out and was seconded to carry out work for Education Control; discharged, 1946; worked for the 'Education Branch of the Internal Affairs and Communication Division, Control Commission for Germany (British Element)'; posted to Rhineland/Westphalia, 1947; moved to the adult education section; worked for the Education Branch (Control Commission for Germany), later the Cultural Department of the British High Commission, 1947-1958, moving to Berlin in 1950, and Bonn in 1956; part of the Cultural Relations Group, Berlin; helped found the Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband (DVV), a German adult education association, 1953. In 1957 the British Government closed the Education branch and Wilson returned to the UK. Senior Adult Tutor at Ivanhoe Community College in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. 1958-1962; served on Leicestershire County Council (1958-1962); Educational Organiser (Further Education) for Huddersfield, 1962-1964; served on the Huddersfield Education Authority (1962-1964); head of Manchester's College of Adult Education, 1964-1980; retired, 1980; President of the Educational Centres Association, 1994-1996; died 2005.

The British National Antarctic or Discovery Expedition of 1901-1904
was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage, 1839-1843. It was organised by a joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and it aimed to carry out scientific research and geographical exploration. Its scientific results covered extensive ground in biology, zoology, geology, meteorology and magnetism and King Edward VII Land, and the Polar Plateau via the western mountains route were discovered. The expedition did not make a serious attempt on the South Pole, its principal southern journey reaching a Furthest South at 82°17'S.

The African Association (whose full title was the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa) was founded in London in 1788. It offered patronage to many explorers of Africa, among them Mungo Park, John Lewis Burkhardt and Frederick Hornemann. In 1831 the Association merged with the newly formed Royal Geographical Society of London.

Explored the Mustagh Pass in the Karakoram Himalayas with E Honigmann, 1903; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1907-1959.

Born, 1850; educated at Rugby; Ceylon Civil Service, 1871-1875; joined the Hakluyt Society, 1877; called to the Bar, 1879; Council of the Hakluyt Society, 1887; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1892-1928; Chancellor of the Diocese of Ely, 1894; Counsel of the Chairman of Committees at the House of Lords, 1896-1922; President of the Hakluyt Society, 1908-1926; member of the RGS Council, 1912; Inner Temple Bencher, 1914; died,1928.

Publications: The Voyage of François Pyrard de Laval to the East Indies, the Maldives, the Moluccas, and Brazil translated by Albert Grey, assisted by H.C.P. Bell (1888)

The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was founded in 1830 as the Royal Geographical Society of London. Its aim was the advancement of Geographical Science. The Society was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1859. In 1995 the RGS merged with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) to create the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).

The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was founded in 1830 as the Royal Geographical Society of London. Its aim was the advancement of Geographical Science. The Society was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1859. In 1995 the RGS merged with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) to create the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). Since 1831 the Society has published a Journal, initially containing the principal papers read at the Society's evening meetings and abstracts of Geographical works published elsewhere, it is now a refereed academic publication. The journal has appeared under various titles: Journal of the RGS (JRGS) 1831-1880; Proceedings of the RGS (PRGS) 1857-1878; Proceedings of the RGS (New Series) (PRGS (NS)) 1879-1892; Supplementary Papers (1882-1893); and the Geographical Journal (GJ) 1893 onwards. At first edited by the Secretary of the Society, the preparation and editing of these journals is currently carried out by the Geographical Journal Office.

The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) was founded in 1830 as the Royal Geographical Society of London. Its aim was the advancement of Geographical Science. The Society was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1859. In 1995 the RGS merged with the Institute of British Geographers (IBG) to create the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). The RGS has a board of trustees known as the Council, who are responsible for the Society's governance. The Council also has committees that consider matters of strategy and implementation relating to their specific areas of expertise and which advise the Council and Society staff. These committees change over the years. The committees at the time of writing are: Finance, Education, Expeditions and Fieldwork, Information Services, and Research and Higher Education.

Born in Berlin, 1769; educated, Freiberg Academy of Mines under the famous geologist A.G. Werner; hiked around Europe with George Forester, Captain James Cook's scientific illustrator from his second voyage; government mines inspector in Franconia, Prussia, 1792-1800; expedition with botanist Aime Bonpland in South America, 1800-1803; lived in France, 1804-1827; King of Prussia's advisor, 1827-; invited to make geographical explorations of Russia by the tsar: discovered permafrost and recommended that Russia establish weather observatories across the country which were set up in 1835; gave public lectures in Berlin, 1827-1828; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1856-1859, died, 1859.

Publications: Kosmos (1845)

Born 1926; educated at Haileybury College and Clare College, Cambridge University; served in the British Army, 1945-1948, where he gained a commission in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 1946, and became Military Assistant to the Deputy Commander of the Allied Commission for Austria, 1947-1948; Research Fellow, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, collecting economic evidence for the Guillebaud Committee, 1953-1955; Assistant Lecturer, 1955-1957, and Lecturer, 1957-1961, in Social Science, London School of Economics; Reader in Social Administration, University of London, 1961; Associate Professor, Yale Law School, Yale University, USA, 1961; Professor of Social Administration, London School of Economics, 1965-1991; Consultant and expert advisor to the World Health Organisation on costs of medical care, 1957-; Consultant to the Social Affairs Division of the United Nations, 1959, and the International Labour Organisation, 1967 and 1981-1983; Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Social Services, 1968-1970 and 1974-1978, and the Secretary of State for the Environment, 1978-1979; Advisor to the Commissioner for Social Affairs, European Economic Community, 1977-1980; Member of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, 1956-1963, the Central Health Services Council Sub-Committee on Prescribing Statistics, 1960-1964, the Sainsbury Committee, 1965-1967, the Long Term Study Group (on the development of the NHS), 1965-1968, the Hunter Committee, 1970-1972, and the Fisher Committee, 1971-1973; Chairman, Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee, 1961-1962; Governor of St Thomas' Hospital, 1957-1968, and Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry, 1963-1967; died 1996.
Publications: Health insurance in developing countries (International Labour Office, Geneva, 1990); Introduction to health policy, planning and financing (Longman, London, 1994); Cost containment and new priorities in health care: a study of the European Community (Avebury, Aldershot, 1992); Cost containment in health care: the experience of 12 European countries, 1977-83 (Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 1984); Planning the finances of the health sector: a manual for developing Countries (World Health Organization, Geneva, 1983); Child poverty (Family Service Units, London, [1976]); Marriage, parenthood and social policy (Liverpool University Press, 1982); Value for money in health services a comparative study (Heinemann, London, 1976); A history of the nursing profession (Heinemann Educational, London, 1975); National Health Service: the first thirty years (H.M.S.O., London, 1978); Report of Professor Brian Abel-Smith and Mr. Tony Lynes on a National Pension Scheme for Mauritius (Government Printer, Port Louis, 1976); Social policies and population growth in Mauritus: report to the Governor of Mauritius (Methuen, London, 1961); Poverty, development and health policy (World Health Organization, Geneva; H.M.S.O., London, 1978).

The Association of the Mission Homes for English and American Women in Paris, later known (from 1924) as the British and American Ada Leigh Homes and Hostels in Paris, were set up by Miss Ada Leigh (Mrs Travers Lewis) in 1876. The aims of the Association were to provide homes, free of charge, for women and children of, and connected with, the United Kingdom and its colonies, and the United States of America. The first hostel was at 77 Avenue Wagram, Paris, with others later being provided at Bineau Avenue and Washington House, Rue de Milan. The Association also built an Anglican church called Christchurch at Neuilly-sur-Seine, and actively promoted Anglicanism. During the German occupation of Paris during World War Two, Ada Leigh Homes was forced to cease operations, the Chaplain fled to Britain and the hostels were closed. After the war, activities were resumed, though on a smaller scale.

Born 1903; educated at Tonbridge School and City and Guilds College (Imperial College of Science and Technology); Works Manager, Aladdin Industries, Greenford, 1930-1946; Deputy President, Governmental Sub-Commission, Control Commission Germany, 1946-1947; Deputy Director, British Institute of Management, 1948; Labour MP for Edmonton, 1948-1974; Minister of State, Department of Economic Affairs, 1965-1967; Fellow of City and Guilds College and Imperial College; Chartered Engineer: died 1994.

The Andrew Shonfield Association was set up in 1987 in memory of Sir Andrew Akiba Shonfield (1917-1981), in order to 'perpetuate and develop that particular search for understanding in the political and social fields which characterised his work, with its emphasis on ideas about the mixed economy, individual and collective action, markets and the state: and the thinking about policy to which these lead'. The original Steering Committee consisted of Bernard Cazes, William Diebold, Ron Dore, Professor Jean Paul Samuel Fitoussi, Wolfgang Hager, Sir Arthur Knight, Arrigo Levi and John Pinder. The Association was wound up in 1994.

Lieutenant Commander Brian Ashmore was a member of the Liberal Party, and a parliamentary candidate for Carlisle in 1964.

The Coefficients dining club was founded at a dinner given by Beatrice and Sidney Webb in September 1902.

The National Society of Children's Nurseries (NSCN), originally known as the National Society of Day Nurseries, was founded in 1906 (the name was changed in 1942). Until 1928 it was closely linked with the National League for Physical Education and Improvement (known from 1918 until its dissolution in 1928 as the National League for Health, Maternity and Child Welfare). The Nursery School Association of Great Britain and Ireland (NSA) was founded in 1923. In 1973, it merged with the NSCN to form the British Association for Early Childhood Education (BAECE).

Born 1949; educated Sedgehill School, Polytechnic of North London (BA), Institute of Education (PGCE), and University of Sussex (MA); worked in educational publishing, 1974; Schoolmaster, 1976-1985; Conservative Councillor, London Borough of Lewisham, 1974-1982; contested St Pancreas North, 1973, Greenwich by-election, 1974, and GLC elections (Hackney Council), 1979; Member of Education Committee, Inner London Education Authority, 1978-1981; Conservative MP for Pembroke, 1987-1992; Member, Select Committee on Welsh Affairs, 1987-1990, and the Select Committee on Procedure, 1988-1990; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Minister of State, Department of Transport, 1990; Vice Chairman (Wales), Conservative Backbench Party Organisation Committee, 1990; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Welsh Office, 1990-1992; contested Pembroke, 1992, and Reading West, 1997; Member, Further Education Funding Council for England (FEFCE), 1992-1997; Advisor on public affairs, Price Waterhouse, 1993-1998; JP, South West Division, Inner London; Chief Executive, Association of Consulting Engineers, 1998-present.

John Desmond Bernal, 1901-1971, was born in Nenagh, Ireland and educated at Bedford School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He embarked on a career in crystallography, becoming a lecturer and later Assistant Director of Research in Crystallography at Cambridge, 1934-1937, Professor of Physics at Birkbeck College, 1937-1963, and Professor of Crystallography at Birkbeck 1963-1968. He was made Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1965, and Fellow of Birkbeck College in 1969. He was also interested in the role that science could play in society and published books and pamphlets on this subject. He was a founder member of the World Peace Council, holding the presidency 1958-1965, and was awarded the Lenin Prize for Peace in 1958.

Elspeth Burn, was the youngest daughter of William Beveridge's wife, Janet Mair. She was responsible for the upkeep of the Master's Lodgings at University College, Oxford. Elspeth Burn was also part of a small 'technical committee' formed by Beveridge in 1943 to investigate full employment funded by a group of progressive businessmen.

Sir William Henry Beveridge was Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry, 1925-1926. For a biography, see the Beveridge personal papers (Ref: Beveridge).

The price and wages material was collected by Beveridge and his research assistants for a proposed four volume history which was never completed. The first volume was printed in 1939, following which work was halted by World War Two. A grant from the Nuffield Foundation in 1954 allowed research work to resume, though nothing was published, perhaps due to Beveridge's death in 1963. For a biography, see the Beveridge personal papers (Ref: Beveridge).

BOAPAH was a pilot project conducted by the British Library of Political and Economic Science in 1979-1980, and financed by a Social Science Research Council grant. The aim of the project was to collect a systematic oral archive of interviews with key figures from politics, the civil service and the armed forces. Interviewees were selected predominantly from former Permanent Secretaries or former Cabinet Ministers, and were asked questions relating to the whole period of their official life, concentrating on the post-war years. Day to day administration and interviewing was carried out by Andrew Seldon. A detailed methodology is available in the bound catalogue.

Dr Anne M Bohm obtained a PhD at Berlin University in 1935. She was Assistant to the Dean of Postgraduate Studies, London School of Economics, 1941-1950; Dean and Registrar of the Graduate School, 1950-1977; and, External Relations Consultant, 1978-1985. An Anne Bohm Fund for postgraduate students was launched in summer 2000.

Born 1920; educated London School of Economics (BSc, MSc); served British Army, 1943-1947, as part of The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment); Staff Capt, General Headquarters, India, 1945-1946; Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, University of Paris, 1951-1952; Reader in Sociology, London School of Economics, 1952-1964; Editor, Current Sociology, 1953-1962; English Editor, European Journal of Sociology, 1960-1973; Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1965-1967; Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex, 1968-1985; Emeritus Professor, 1985-1992; Executive Secretary, 1953-1959, Vice-President, 1970-1974, and President, 1974-1978, International Sociological Association; President, British Sociological Association, 1969-1971; retired, 1985; British Language Editor, Socialism in the Future; died 1992.
Publications: translator of German Sociology (William Heinemann, London, 1957); Classes in modern society (Ampersand, London, 1955); Critics of society: radical thought in North America (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1967); Élites and society (Watts and Co, London, 1964); Sociology: a guide to problems and literature (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1962); Sociology as social criticism (Allen and Unwin, London, 1975); translator and editor of Marx's Early writings (Watts and Co, London, 1963); editor Selected writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1963); Citizenship and social class (Pluto Press, London, 1992); A history of sociological analysis (Heinemann Educational, London, 1979); Marxist Sociology (Macmillan, London, 1975); editor Readings in Marxist Sociology (Clarendon, Oxford, 1983); translator and editor Austro-Marxism (Clarendon, Oxford, 1978); Theories of modern capitalism (Allen and Unwin, London, 1985); editor Max Weber and Karl Marx (Allen and Unwin, London, 1982); editor Karl Marx (Blackwood, Oxford, 1979); The Frankfurt School (Horwood, Chichester, 1984); editor Crisis and contention in sociology (Sage, London, 1975); editor Sociology, the state of the art (Sage, London, 1982); Sociology and socialism (Wheatsheaf, Brighton, 1984); translator The philosophy of money (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1981); editor Finance capital: a study of the latest phase of capitalist development (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1981); editor Modern interpretations of Marx (Blackwell, Oxford, 1981); editor A dictionary of Marxist thought (Blackwell, Oxford, 1983); Between marginalism and Marxism (St Martins, New York, 1992); Political sociology (Pluto, London, 1993); editor The Blackwell dictionary of twentieth century social thought (Blackwell, Oxford, 1993); Economic Sociology of J A Schumpter (Harvester Wheatsheaf, London, 1992); The socialist economy; theory and practice (Harvester Wheatsheaf, London, 1990); editor The capitalist class; an international study (Harvester Wheatsheaf, London, 1989); editor Interpretations of Marx (Blackwell, Oxford, 1988).

The British Sociological Association was founded in 1951, following several meetings held in London, on the initiative of a number of university Professors, including A M Carr-Saunders, D V Glass, V G Childe, Raymond Firth and M Fortes. The Association was aimed at 'promoting interest in sociology, and advancing its study and application in this country, and at encouraging contact and co-operation between workers in all relevant fields of inquiry', bringing together those who were interested in the sociological aspect of their own field of study. The membership of the Association continues to be drawn from a wide range of interest groups, including research, teaching, postgraduates, undergraduates, and practitioners in many professional fields. The BSA promotes the exchange of ideas and information both through it's publications, most notably the journal 'Sociology', and through study groups, Summer Schools and the Postgraduate Forum (a network for postgraduate students). It actively promotes professional standards, advising individuals and institutions, and producing guidelines. It also contributes to policy development in related areas of research and training.

Edwin Cannan, 1861-1935, was born in Funchal, Madeira, and educated at Clifton College and Balliol College, Oxford. Due to an illness which necessitated a long voyage he did not take an honours degree but took political economy as one of his subjects in the pass school. On the strength of his early writings he was invited to lecture on economics at the London School of Economics when it was founded in 1895. He became the effective head of the economics department although he was not created Professor of Political Economy by the University of London until 1907. He also held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Economics in the University of London from 1900 to 1904. He retired in 1926 and spent his time preparing his book A Review of Economic Theory (1929) which embodied the substance of his 60 lecture course on the principles of economics. Cannan was also interested in the practicality of economics. For many years he reviewed current government publications for the Economic Review and he served a term of office on the Oxford City Council. His large knowledge of local government history is shown in his publication History of Local Rates in England. He was also president of Section F of the British Association in 1902 and 1931 and president of the Royal Economic Society 1932 - 1934. The publications for which he is best known are his definitive version of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1904) and his edition of Smith's Glasgow lectures in jurisprudence (1896).

No information available at present.

Hugh Chevins, 1898-1975, grew up in Retford, Nottinghamshire. He worked on a number of papers before joining the Daily Telegraph in 1934, where he remained until his retirement in 1960, working as news editor for a short time, and later as industrial and labour correspondent. He was one of a group of industrial and labour correspondents who raised the profile of industrial journalism during the 1930s, and a founder member of the Labour and Industrial Correspondents' Group.

At a conference in Zurich in 1912, the International Association of Labour Legislation requested that the national sections of the organisation should draw up reports on the subject of child labour in their respective countries, for presentation to an international Commission specially appointed to discuss the problem. The British section of the IALL appointed a sub-committee to draw up a report on child labour in the United Kingdom, consisting of Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, Constance Smith, Mary Phillips, Sophy Sanger, and Frederick Keeling, who acted as Chairman of the sub-committee and drafted the report.
This collection contains the material from which the report was drafted. It was gathered by the committee members specially for the report, and consists of correspondence, memoranda, transcriptions of personal interviews, newspaper cuttings, and questionnaires circulated by the committee to local authorities responsible for the administration of the Employment of Children Act (1903). It also contains various official documents, including a collection of all bye-laws regarding street trading and/or child labour made by UK local authorities. The scope of the Report was limited to the examination of the regulation of child labour in relation to the Employment of Children Act (1903), in occupations which were not covered by the Factory and Mines Acts, and its aim was to suggest practical ways of dealing with the problem, rather than studying its effects. Consideration was also given to the definition of 'juvenile' labour, and to the administration of the law as it stood at the time, with particular reference to the inadequacies of the Education Act as a means of restricting the employment of children.
In the years immediately preceding the drafting of the Report, there had been several unsuccessful attempts by campaigners to amend the Employment of Children Act (1903), along the lines recommended by a Departmental Committee on street trading set up by the Government in 1909. Organised opposition from the Press helped to block the first private member's Bill to amend the Act, introduced into the House of Lords in 1911 by Lord Shaftesbury, and the following year, another Bill proposed by Beck and Denman was similarly unsuccessful. In 1913, the Government itself introduced a watered-down version of Beck and Denman's Bill, but again, the difficulty of securing its passage led to its abandonment. The report of the IALL's sub-committee on child labour was one of many investigations into the subject by local authorities, private societies and individuals, but it is distinguished by the amount of fresh information gathered by committee members, particularly the statistics on the condition of wage-earning children in occupations which had been hitherto ignored by other studies. The report was published in 1914, with the hope that it would be 'a means of bringing to the notice both of Parliament and of local authorities the urgent necessity of raising the standard of protection' of working children.

Bell Brothers, South Brancepeth Colliery and Clarence Iron Works: Bell Brothers was formed in 1884 by Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell to operate an iron works. Clarence Works was added in 1854. Later the company gained control of ironstone and coal mines. In 1899 Bell Brothers became a public company and Droman Long a steel company took a 50% interest. In 1902 the two companies merged although a complete amalgamation did not take place until 1923.

No further information available.

William Beveridge, 1879-1963: William Beveridge was educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford. He was sub-warden of Toynbee Hall 1903-1905, and leader-writer on "social problems" for the "Morning Post" 1906-1908. From 1905 to 1908 Beveridge was a member of the Central (Unemployed) Body for London, and was also the first Chairman of the Employment Exchanges Committee. He was a member of the Board of Trade 1908-1916 and Director of Labour Exchanges 1909-1916. During World War I he was Assistant General Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions (1915 - 1916) and Second Secretary in the Ministry of Food (1916-1918). In 1919 Beveridge became Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Food. In the same year he was knighted. He then retired from the civil service and was appointed director of the London School of Economics (1919-1937). He then moved on to be Master of University College, Oxford (1937-1944). During World War II he was Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Labour (1940) and was Chairman of the Social Service Inquiry (1941-1942) he produced "Social Insurance and Allied Services", a report prepared for government which proposed a social system "from the cradle to the grave" for British citizens. This report became known as the "Beveridge Report" and became the blueprint for the welfare-state legislation of 1944-1948. Beveridge was Liberal MP for Berwick on Tweed 1944-1945, and was made 1st Baron Beveridge of Tuggal in 1946.
His publications include: Unemployment: A problem of industry (1909); Prices and Wages in England from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century (1939); Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942) (Beveridge Report); Full Employment in a Free Society (1944); The Economics of Full Employment (1944); Report on the Methods of Social Advance (1948); Voluntary Action (1948); A Defence of Free Learning (1959).

Beatrice Webb, 1858-1943, was born Martha Beatrice Potter at Standish House near Gloucester, she was the eighth daughter of the railway and industrial magnate Richard Potter (1817-1892). Beatrice was educated privately and became a business associate of her father after her mother's death in 1882. She became interested in reform and began to do social work in London. In January 1885 Beatrice became a rent collector and manager for Katharine Buildings in the East End of London. She worked alongside Ella Pycroft, a physician's daughter from Devon. Pycroft had arrived in London in 1883 and spent 5 years working at Katharine Buildings. The property was owned by the East End Dwelling Company and situated in Aldgate. The tenants were casual labourers, dock-workers, porters, hawkers and coster-mongers. Beatrice's task was to collect rents and choose the tenants, replacing them if she felt it to be necessary.

Beatrice investigated working-class conditions as part of the survey 'Life and Labour of the People in London' (1891-1903), directed by her cousin Charles Booth (1840-1916). In 1892 she married Sidney Webb (1859-1947), later Baron Passfield, a member of the socialist Fabian Society. Sidney and Beatrice Webb served on many royal commissions and wrote widely on economic problems. In 1895 they founded the London School of Economics and Political Science. After a tour of the United States and the Dominions in 1898, they embarked on their massive ten-volume work, 'English Local Government' (1906-1929). Beatrice Webb also served on the Poor Law Commission (1906-1909) and was joint author of its minority report. During World War I Beatrice Webb was a member of the War Cabinet committee on women in industry (1918-1919) and served on the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee for women justices (1919-1920), being a justice of the peace herself from 1919 to 1927.

Sidney Webb became an MP in 1922 and held ministerial office in both the early Labour governments. In 1932, after he had left office, the Webbs visited the Soviet Union. They recorded their views in 'Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation' (1935). The Webbs retired to their home in Hampshire in 1928. Beatrice Webb produced two volumes of autobiography: 'My Apprenticeship' (1926) and 'Our Partnership' (1948), which was published after her death. Her publications include: 'The co-operative movement in Great Britain' (1891); 'The history of trade unionism' (1894) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The case for the Factory Acts' (1901); 'English Local Government' (1906) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The charter of the poor' (1909); 'The break-up of the Poor Law: being part one of the Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'The coming of a unified county medical service and how it will affect the voluntary hospital' (1910); 'Complete national provision for sickness: how to amend the insurance acts' (1912); 'The abolition of the Poor Law' (1918); 'Wages of men and women-should they be equal?' (1919); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'Decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923) Co-author with Sidney Webb; 'My apprenticeship' (1926); 'Soviet Communism: a new civilisation' (1935); 'Our partnership' (1948).

In October 1883 Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) and Hubert Bland (1855-1914) decided to form a socialist debating group with their Quaker friend Edward Pease (1857-1955). They were also joined by Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) and Frank Podmore (1856-1910). In January 1884 they decided to call themselves the Fabian Society. Hubert Bland chaired the first meeting and was elected treasurer. By March 1884 the group had twenty members. However, over the next couple of years the group increased in size and included socialists such as Annie Besant (1847-1933), Sidney Webb (1859-1947), Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Clement Attlee (1883-1967), Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), H G Wells (1866-1946) and Rupert Brooke (1887-1915). By 1886 the Fabians had sixty-seven members and an income of £35 19s. The official headquarters of the organisation was 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster. The Fabian Society journal, "Today", was edited by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. The Fabians believed that capitalism had created an unjust and inefficient society. They agreed that the ultimate aim of the group should be to reconstruct "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities". The Fabians adopted the tactic of trying to convince people by "rational factual socialist argument", rather than the "emotional rhetoric and street brawls" of the Social Democratic Federation, Britain's first socialist political party. On 27th Febuary 1900, representatives from the Fabian Society and all the other socialist groups in Britain met at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London. This conference established the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which in 1906 changed its name to the Labour Party. At its outset the LRC had one member of the Fabian Society among its members.

The land club movement was set up in response to the introduction of the Small Holdings Act of 1907. Its aim was to put "the new land law into force" and aid "the renewal of country life". Two people from each village and hamlet in the area were chosen to form a committee to "get the land club started and thus obtain land for the people". The League also aimed to assist people in the cultivation of land through agricultural education and co-operative purchasing and loans, and to help them obtain proper representation for people on their own parish, district and county councils. The League was also concerned with ensuring that country children received an education suitable for country life, providing its members with access to legal advice on questions affecting tenure of homes and land and to generally promoting the country way of life. The Land Club League worked in co-operation with other groups and amalgamated with the Rural Development Society and the Rural Housing and Sanitation Association.

Edward R Pease was appointed President to the Land Club League in 1908. He was born in Bristol in 1857. From 1874 to 1878 he worked in a merchant's office, and in 1880 he became a member of the London Stock Exchange. In 1886 he left the Stock Exchange and went to Newcastle to become a cabinet-maker and trade unionist. Pease co-founded the Fabian Society in 1883, and was Secretary 1890-1913, and Honorary Secretary 1914-1938. He was also Governor of London School of Economics from its foundation in 1895. From 1900 to 1913 he was a member of the Executive of the Labour Party. He died in 1955. His publications include: "The History of the Fabian Society" (1916) and "Webb and the Fabian Society" in "The Webbs and their Work" (1949).

The People's League of Health was founded in 1917 by Olga Nethersole (1870-1951). Nethersole was a former actress who joined the British Red Cross in 1916 during World War I (1914-1918). She was on the nursing staff of the Hampstead Military Hospital as a VAD 1916-1919. Nethersole represented the People's Health League at conferences held in Brussels (1920), Lausanne (1924), Washington DC (1926) and Rome (1928). She was the League's representative on the Council of the Central Chamber of Agriculture in 1931. Following speculation that tuberculosis could be passed to be people through milk supplies, the League conducted a Survey of Tuberculosis of Bovine Origin in Great Britain from February 1930 to October 1931. The report of the findings of this survey urged that the "...adequate supervision and control over the health of all persons engaged in the production and distribution of milk should be secured".

The Russell family, Dukes of Bedford: The Russell family first appeared prominently in the reign of Henry VIII. John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, c1486-1555, was Lord High Steward and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was created 1st Earl of Bedford in 1550, and had a part in arranging the marriage of Mary I to Philip II of Spain. He died possessing lands, which have remained in the family until the 20th century; these now include Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire and large parts of Bloomsbury in London. His son, Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, c 1527-1585, was an Privy Councillor under Elizabeth I and President of the Council of Wales. Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, 1593-1641, was an opponent of Charles I in the House of Lords. William Russell, 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Bedford, 1613-1700, fought first for Parliament and then for the king in the Civil War. In 1694, when his sons attainder was reversed, the 5th earl was made Duke of Bedford. John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, 1710-1771, served in the cabinets of Henry Pelham, 4th Duke of Newcastle, 1696-1754, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, 1713-1792, and George Grenville, 1712-1770. He was the leader of a faction of Whig politicians, known as the Bedford Group.

In 1917 the Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1863-1945) set up a Ministry of Information. The newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) was put in overall charge of the organisation as Minister of Information. Other appointments included the Managing Director of United Newspapers Ltd, Robert Donald (1860-1933), who became Director of Propaganda in Neutral Countries) and Lord Northcliffe, (1865-1922), another newspaper magnate, who became Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. The Ministry evolved from Lloyd George's decision in December 1916 to invite Donald to write a report on the effectiveness of the secret War Propaganda Bureau. As result of Donald's recommendations, the government established a Department of Information, which in turn became the Ministry of Information.

In 1911 Henry Hyndman (1842-1921) left the Labour Party to establish the British Socialist Party (BSP). this new party failed to win any of the parliamentary elections it contested. When Hyndman voiced support for Britain's involvement in World War One the party split into two with Hyndman forming a new National Socialist Party, of which he remained leader until his death in 1921.

The Labour Representation Committee was formed in February 1900 after a resolution drafted by James Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) was carried at the 1899 Trade Union Congress (TUC). The resolution called for a special congress of the TUC parliamentary committee to campaign for more Labour members of Parliament.

The Co-operative Women's Guild was formed in 1883 following the first inclusion of a women's page in 'Co-operative News'. Its aim was to spread the knowledge of the benefits of co-operation and improve the conditions of women with the slogan "co-operation in poor neighbourhoods". In 1885 the organisation changed its name to the Women's Co-operative Guild. In 1889 Miss Margaret Llewelyn Davies (1861-1943) became General Secretary on a voluntary basis and Miss Lilian Harris was appointed Cashier to the Guild. Under the direction of these two women the organisation expanded rapidly from 51 branches and a membership of 1700 in 1889 to a peak of 1500 branches and a membership of 72,000 in 1933. By this time the organisation had again been changed to the Co-operative Women's Guild. Margaret Llewelyn Davies was the daughter of Reverend John Llewelyn Davies, a Christian Socialist and supporter of women's rights. She ran the Guild's affairs from her father's vicarage at Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria. Under her leadership the Guild became a campaigning body. After carrying out an investigation into the working conditions of the 2000 women employed in co-operative stores, the Guild advocated the introduction of a minimum wage. By 1912 the Co-operative Wholesale Society and 200 other retail stores had complied with the Guild's policy on wages.

Llewelyn Davies was a member of the National Union of Suffrage Societies, and she took part in several peaceful demonstrations, including a sandwich-board picket of the House of Commons in 1912. She also gave evidence to the Royal Commission on divorce reform and the Guild created great controversy by urging that divorce by mutual consent after two years separation should be legalised. Other campaigns instigated by Llewelyn Davies included an attempt to reduce the high infant-mortality rates by the introduction of improved ante-natal, natal, and post-natal care. Her publications include: 'Maternity' (1915); 'Life as We Have Known It' (1931).

Richard Tawney, 1880-1962, was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford. He was a fellow at Balliol, 1918-1921, and an honorary fellow, 1938. Tawney was a member of the executive committee of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) 1905, and held WEA tutorial classes in Rochdale and Manchester, 1908-1914. From 1906-1908 he taught political economy at Glasgow University. Tawney joined the Fabian Society in 1906. He was a member of the Society's executive 1921-1933. In 1909 he joined the Independent Labour Party. He was wounded during World War One. After the war he stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in 1918, 1922 and 1919. Tawney was a member of the consultative committee of the Board of Education 1912-1931. In 1919 he became a member of the Coal Industry Commission. Tawney was a lecturer in economic history at London School of Economics 1917 and 1920-1949, becoming a professor in 1931. From 1927-1934 he co-edited the 'Economic History Review'. His publications include: 'The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century' (1912); 'The Acquisitive Society' (1921); 'Religion and the Rise of Capitalism' (1926); 'Equality' (1931); 'Business and politics under James I: Lionel Cranfield as merchant and minister' (1958).

The State Children Aid Association was formed in 1896 with the aim "to obtain individual treatment for children under the guardianship of the state", following a report on poor law schools.

In the 1895 General Election the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates but won only 44,325 votes. James Keir Hardie (1856-1915), the leader of the party believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. On 27th February 1900, representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, met with trade union leaders at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London. After a debate the 129 delegates decided to pass Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." To make this possible the Conference established a Labour Representation Committee (LRC). This committee included two members from the Independent Labour Party, two from the Social Democratic Federation, one member of the Fabian Society, and seven trade unionists. Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) was chosen as the secretary of the LRC. As he was financed by his wealthy wife, Margaret MacDonald (died 1911) he did not have to be paid a salary. The LRC put up fifteen candidates in the 1900 General Election and between them they won 62,698 votes. Two of the candidates, Keir Hardie and Richard Bell (1866-1937) won seats in the House of Commons. The party did even better in the 1906 election with twenty nine successful candidates. Later that year the LRC decided to change its name to the Labour Party.