Noel Gilroy Annan was born in 1916 and attended Stowe School and King's College, Cambridge. He served during World War Two in the War Office Cabinet Offices and Military Intelligence, 1940-1944, and as GSO1 at the Political Division of the British Control Commission, 1945-1946. He became a Fellow at King's College, Cambridge, in 1947, and remained there as a Lecturer in Politics from 1948 to 1966, during which period he was Provost of the College, 1956-1966. In 1966 he was appointed Provost at University College London, a post which he held until 1978. Annan was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1978 to 1981. His other positions included acting as a Governor of Stowe School, 1945-1966, and Queen Mary College, London, 1956-1960; Trustee of Churchill College, Cambridge, 1958-1976, the British Museum, 1963-1980, and the National Gallery, 1978-1985; and the Director of the Royal Opera House, 1967-1978. He sat on numerous committees, most notably the Public Schools Commission, 1966-1970, and the Committee on the Future of Broadcasting, 1974-1977. In addition, Annan published several books, including Our age: portrait of a generation (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1990); Leslie Stephen: his thought and character in relation to his time (MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1951); Leslie Stephen: the godless Victorian (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1984); Changing enemies: the defeat and regeneration of Germany (HarperCollins, London, 1995); and The dons: mentors, eccentrics and geniuses (HarperCollins, London, 1999).Annan was given a life peerage in 1965. He died in 2000.
John Churchill (1650-1722) was an English general and statesman. His active part in suppressing Monmouth's rebellion led to him being raised to the peerage (1685), and following his support of William of Orange during the Glorious Revolution, he was created Earl of Marlborough in 1688. Mainly due to his wife Sarah's position as Queen Anne's main confidant, Marlborough rose to the height of his powers during the early part of Anne's reign, enjoying military success in the War of the Spanish Succession, and becoming politically powerful in England. Accusations of the mishandling of public funds led to his dismissal in 1711, and though he was returned to favour under George I and was again the chief commander of the Army, he played little part in public life until his death in 1722.
The term 'customs' applied to customary payments or dues of any kind, regal, episcopal or ecclesiastical until it became restricted to duties payable to the King upon export or import of certain articles of commerce. A Board of Customs for England and Wales was created in 1671.
Laurie Gardiner was a professor of Tudor history at Melbourne University. He died in 1991.
Charles Harding Firth was born in Sheffield on 16 March 1857. He received his education from Clifton College, New College, Oxford and Balliol College, Oxford where he graduated with a degree in Modern History in 1878. After lecturing for a period at his uncle's foundation, Firth College, he moved to Oxford in 1883. He was a history lecturer at Pembroke College, from 1883 to 1893, Ford's lecturer 1900-1901, in 1902 he became a research fellow at All Souls and he was Regius Professor of Modern History from 1904 to 1925. He was one of a group of historians who established the English Historical Review in 1886. He served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1913-1917 and twice as president of the Historical Association, 1906-1910, and 1918-1920.
Firth received honorary degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Durham, Cambridge, Sheffield, Manchester and Oxford. He was given a knighthood in 1922. Firth's areas of historical interest included the military, travel, colonisation and Oliver Cromwell. Firth's works include, the Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, 1886, Oliver Cromwell 1900 and The House of Lords During the Civil War, 1910.
Smoldon was born at Forest Gate and trained as a teacher. His training included a period at Trinity College of Music: he was also a pupil of C H Kitson and took the University of London BMus and PhD. He held senior music posts at Stratford Grammar School (1934-47) and Cheshire Training College, Alsager (1948-62). He was an authority on medieval liturgical music drama, and wrote 'The Music of the Medieval Church Dramas' (ed Cynthia Bourgealt, Oxford University Press, 1980) and transcribed various medieval dramas, including 'Daniel' (Faith Press, 1960), 'Herod' (Stainer and Bell, 1960) and 'Peregrinus' (Oxford University Press, 1965). He died on 17 August 1974.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Born in 1923, Brown was a scholar of medieval manuscripts and Palaeography. He wrote and edited several publications towards the end of his life. Some of his most significant papers were published posthumously under the title of A Palaeographer's view - the selected writings of Julian Brown, 1993. He died in 1987.
The collection contains material from James Cook's student days at Imperial College, London in the 1920s and 1930s, papers relating to the Ipswich Unemployed Workers' League and other political activities in this period. There are papers relating to Cook's period in the South Place Ethical Society and general correspondence on national and international politics. The collection also contains papers relating to Cook's parliamentary campaigns in Henley-on-Thames in Berkshire and Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey; local political parties in Windsor; his time as Senator at the University of London and his involvement with the University of London Society; his membership of the Labour Party and his work in the General Municipal Workers Union. There is also material relating to Cook's personal life.
Joshua Gee was a London merchant, who was frequently consulted by the Government, particularly the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, on matters of trade, manufacturing and the colonies. He died in 1730, leaving a large fortune to his family. Publications: The trade and navigation of Great-Britain considered (Sam. Buckley, London, 1729).
Harold Foster Hallet was born in 1886, and was an engineering pupil at the work and shipyard of Messrs Young and Co at Poplar from 1904 to 1908, during which time he gained a BSc in Engineering from the University of London. In 1912 he gained an MA in Mental Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, and went on to become a Lecturer in Logic, and Assistant in Logic and Metaphysics (1912-1916) and an Assistant in Moral Philosophy, 1915-1916. In 1919 Hallett was appointed Assistant Lecturer, 1919-1922, and Lecturer, 1922-1931, in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He became Professor of Philosophy at King's College London from 1931 to 1951. Hallett was also the British Secretary of the Societas Spinoza, 1929-1935, Chairman of the Board of Philosophical Studies at the University of London, 1935-1945, and the author of numerous books and articles on philosophy.
Aretas Akers was born on the island of St Kitts in 1734, the eldest son of Edmund Akers, a man of English descent, who owned land on St Vincent. Akers acquired his own estates on St Kitts, and much later, inherited his father's estates on St Vincent. Akers added to his position of strength and influence in the islands through his marriage to Jean Douglas, the niece of the Governor of the Leeward Islands. He maintained his connections with Great Britain - having his children educated in Scotland and England. Jean Douglas died in 1768, soon after the birth of her seventh child - Akers did not remarry.
As a substantial landowner on St Kitts and St Vincent, Akers played an important role in finance, business, trade and politics of the islands. The influence of his position is demonstrated by the fact that he was appointed Receiver of the Casual Revenue or Droits of Admiralty for the Leeward Carribee Islands by the British government at the outset of the American War of Independence. This meant that he was responsible for the sale of ships and cargo captured during the war and distributed prize money to ships' crews. He was also appointed by Lord Rodney as one of the joint agents responsible for the distribution of prize money after the British conquered the island of St Eustatius in 1779.
Akers was also active in political life on St Kitts. He served as a represntative on the legislative assembly, but resigned from this position in 1769 as a result of a dispute ostensibly over the Governor's attempt to prevent assembly members who also acted for the British Government from voting for new representatives. As a result of this, Akers and his 6 fellow protestors were jailed for more than a month. After his release Akers may have travelled to London to bring the matter before the House of Commons, although it is unclear what the result of this was. In time all seven members of the assembly were re-elected to it. Akers also appears to visited England in 1774 in order to protest against the war with America because of the effect that it would have trade in the West Indies.
Aretas Akers and his family left St Kitts in 1782 when the island was captured by the French. The family settled in England, but Akers travelled to Paris in order to petition the French government concerning a problem with the Stubbs estate on St Vincent. He spent the remaining three years of his life working to bring some order to his financial and business affairs which had been thrown into chaos as a result of British losses in the West Indies. He was in dispute with the British government concerning the sale of ships and cargo in Tortola, where as a result of the lack of availability of currency he had accepted bonds from purchasers rather than cash. The government regarded Akers as been responsible for the subsequent debts. The Government also had a large claim against him for Droits of Admiralty for Greenwich Naval Hospital, which received unclaimed and forfeited shares of prize money. His financial position had been further weakened by the effect that the War and poor weather conditions had had on the management of his estates and trade.
Akers died in 1785, and in his will vested his estate in Alexander Douglas, his two sons, Edmund Fleming Akers and Aretas Akers, and William Forbes in trust for his heirs. Edmund and Aretas Akers then began the long process of ordering their father's tangled affairs so that the terms of the will could be executed. This process continued for more than twenty years, Edmund Akers managing affairs in the West Indies, and Aretas Akers II working from London.
Robert Saudek was born in Koln, Czechoslovakia on 21 April 1881. Between 1903 and 1909, he wrote several plays, essays, epigrams and novels, including A Child's conscience and Jewish Youths (1903), Eine gymnasisltragödie (1904), Und über uns leuchtende Sterne (1907) and Das Märchen des Meere (1909). Around the same time, he also studied at the University of Prague, Leipzig and the Sorbonne. During the First World War, Saudek maintained an Intelligence Unit in The Hague and at the end of the War in 1918 he entered the diplomatic service for the Czechoslovakian Government, serving in Holland and in England before finally settling in London. In that same year, Saudek also completed 'Die diplomaten' which was published in German, Czech, Dutch, French and Italian, and dealt with problem of graphology. In 1925 he published Wissenschaftliche Graphologie (Psychology of handwriting) which was followed by Experimentelle Graphologie (Experiments with handwriting) the following year, the latter published in Czechoslovakia and Holland. Saudek also lectured about experimental graphology at Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels and Prague. In 1931, he was one of the founders of the quarterly journal Character and Personality: An international quarterly for psychodiagnostics and allied studies in which he regularly published articles during the early 1930s. He completed the more populist work, What your handwriting means in 1932. Saudek died in London in 1935.
No further information available
Born 1852; published Les Surprises du Coeur in 1881; wrote an article in 1894: "The End of Books", which predicted that books would eventually become overtaken by other media. He founded the magazine The Book.
The Forth Bridge Railway Company was set up in 1873 with the aim of building a bridge across the Firth of Forth at Queensferry, thereby extending the Scottish railway system north from Edinburgh. The Forth Bridge Railway Company (though it was part of the LNER network) legally survived in name until it was absorbed by the British Transport Commission in 1948 in the aftermath of the nationalisation of the railways.
William Coney lived at 61 Wardour Street in London when he published this proposed Act in 1859.
Joan Gili was born into a publishing family in Barcelona in 1907 and emigrated to Britain in 1934. He helped found the Dolphin bookshop near Charing Cross Road, London and began his career as a publisher of Hispanic works in 1938. In the following year, Stephen Spender and Gili produced a translation of Nadal's selection of Lorca's poems. Gili wrote the influential "Introductory Catalan Grammar" in 1943. Several volumes of his translations of Catalan poems were published in the next few decades. Gili became a founding member of the Anglo-Catalan Society in 1954 and was later its president. He was also known as the "unofficial consul of the Catalans in Britain". Gili died in 1998.
Hanley, James (1901-1985), novelist and playwright, was born in Dublin in 1901, the son of Edward Hanley, a ship's stoker. The only school Hanley attended was St Alexandra's Roman Catholic primary school, near his home. At the age of twelve he left school and joined the merchant navy, serving in a submarine during the First World War. Three years later he jumped ship at New Brunswick to enlist in the Canadian Black Watch and eventually saw action in France. Invalided out of the army suffering from the effects of gas, he returned to the sea, working as a stoker on troop carriers, which he featured in some of his novels. He continued to educate himself, mainly by reading Russian literature, and having come ashore in the late 1920s earned a precarious living in a variety of jobs in docks, on the railway, and for a while at Aintree racecourse. Many of his early stories were published in the Liverpool Echo, the editor of which, E. Hope Prince, became his mentor.
Hanley's first novel, Drift (1930), and his first volume of stories, The German Prisoner (1930), were published shortly before his move to Wales, where he settled first at Glan Ceirw, Ty-nant, near Corwen in Merioneth, and then, in the autumn of 1941, at Bodynfoel Lodge and Tan-y-ffridd in the village of Llanfechain, Montgomeryshire. His second novel, Boy (1932), was originally published in an edition of 145 copies for subscribers only. An expurgated trade edition followed, but when in 1934 it was issued in a cheap edition, copies were seized by the police and the book was successfully prosecuted for obscenity. The publisher was fined £400 and copies of the book were burnt. Hanley forbade republication of the novel during his lifetime and it was not reissued until 1990.
The first of Hanley's novels about the Furys, a Liverpool Irish family, appeared in 1935 and a volume of autobiography, Broken Water, in 1937. On the outbreak of the Second World War he found work with the BBC and later with the Ministry of Information, but his home remained in Llanfechain until 1963, when he and his wife moved to London. During the war he wrote three novels of the sea which are among his best work: Hollow Sea (1938), The Ocean (1941), and Sailor's Song (1943). He also wrote the autobiographical No Directions (1943). Many of his stories and radio plays were broadcast on the BBC Third Programme during the 1940s. During his long residence in Wales, Hanley wrote four books: a collection of essays, Don Quixote Drowned (1953), and the novels The Welsh Sonata (1954), Another World (1971), and A Kingdom (1978). His 'Selected Stories' appeared in 1947 and 'Collected Stories' in 1953. Hanley died of bronchial pneumonia in November 1985.
Whitbread and Company was offered a majority sharehold in Welwyn Restaurants Limited in 1937 following the success of Whitbread's Improved Public House Company. This gave the Brewery a monopoly on supply to the Welwyn Garden City's five pubs. Welwyn Garden City is a planned town in Hertfordshire, founded in 1920.
Gripper Brothers Bell Brewery was established in Tottenham in 1760 and was acquired by Whitbread and Company in 1896. Whitbread turned it into a bottling depot later the same year although some of the older brewery buildings on the east side of the High Road were still in use in 1924.
The Anchor Brewery in Lewisham was acquired by Whitbread at the end of 1890 for the price of £185,000. It had previously been owned by H. and V. Nicholl Limited who had bought it in 1866. The initial motive for the purchase was to use the premises as a bottling depot for distribution to the Whitbread market south of the Thames however Whitbread also had the added incentive of gaining control of the Anchor's tied trade that amounted to 24,000 barrels a year.
Top Star Taverns Limited was incorporated in 1970. Whitbread Flowers Limited was the major shareholder (51%) with the remaining shares being held by Tuckwell Inns Limited, Leicester. Tuckwell were responsible for the management of the public houses the Company owned.
These houses included: Lemon and Parker, Gloucester Travellers Rest, Ross-on-Wye Lady Godiva, Coventry Bear and Ragged Staff, Kenilworth The Cuty Arms, Earlsden The Anchor Tavern, Stratford-on-Avon Grove House, Swindon The Swinging Plaice, Gloucester and The Kings Head, Hereford.
In February 1973 Whitbread Flowers Limited purchased the remaining shares from Tuckwell Inns Limited as part of the reorganisation of the retail operations of the Western Region of Whitbread and Company Limited. Top Star Taverns Limited ceased trade from this point. The Company entered liquidation in March 1974 (liqudator: Alec E Baldwin of Whitbread Flowers Limited), held its final meeting in December 1974 and was officially dissolved on 18 March 1975.
The Matthews and Cannings brewery in Chelsea was bought by Whitbread in 1899. At that time it was valued at £274,000 which included 100 tied houses taking most of the 60,000 barrels being produced. Unlike the previous Whitbread purchases, Matthews and Cannings was kept open as a brewery with Charles Crawshay, previous manager and one of the old owners, kept on to run it. Charles Crawshay was also made a managing director of Whitbread.
Nightingale (formerly known as Nightingale House and The Home for Aged Jews) was the largest Jewish residential and nursing home in Europe in 2001. As a non-profit making charitable organisation (Registered Charity Number 207316) the Home has been funded by a combination of private and state funding. Nightingale has always been run on Orthodox lines but has been supported by all sections of the Jewish community.
Origins: Nightingale had its origins in three charities, the Hand in Hand Asylum for Decayed Tradesmen (founded 1840), the Widows' Home Asylum (founded 1843) and the Jewish Workhouse also known as the Jewish Home (founded 1871). They were established in the old Jewish quarter in London's East End to cater for the needs of the Jewish poor.
The Poor Law system of workhouses did not embrace the social values, religious and dietary needs of poor members of the Jewish community. Respect and care for the elderly has been a core priority in the teachings of Judaism. A major aim of these Charities therefore was to save aged Jews from starvation and exposure on the streets and from the Workhouse and find places for them where their needs were met.
The Hand in Hand Home occupied the following premises: 5 Duke's Place (from 1843), 22 Jewry Street (from 1850), Wellclose Square (from 1854) and 23 Well Street, Hackney (from 1878). The Widow's Home was first based at 22 Mitre Street, then 19 Duke Street (from 1850), 67 Great Prescott Street, Goodmans Fields (from 1857) and later moved next door to the Hand in Hand in 1880.
The Jewish Workhouse was founded in 1871 by a movement led by Solomon Green, the son of Abraham Green one of the founders of the Widow's Home. The first premises were at 123 Wentworth Street. In 1876 the Home moved to 37-9 Stepney Green.
In 1894, these charities amalgamated as The Home for Aged Jews. In 1896 the combined Homes were based at 23 and 25 Well Street, Hackney and 37 and 39 Stepney Green. Two Medical Officers, a Master and two Matrons cared for 105 residents and were managed by a General Committee, House Committee, Finance Committee, Investigating Committee and Ladies' Committee.
In 1907 The Home for Aged Jews moved to 'Ferndale', Nightingale Lane, Wandsworth Common. The premises had been gifted by Sydney James Stern, Lord Wandsworth, an assimilated English Jew in 1904.
Aims: In 1896, the aims were: 'to provide a Home for, maintain and clothe aged, respectable and indigent persons of the Jewish Religion, who shall have attained the age of 60 years, and shall have been resident in England for at least seven years.'
In 2004 the aims have not changed significantly: 'to relieve persons of the Jewish faith who are not less than 60 years of age and are in need, by providing housing and items, services or facilities calculated to reduce the need of such persons, including special care in cases of infirmity'.
Changing roles: In the early 20th century, the work of the Home moved away from direct rescue work and the alleviation of poverty carried out by the former Charities, to a greater emphasis on care and the improvement of the quality of life for its residents.
Developments were made in care despite continued financial difficulties with annual deficits and falling numbers of subscriptions. Funds for the Home were increasingly augmented by valuable sources of income from collections made by Aid Societies such as the Ezra Society, takings from local cinema screenings and fundraising activities such as bazaars. The introduction of Welfare State legislation and pensions contributed greatly to the Home's income and increasing focus on care.
In-house eye care, ear and dental care facilities were introduced by 1924. In 1949 an Occupational Therapy Department was established in line with contemporary thinking on care for the elderly providing a wide range of activities such as basket weaving and needlework. From the 1950s, residents were increasingly encouraged to participate in activities and a regular programme of social events was provided. By the 1960s the Medical Staff consisted of a Matron, deputy Matron, 12 qualified staff and 30 state enrolled Nurses and Orderlies. The mid 1960s saw relaxations in Orthodox religious restrictions with the introduction of visiting hours on Sabbaths and festivals, and the abolition of compulsory wearing kippot (skull caps) and attendance at religious services.
The Community Care Act 1993 had major implications for the Home. Tha Act encouraged potential residents to continue at their own homes for longer. As a result, residents on their admission to the Home were much frailer and dependent requiring greater levels of nursing and paramedical staff. The average age of residents in 2001 was 88 years.
The later half of 20th century saw major building projects with expansion and modernisation of the site. These included: the building of Asher Corren Wing (1957), Gerald Lipton Centre (2001, formerly the Red Brick Extension opened 1976), Birchlands (formerly occupied by the Jewish Home of Rest) (1980), Jessie and Alfred Cope Wing (redeveloped in 1992), David Clore Art and Craft Centre (1986) and Balint Wing (1987).
In 1960s The Home for Aged Jews became Nightingale House (The Home for Aged Jews). Address: 105 Nightingale Lane, Wandsworth LB. From 1997 the Home was renamed as Nightingale.
In 2001 there were 300 residents. Residential and nursing home facilities included a comprehensive leisure service programme, an Art and Craft Centre, special facilities for those residents with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia with a reminiscence centre, multi-sensory room, on-site physiotherapy, pharmacy and dental surgery and occupational therapy services, synagogue, coffee shop, hairdressing salon, landscaped gardens, general shop and kosher food service.
Nightingale's goal in the 21st century was to provide loving care and enable residents to experience a 'wonderful quality of life' - whereby they could 'find a new lease of life and whole host of new activities, hobbies and friends'.
A loyal group of supporters worked closely with Bogle-L'Ouverture from it's inception in 1969. In 1979 they organised the 10th anniversary celebration of the publishing house and at that time they were already calling themselves 'Friends of Bogle'. In the minutes of 10/11/79 they are listed as Steve Lewis, Noreen Forbes, Maureen Stone, Anne Braithwaite, Rolston Callendar, Keith Waithe, Eric Huntley, Jessica Huntley, Leila, Leeland, Shirley, John and Errol.
In 1986 they drew up a constitution which defined clearly their aims and objectives. The committee were Tony Nelson, Anne Johnson, Steve lewis, Karlene Rickards, Claire Villaruel, Keith Waithe, Hazel Alexander, Jessica Huntley and Eric Huntley. The proposed aims were to:
- support the work of Bogle-L'Ouverture (publishing)
- co-operate with Jessica and Eric Huntley in organising poetry readings/book launchings and promotions and discussions on current events which bring more people in touch with the bookshop and with current cultural and political life.
- fund raise when possible
- in order to support the publishing.
- develop the practices of multi-culturalism through the promotion of crafts, education and cultural programmes,
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enrich the quality of life in Ealing by involving members of the community in creative activity.
The group's greatest support/achievement was in March 1991. An appeal to save Bogle-L'Ouverture was raised by Operation Headstart asking the 'African community to recognise the incalucuable services Sister Jessica and Brother Eric have made to our community for over a quarter of a century. The bookshop has closed and the publishing is under threat. The amount needed to re-start the company is estimated at £3,000 to £5,000. Donations to be sent to Friends of Bogle.'
In October 1996 a Business Plan was created with the following mission statement: Friends of Bogle is committed to:
- Developing a strong readership of African and Caribbean literature throughout the UK and other European countries.
- Providing a coherent structure which would allow potential writers of Afro-Caribbean literature the opportunity to publish their works.
- Securing adequate resources and create the environment to promote works of Black writers currently writing in the UK market.
- Working in partnership with other established publishers to enhance the readership of Afro-Caribbean literature.
- Ensure Friends of Bogle is recognised as a fully fledged publishing house.
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Secure a readership market world-wide over a period by carefully planned achievable targets.
By 1996 the group was responsible for publishing several mainstream writers and were associated with 'allowing the voices of Creole and other black dialects to be heard as never before in the the United Kingdom.' They had also published political writers whose work the mainstream press would have been reluctant to publish. Part of their established track record was the publication of 'Come From That Window Child, 'Child Race Class & Democracy' and 'A Hero'.
The group's skills were used to organise the following:
- 10th Anniversary celebration and a commemorative journal
- Saturday Supplementary School at Ealing Technical College,
- The Marcus Garvey Centenary Celebrations
- The Book Fair and the production of the record of performances
- A Conference in support of the Miners' Strike
- Support for the Newcross Massacre March
- Support to the ANC against the aparthied regime in South Africa
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The Walter Rodney Memorial lectures
Other Friends of Bogle Activities included trying to establish the:
- International Children's Bookfair Society. The Patrons of this group included Jessica Huntley and John Agard. They aimed to set up a children's fair to raise the standard of literature for young people.
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Carl Kirton's Culture World. The Friends made an application to create a video about the recording engineer Carl Kirton which chronicled his involvement in collecting records from Calypso to Jazz to contemporary music and his wider involvement in other cultural activities such as dance and poetry from other cultures notably Asian and Irish.
Marcus Garvey Centenary Celebrations:
Marcus Garvey a Black Jamaican writer, left the Caribbean to live in New York. There he became politicised and campaigned for Black people to be aware of their history. He advocated a return to Africa and created the Black Star Line shipping company.
This event was celebrated internationally and the Friends held a cultural extravaganza at Ealing Town Hall to mark the occasion. Part of their brief was not only to co-ordinate celebration events in Ealing but to make contact with other groups. They provided the Marcus Garvey exhibition boards which were displayed at the launch in Lambeth. They brought an international flavour to it by including Indian and Chilean entertainers. The Garvey biography for primary schools was completed and a second biography for secondary schools was placed on the forthcoming titles list.
Work on a series of biographies on Caribbean individuals began in 1981 with letters to authors telling them about the series and asking them to write about specific individuals. The first meeting of the Caribbean Biographical Project committee was in September 1992. The group wanted to correct what they perceived would be a future imbalance in the record of the presence of Caribbean people in Britain and the Caribbean. The project was to be both autobiographical and biographical. Prominent individuals were asked to record or give interviews about their experiences and authors were requested to write biographies.
The biographies were aimed at eight to thirteen year olds and were to be a maximum of 8700 words interspersed with sketches.
The committee was sub-divided into core groups which then went on to hold their own meetings.
Core groups and leaders:
Arts: June Baden-Semple, Oscar Abrams
Education: Waveney Bushell, Winston Best
Faith and Community Care: Hewlett Anrew, Sybil Phoenix
Health Care: June Baden-Semple, Lennox Thomas
Publishing: Eric Huntley, Jessica Huntley
Supplementary School Movement: Cicely Haynes-Hart, Ansell Wong
These individuals were highlighted for biographies or autobiographies: Claudia Jones, C L R James, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louise Bennett, Walter Rodney, Tubal Uriah 'Buzz' Butler, Cipriani, Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, Marryshaw, Mary Secole, Franz Fanon, Constantine, Maurice Bishop, Audrey Jeffers, Althea Jones-La Cointe, Grantley Adams.
The group were concerned by the lack of women on the initial list and Rhoda Reddock at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica sent a list of Caribbean women.
Torch Publishing Co-op was set up by a group which included Eric Huntley, Colin Prescod, Faustin Charles and Sophie Fekarurho. The co-operative produced the Torch newspaper and also sold books via post and stalls at cultural events.
Lionel and Pansy were close friends of Eric and Jessica Huntley of Bogle-L'Ouverture. Lionel Aloric Jeffrey born in Guyana 9 January 1926, died 31 October 1993. Parents were Marie and Charles Jeffrey; wife, Pansy Jeffrey.
He came to England in 1947 to study Economics and Law at Oxford University. He was elected Vice-President of the West Indies Students Union and later President of the overseas federation of students unions in England.
On 29 December 1951, in London, he married Pansy Cummings, daughter of a school teacher from Berbice, Guyana. They had a daughter, Chinyere and two sons, Andreas and Howard.
He was active in the Anti-Colonial struggle in the Caribbean and during this period he worked closely with Cheddi Jagan, Eusi Kawana and Martin Carter.
He returned to Guyana in 1953 when British troops invaded and deposed the elected Peoples Progressive Party. He became Acting Secretary of the Party after Janet Jagan was imprisoned, and was a regular contributor to the publications the Mirror and Thunder.
In 1956 he returned to England to continue his studies. Lionel continued his work in the Labour Movement and was General Secretary and President of the Caribbean Labour Solidarity group. His Socialism was strengthened with the arrival of Guyanese John and Irma LaRose, Eric and Jessica Huntley, Cleston Taylor and Peter Blackman. They formed the nucleus of the West Indian Communist Party. He allied himself to all the progressive groups concerned with Caribbean politics and was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He worked to increase education and other opportunities available to minorities living in the London Borough of Islington and was a member of Islington Council's Race Equality Committee for many years.
He was involved in the following organisations:
Caribbean Labour Solidarity
Caribbean Labour Congress
The Community Education Trust
Islington 18
The West Indian Citizens Association, (WICA)
The Islington Multi-Cultural Education Project
Islington Race Equality Unit
Islington Multi-Cultural Education Project
Greater London Council's Ethnic Minorities Committee
North Islington Law Centre
In 1974 he was President of the Caribbean Labour Solidarity group and a member of the Caribbean Labour Congress.
The Community Education Trust:
In 1974 Lionel, Pansy Jeffrey and colleagues founded the Community Education Trust (CET), based in Manor Gardens, Holloway, Islington LB. It began with evening classes and lectures for people to learn about Caribbean politics and was sponsored initially by Lord Pitt and Bishop Wood of Croydon. In the 1970s and 1980s the Trust developed multi-cultural education courses. The Trustees were Sir Hugh Springer, KCMG, CBE, the Right Reverend Wilfred Wood, the Chairman was George Lamming and Lionel the Executive Secretary.
In 1980 he formed the "Islington 18" in order to help the eighteen black youths arrested after riots at Notting Hill Carnival.
In 1981 the West Indian Citizens Association (WICA) was set up by members of the Community Education Trust in whose premises it was housed. The intention of this group was to lend their facilities and structure to people of West Indian origin in Islington, to create and develop a community organisation to serve the interests of Afro-Caribbean people in the borough.
The Association grew and in June 1981 they started a Senior Citizens Lunch Club which became the forerunner for providing a variety of services for black senior citizens.
In 1985 Lionel became overall director of the Multi-Cultural Education Project in Islington. They developed multi-cultural and anti-racist teaching packs for schools. The project also designed a Caribbean exchange programme whereby 26 third year pupils from Islington secondary schools participated in special workshops and activities and visited and lived with families in Barbados. In 1986 exchange students from Barbados visited London and attended local secondary schools in Islington.
1992 he became a Consultant for the Islington Race Equality Unit. He worked with Islington Council and the Inner London Education Authority to develop their race relations policy and helped establish a race relations unit in Islington with Richard Crowson. He was Chairman of Islington Council's Ethnic Minorities Committee and a member of the Greater London Council's Ethnic Minorities Committee. He worked at the City Literary Institute ('City Lit') in Holborn, Camden LB with George Lamming and Richard Hart and he was a committee member of the North Islington Law Centre with Bil Nash.
The Lionel Jeffrey Nubian Centre
In 1995 the Islington Council Race Equality and Community Affairs Committee named a community centre after him. The Centre was based at 48 Seven Sisters Road, Islington LB. The aims of the centre include the advancement of education and training that would allow users to continue to play a constructive role in society and the promotion of the rights of women. Lionel died 31 October, 1993.
Pansy Jeffrey joined the Family Welfare Association Department of the Kensington and Chelsea Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) and was appointed to the post of the West Indian Social Worker in 1959. She was a Justice of the Peace and served at Horseferry Magistrates Court. In her capacity at the Bureau she helped create organisations for the improvement of housing, education and social conditions for West Indians and other immigrant groups in North Kensington. She was a member of groups which shared her concerns. These included
1960 West Indian Mother Club
1968 College Park School Managing Body
1970 House of Commons Working Group on Education
1970 West London Fair Housing Group Limited
1973 Berbice Co-ownership Housing Association Limited
1974 Community Education Trust
1979 North Kensington Family Centre Committee
1981 Pepper Pot Club.
She was on the management committee of North Kensington Neighbourhood Law Centre. She gave talks about the West Indian community in Notting Hill, London and in the Caribbean.
In the late 1990s Professor Harry Goulbourne, Eric and Jessica Huntley, Professor Preston King and Toks Williams attempted to set up a publishing and bookshop Co-operative in London which would 'cater to the public needs of the minority ethnic communities' on both sides of the Atlantic (LMA/4462/S/001).
The Co-operative was intended to promote African, Caribbean, Native American and African-American concerns and have an international remit. However due to funding difficulties the Co-operative project did not progress beyond the developmental stage.
Jessica Huntley and Eric Huntley, radical book publishers and pioneering Black political activists have been prolifically involved with the British African-Caribbean community's experience from the first arrival in England in 1956 to the first decade of the twenty-first century.
For over 50 years the Huntley's participated in many of the significant grassroots campaigns for racial and social justice that occurred on the national and international scene including the black supplementary schools movement of the 1960s and 70s, the Black Parents Movement which campaigned against the controversial 'Sus' laws and organised legal defence for black and Asian people arrested during the Southall riots of 1979, the New Cross Massacre Action Committee, organiser of the 1981 Black People's Day of Action march that attracted 20,000 black Britons from all over the country and was the largest protest march of black Britons to take place in Britain, and patronage of the Keskidee Centre, Britain's first Afro-Caribbean cultural centre from the 1970s to the 1990s.
The Huntleys were also active in international campaigns to end the South African apartheid regime, political repression in their home country Guyana and free American, former Black Panther and radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal who was on death row in Pennsylvania. Their publishing house Bogle L'Ouverture published landmark texts by Walter Rodney and Bernard Coard. They are highly respected within the black community as elders for their longstanding commitment, contribution and participation in radical movements and organisations that articulated the interests of the black community.
Jessica Elleisse Huntley nee Carroll (occasionally known as seko or sica by those close to her) was born in Bagotstown British Guiana on 23 February 1927 to Hectorine and James Carroll; she was the youngest of five children and had four brothers Robert, Munroe, Newburne and Hadden.
Eric Lindbergh Huntley was born 25 September 1929 Georgetown, British Guiana to Selina and Frank Huntley, he was one of twelve children, who included Vera, Stella, Ovid, Stella, Yvonne, Rudolph, Cyril, Patrick, Patsy, Nicholas and Audrey.
Jessica and Eric Huntley shared a similar political worldview and often worked together on a number of projects. For further information please see introductions to specific sections of the catalogue.
The origins of HM Young Offender Institute, Feltham can be traced back to 1854 when the erection of a reformatory school was first proposed by the Justices of the County of Middlesex. After the passing of the Industrial Schools Act of 1857, magistrates were empowered to sentence children aged between 7 and 14 to industrial schools. The Middlesex Industrial School, Feltham was built within the parish of Bedfont and opened on 1 January 1859. The school passed into the control of the London County Council in April 1889 and eventually closed in August 1909.
The premises then came under the control of the Prison Commissioners. Feltham Borstal Institution opened on 7 October 1910 when 23 boys were transferred from Borstal Institution at Borstal, Kent.
Feltham operated based on the Borstal model. Boys from the age of 16 to 21 who were taken into custody were either sent to Borstal training for 3 years, or to Boys' prison, where sentences were for a lesser period. Those who demonstrated criminal tendencies and in need of reform were sent to Borstal training. Training included instruction in trades, education, physical fitness and work. Good conduct could secure an early release on licence.
In September 1939, Feltham absorbed prisoners from the Boys' Prison at Wormwood Scrubs. This included boys awaiting trial, boy prisoners and those awaiting allocation to Borstal. In 1942, the remand centre moved back to Wormwood Scrubs but the Borstal Reception Centre and the Boys' prison remained at Feltham. In early 1945, the reception centre also went back to Wormwood Scrubs. By April 1946, the Boys' Prison at Feltham ceased to exist and Feltham reverted to being solely a Borstal.
In the early 1970s it was recognised that the buildings were inadequate and designs for a new institute were made incorporating a new remand centre to replace nearby Ashford. The new Feltham was opened in August 1983, although the merger was delayed. HM Young Offender Institution and Remand Centre Feltham was formed by the amalgamation of Ashford Remand Centre and Feltham Borstal in 1991.
Manufacturers of chutneys, pickles, marmalades, jams, vinegars, piccalillis, canned goods and related products.
Previously known as West and Wyatt and founded in 1706, the company originally traded as oilmen at 11 King Street, Soho, Westminster. In 1829 Wyatt retired and the firm was purchased for £600 in 1830 by Edmund Crosse (1804-1862) and Thomas Blackwell (1804-1879) (who had entered the firm as apprentices in 1819) despite objections from the Blackwell family using funds from the sale of farms at Bushey.
The firm's name changed to Crosse and Blackwell in 1838 and was later incorporated in 1892. In 1837 the firm received royal appointment. Capital increased to £25,000 in 1844 and to seven and a quarter million pounds in 1928 where the decision was taken to decrease the amount by half. Medals were awarded at Vienna Universal Exhibition in 1873. The firm also exhibited at the Empire Exhibition, Wembley in 1924.
The firm acquired several companies including: Gamble and Son (1864), E Lazenby and Son Limited (1919), James Keiller and Son Limited (1919), Alexander Cairns and Sons of Paisley, Scotland (1920); British Vinegars Limited (1982) and was associated with Allards Wharf Limited.
PREMISES:
Crosse and Blackwell acquired 21 Soho Square, Soho, Westminster in 1838 (and moved there in 1839 where they remained until 1925). The original factory remained at the King Street premises after 1839. In 1844 'a great fire' took place at the rear of the Soho Square premises.
Further premises acquired included Dean Street (1840), Denmark Street (1851), George Yard (1859), Falconberg factory (1860), with extension to 21 Soho Square developed at 20 Soho Square (Falconberg House), Victoria Wharf, Thames Street, City of London (1862); a Vinegar Brewery at Caledonian Road (1876); Stacey Street acquired in 1876 for factory for Export Pickles (1878) which was later converted for manufacture of Candied Peel (1884); Soho Wharf, Belvedere Road at the south end of Westminster Bridge was established for Export Pickles (1884) and later sold to London County Council for £100,00 for County Hall in 1906; Charing Cross Road premises built (1887); Victoria Wharf, Millwall for Imports (1888); Imperial Wharf, Nine Elms Lane, Battersea built (1907); Collingwood Street, Bethnal Green (1916); Branston factory acquired with cottages (1920).
By 1920 premises included: Soho Square, Charing Cross Road, Brewery Road, Islington; Imperial Wharf, Battersea; Victoria Wharf, Millwall; Tay Wharf, Silvertown; Broad Street, Ratcliff; Albert Square, Dundee; East Dock Street, Maryfield, Dundee; Wisbech; Blairgowie; Sittingbourne; Faversham, Surrey; Paisley; Farleigh; Peterhead; Cork.
During the 1920s the following changes occurred: Rock House, Burton acquired (1921); 112 Charing Cross Road (1921); move to Branston in circa 1921 and move back in 1924; demolition of 20 Soho Square (1924); new factory erected at Crimscott Street (1924); showroom at Eastcheap, City of London (1924); offices were all housed at 21 Soho Square (1924)
OVERSEAS:
A Provision Factory was established at Morrison's Quay, Cork, Ireland in 1864 initially specialised in the canning of salmon from the Shannon. A new warehouse was built at Morrison's Quay in 1902. In 1927 sales in United States of America were supported by the foundation of Crosse and Blackwell Company, Baltimore where factories were built. Allied companies were established in Cape Town, South Africa, as Crosse and Blackwell (South Africa) Limited (1930), and Australia (1958) with factories in Pakenham, Melbourne and Sydney.
STAFF:
In 1832 the chef Qualliotti was working for the company. E & T Pink at Staple Street, Borough (1904); Works Manager at Soho Square: H W Bell (1920) Works Manager at Branston: T H Mattinson (1920); Company Secretary: J Ashton Burton (1920); Chief Engineer: Rollo Appleyard (1920); Frank Blackwell retired from active management (1921); Bernard Lazenby in charge of all manufacturing (1924); Crimscott Street manager: Mr Gray (1924); Silvertown manager: Mr Denholm (1924); Sunrise Preserving formed (1928).
A Sports Club was established and had a site at The Square Sports Field, Pinner (1920).
POST-1960:
The company and all the shares of Crosse and Blackwell (Holdings) Limited were purchased by Nestlé in 1960. This brought to Nestlé Group 11 factories (6 in United Kingdom). In 1960 Crosse and Blackwell Group's head office was Soho Square, Westminster; with factories at Crimscott Street, Bermondsey and Silvertown, London; Peterhead, Scotland; Albert Square and Maryfield, Dundee, Scotland (two factories of subsidiary James Keiller and Son Limited) and Stenhousemuir, Edinburgh, Scotland (factory of A McCowan and Sons Limited, a subsidiary of James Keiller and Son Limited).
Crosse and Blackwell was divested in 2002 by Nestlé and the brand divided between Premier International Foods, in Europe and The J.M. Smucker Company, in North America.
On July 7th 2005 a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks hit London. Suicide bombers detonated devices on tube trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road, between Kings Cross and Russell Square and on the Number 30 bus at Tavistock Square. 52 people were killed, and hundreds more injured.
Capita Hartshead is an independent provider of pensions administration services in the UK and Ireland, initially evolved from a team set up in 1974 to administer the Local Government Pension Scheme on behalf of the Water Authorities. It later acquired Hadrian Solway and, in 1997, became part of The Capita Group Plc (Capita), and is an operating division of Capita.
On the 29th June 1936, Molins Machine Company Limited and its subsidiary company, The Thrissell Engineering Company Limited, established The Molins Pension Fund for their male Staff Employees.
History of Molins from their website (accessed Oct 2009): "Molins history has been one of leadership in world markets through inspired innovation, precision engineering of great quality and the highest standards of customer service. The company had its beginnings in Cuba. Jose S Molins began making cigars and hand rolling cigarettes in Havana in 1874. He then moved to America, and moved again to London. In 1911 his two sons, Harold and Walter, devised a machine that could make almost any kind of packet from cigarette packs to large cartons for tea. The Molins Machine Company was founded in 1912. In 1924 the first cigarette maker (the Mark 1) was patented and by 1928 was running at 1,000 cigarettes per minute. Also in 1928 the Thrissell Engineering company (later to become Masson Scott Thrissell) was acquired. In 1931 the Company opened a site in Richmond, Virginia, in the heart of the US tobacco industry."
"During the Second World War the company focused on armaments, following which Molins was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the President of the United States. The business boomed in the post war years and in 1950 the Saunderton site, near High Wycombe, was opened."
"The 1950s saw the introduction of the hinge-lid pack, which was originally invented and patented by Walter's son, Desmond Molins, in 1937. The hinge-lid pack was a major step forward from the previous soft packs, which allowed cigarettes to be damaged, and was used by Philip Morris in 1954 to relaunch the Marlboro brand: it was instantly successful and Marlboro sales increased 50 fold. Molins started to expand overseas with the first agent for the Far East in Hong Kong, a factory in Behala near Calcutta and in 1960 a factory in Sao Paolo, Brazil."
"The 1970s were a period of diversification. The company acquired the Langston Corporation in 1974, a manufacturer of corrugated board machinery. By combining Langston with Masson Scott Thrissel, the Molins group became a major supplier of corrugating and paper converting machinery. This business was subsequently divested in 1998."
"In July 1976, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. The 1980s, however, were a difficult time for the group. No longer a private company and with a high sales and achievement record, Molins proved to be an attractive proposition for speculative "corporate raiders". This period saw many senior management changes and a series of battles to fight off predatory take-over bids. The company emerged stronger and more focused. The mid-1990s saw a period of acquisition, spurred on by the excellent profitability of the Tobacco Machinery division. The company began a strategy of developing a packaging machinery business by organic growth and by acquisition. In November 1994, Sandiacre Packaging Machinery Ltd., a leading manufacturer of vertical from fill and seal equipment, based in Nottingham, was purchased. The business of Rose Forgrove, which was acquired in 2001, was integrated into Sandiacre's Nottingham facility. Sandiacre Rose Forgrove was subsequently sold in 2006. Molins ITCM, an R and D centre originally established in Coventry in 1985 to aid the existing businesses develop new products, began to develop its own products with the introduction of the pyramid tea bag machinery, which was followed by the rapid introduction of a number of tea bag machines for Unilever. In October 1996 family firms H.J. Langen of Toronto, Canada and its sister company Langenpac N.V. of the Netherlands were acquired by Molins. For half a century Langen has supplied machinery for cartoning, case packing and palletising, now including robotic top load applications, for a diverse range of consumer products, pioneering packaging solutions for a variety of household brand names."
"The late 1990s saw the group significantly reorganise its tobacco machinery business, following a major reduction in demand for original equipment. The division re-established a strong emphasis on the servicing and support of its customer base. As part of its drive towards being a more efficient organisation, a business in Plzen, Czech Republic, was purchased in 2000 to manufacture and assemble tobacco machinery parts and machines."
"In 2000 Molins made a significant strategic move by acquiring the business of Filtrona Instruments and Automation, the world leader in the development, assembly, selling and maintenance of process and quality control instruments for the cigarette industry and also for packaging machinery in certain niche markets. The business, now called Cerulean, operates from its UK headquarters in Milton Keynes as well as other offices around the world."
"As part of the further development of its scientific services activities, Molins acquired Arista Laboratories of Richmond, Virginia in February 2002. Arista is a world leading, fully independent smoke constituent analytical facility and provides its services to cigarette manufacturers and regulatory authorities. In December 2002 Molins acquired the smoke analysis business of LGC Ltd (the Laboratory of the Government Chemist) in Teddington, London, to form the basis of Arista Laboratories Europe, which subsequently relocated to purpose-built premises in Kingston-upon-Thames."
"In 2003 Molins acquired Sasib (based in Bologna, Italy), a manufacturer of packing machinery for the tobacco industry, although this business was subsequently sold in 2006."
"Today, Molins retains major positions in a number of market areas. Through the businesses that make up its three divisions, those of Packaging Machinery, Tobacco Machinery and Scientific Services, Molins continues to provide leading engineering solutions and service to a wide range of multi-national and local customers."
BAE Systems, formerly known as British Aerospace, is a global company engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defence and aerospace systems in the air, on land and at sea.
British Aerospace was formed in 1977, under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act when British Aircraft Corporation was nationalised along with the Hawker Siddeley Group and Scottish Aviation.
BAE Systems operates a number of pension schemes, some of which are now closed to new members. This includes the BAE Systems Pension Scheme (Levels 125,167, 187 and 200), the 2000 Plan and the Royal Ordnance Scheme which were closed to new members from 5 April 2003.
The National Association of Pension Funds is the principal body representing occupational pension funds and those managing pension funds in the UK.
The origin of the NAPF is a grouping known as the Conference of Superannuation Funds, formed in 1917, which sought exemption from tax on the investment returns made by pension funds and from income tax for employees' contributions. The recommendations made by its members to the Royal Commission on Income Tax in 1918 led to the tax exemptions granted in the 1921 Finance Act. The Association of Superannuation and Pension Funds was subsequently formed in 1923 and the name changed to National Association of Pension Funds in 1967. Since the mid 1970s the NAPF has increased the range of its activities including regularly lobbying on legislative and regulatory changes.
In addition the NAPF has promoted courses, conferences and publications. It has also played a role in the corporate governance of companies. Although the core membership has always been drawn from companies that sponsor pension schemes, various categories of associate membership have been encouraged, resulting in the ready availability, within the Association, of a wide range of technical knowledge and influence.
(Company limited by guarantee and not having share capital).
Offices: Cheapside House, 138 Cheapside, City of London (in 2013).
Yick-Kwan Cheung was a member of the Chinese community in London.
Mr Wong Hoi Wah is in his fifties and now retired. He lives in London with his family. Mr Wong's father was one of the seamen who worked on the British merchant cargo ships supplying Hong Kong and Europe before the Second World War. The photograph was taken on board the ship on which the late Mr Wong senior worked.
Mr Can Tran is in his late seventies and is originally from Shunde, China. Tran moved to Saigon, Vietnam when he was in his late teens and where he lived until 1978. In 1980 Tran arrived in London with his family. Mr Tran has always been closely involved with the local community and is still a management member for a London based community centre.
The Royal Humane Society was founded in London in 1774 by two doctors, William Hawes (1736-1808) and Thomas Cogan (1736-1818). Both men were concerned at the number of people wrongly taken for dead - and, in some cases, buried alive; they wanted to promote the new, but controversial, medical technique of resuscitation and offered money to anyone rescuing someone from the brink of death.
The first meeting was held on 18 April 1774 at the Chapter Coffee House, St Paul's Churchyard. The founder members of the Society felt sure that the public would support them in their aim of restoring "a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, and a living child to the bosom of its mournful parents".
The society - then called the 'Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned' - had five key aims:
- To publish information on how to save people from drowning;
- To pay 2 guineas to anyone attempting a rescue in the Westminster area of London;
- To pay 4 guineas to anyone successfully bringing someone back to life;
- To pay 1 guinea to anyone - often a pub-owner - allowing a body to be treated in his house;
-
To provide volunteer medical assistants with some basic life-saving equipment.
The reward of 4 guineas paid to the rescuer and 1 guinea to anyone allowing a body to be treated on his premises soon gave rise to a widespread scam among the down-and-outs of London: one would pretend to be rescued and the other the rescuer - and they would share the proceeds. So monetary rewards were gradually replaced by medals and certificates, with occasional "pecuniary payments" up to a maximum of one guinea.
A network of 'receiving houses' was set up in and around the Westminster area of London where bedraggled bodies, many of them pulled out of London's waterways, could be taken for treatment by volunteer medical assistants. A farmhouse in Hyde Park was used at first. It stood on land donated by King George III, the Society's patron. In the 19th century, a special building was erected and remained there until its demolition in 1954. Hyde Park was chosen because of the Serpentine where tens of thousands of people swam in the summer and ice-skated in the winter. To try to keep the number of drownings to a minimum, the Society employed Icemen to be on hand to rescue anyone going through the ice. Gradually, branches of the Royal Humane Society were set up in other parts of the country, mainly in ports and coastal towns where the risk of drowning was high.
Today the aim of the Society is to recognise the bravery of men, women and children who have saved, or tried to save, someone else's life. The Society operates solely from its headquarters in London but gives awards to people from all over the country, and sometimes from overseas. Financial rewards are no longer given, only medals and certificates.
The "Truth and Justice for Richard Chang Campaign" was set up by the Chang family following the death of Richard Chang (a senior IT business analyst at Abbey National Plc.) in a fall on the 13th July 2004 at the Abbey National building. The campaign was created to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr Chang's death.
In 1290 anti-Jewish feeling in England led to the expulsion of all Jews from the country. In the seventeenth century a small number of Jews arrived in London, fleeing persecution by the Inquisition in Spain. They outwardly behaved as Christians while holding secret prayer meetings; and began to petition Protector Oliver Cromwell for the official re-admittance of Jews to England. Eventually their petition was successful and the first official Jewish place of worship was opened in Creechurch Lane, London, in 1656. This building soon became too small and in 1695 work began on a new synagogue, to be situated on Bevis Marks Street, around the corner from Creechurch Lane. The building was opened in September 1701.
Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries immigrants joined the Congregation, coming from Portugal (known as Marranos) or from Jewish communities elsewhere including Spain, Holland, France, Italy and North Africa, the Middle East, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. The congregation began to leave the City of London and the East End to settle in the west of London, leading to the establishment of a branch synagogue: situated on Wigmore Street in 1853; moved to Bryanston Street, Marble Arch in 1861; and finally Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale, in 1896. Another synagogue was constructed at Mildmay Park in North London in 1883 and in Wembley in 1962. The Beth Holim hospital and old people's home was moved to Wembley in 1977.
In 1657 the Congregation opened a cemetery, known as the Velho (Old), in Mile End Road, East London. The Velho Cemetery closed in 1735 and the Novo (New) Cemetery was opened further along Mile End Road, and was used until 1918. After this a third cemetery was opened in Golders Green in north west London. The Novo cemetery was partly cleared in the 1970s in face of a compulsory purchase order. Re-interments were carried out at Brentwood, Essex, where all the names are recorded on plaques.
The Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation was led by a small group (Mahamad) consisting of two Wardens (Parnassim) and a Treasurer (Gabay), chosen annually front among the Elders. In the mid 19th century this body became an elected Executive. The Mahamad compiled the first Laws of the Congregation (Ascamot) which were intended to maintain a pious, united and ordered community. The Mahamad levied taxes on members, selected and paid the Haham (Chief Rabbi) and other officials, received offerings and legacies, authorised the solemnisation of marriages and distributed charity (both money and goods such as matzot, coal and blankets).
The synagogue also established various charities to help its members. These included an orphanage; the Shaare Tikvah (Gates of Hope) School for boys, founded in the seventeenth century; the Villareal School for girls; Dower Societies which provided assistance for brides to set up their homes; the Welfare Board offering assistance to people in need; and medical provision in the Beth Holim, now an old people's home but formerly a hospital founded in 1747.
Famous members of the Synagogue include Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, (1784-1885), financier and Jewish community leader, who devoted much of his wealth to charitable causes and travelled widely campaigning on behalf of Jewish interests; and boxer and prize-fighter Daniel Mendoza (1763-1836) who created a new style of boxing which led to the development of the modern sport. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was circumcised at the synagogue, although a later quarrel between his father and the synagogue Elders led to the family leaving the congregation and the children being baptised as Christians in 1817 (thus allowing Disraeli to enter Parliament).
The Synagogue is still used for regular worship as well as for special services organized by British Jews in general.
Source of information: Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation website at http://www.sandp.org/history.htm (accessed March 2010).
Alastair Ross Goobey was born in 1945, the son of George Henry Ross Goobey, pension fund manager of Imperial Tobacco. After education at Marlborough and Cambridge he followed his father into the City, starting at Kleinwort Benson in 1968. He then worked at Hume Holdings, 1972-77; Courtauld pension fund, 1977-81 (investment manager); Geoffrey Morley and Partners, 1981-85 (director); James Capel, 1987-1993 (chief strategist); Hermes Pension Management, 1993 onwards (chief executive). He also served as a special advisor to the Treasury, 1986-1987; and was a member of the council of Lloyds.
Ross Goobey was noted for his contributions to the field of responsible investing and better corporate governance. He campaigned for certain elements of the UK Combined Code for the management of public companies, including the limitation of director's contracts, transparency and professionalism of appointments, and greater accountability and openness.
Ross Goobey contributed a column to various publications, and wrote two books: The Money Moguls (1986) on investment management, and Bricks and Mortals (1992) on the property market crash.
Outside the City he was a governor of the Wellcome Trust, helping to improve their income, a governor of the Royal Academy of Music (he was a keen pianist and clarinetist), and sat on the investment committee of the National Gallery.
In 1998 Ross Goobey was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of blood cancer. In 2000 he was awarded the CBE for services to pensions. He died in February 2008 aged 62, leaving a wife, Sarah, and a son and daughter.
Source of information: The Times, February 5 2008.
This oral history project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and run by Saam Theatre Group. Its aim was to collect and present oral history testimonies of Iranian settlers in London. All the interviews were conducted by young London Iranians. The project ran from 2007-2008 and ended with an audio/visual exhibition of the finished interviews, which ran for three weeks from 1 May 2008.
John Gyford taught at a college in Chelmsford, Essex. He gave lectures to students on social change and housing in London. He used photographic slides to help illustrate these themes.
Gyford later worked at University College London (UCL) and North East and Central London polytechnics, and became a labour historian. He later joined local government and became Leader of Braintree District Council. As of 2009 he was Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor for Witham North, Essex.
The Working Men's College was founded in 1854. The activities of the College grew out of the Workers Association, which in turn, had its foundations in the Christian Socialist movement. F D Maurice, the first principal of the College, is generally credited as the ideologue of Christian Socialism.
Maurice attracted a group of young men including Charles Kingsley [author of the Water Babies], Tom Hughes [author of Tom Brown's School Days] and R B Litchfield. Many of Maurice's followers came from the Association and subsequently became teachers at the College. Once the College had been established the founders managed to attract a number of other high profile teachers including Ruskin, Rossetti and Lowes Dickinson.
In contrast to the Mechanics' Institutes, which had been judged a failure by the mid-nineteenth century, the College syllabus emphasised the a liberal rather than practical eduction. For example the art classes concentrated upon fine art rather than technical drawing. The founders and the other teachers moulded the curriculum and ethos of the College according to their own experiences as Oxbridge graduates.
As well as the formal classes the College encouraged extra-cirricular activities and the records of the student groups form a significant portion of the archive. The Common Room, in particluar, provided a forum for student involvement.
Women were admitted to the College in 1966 after almost 10 years of debate. In 1957 Frances Martin College (formally the Working Women's College) moved in with the Working Men's College premises and after 1965 a formal agreement was made to join the administrations of the two colleges.
The College premises were orginally in 31 Red Lion Square. They moved to 45 Great Ormond Street in 1856 and subsequently to the current, purpose built, building on Crowndale Road in 1904.
Lesbian London newsletter was first issued in 1992, produced by a group of volunteers based at Sisterwrite Bookshop, 190 Upper Street, Islington. It included national and international news, culture and listings. It was funded by advertising. The newsletter was distributed monthly, free from venues (such as bookshops and lesbian and gay centres) and also by subscription. The distribution area included Southwark, Kennington, Camden and Hackney.