The Independent Labour Party: The activities of the Manchester Independent Labour Party (established in 1892) inspired Liberal-Labour MPs to consider setting up a new national working class party. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was consequently formed in 1893 under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915). The chief objective of the ILP would be "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange". The ILP had 35,000 members at the time of the 1895 General Election, and put forward 28 candidates, but only won 44,325 votes. The party had more success in local elections, winning over 600 seats on borough councils. The ILP joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1898 to make West Ham the first local authority to have a Labour majority. On 27th February 1900 representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, joined trade union leaders to form the Labour Representation Committee.
The Independent Labour Party: The activities of the Manchester Independent Labour Party (established in 1892) inspired Liberal-Labour MPs to consider setting up a new national working class party. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was consequently formed in 1893 under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915). The chief objective of the ILP would be "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange". The ILP had 35,000 members at the time of the 1895 General Election, and put forward 28 candidates, but only won 44,325 votes. The party had more success in local elections, winning over 600 seats on borough councils. The ILP joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1898 to make West Ham the first local authority to have a Labour majority. On 27th February 1900 representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, joined trade union leaders to form the Labour Representation Committee.
The United Nations Association came into being in 1948 with the help of money from the League of Nations Union which carried on as a parallel organisation. After the demises of the League of Nations Union the UNA took over many of its functions and staff. The UNA describes itself as a "critical fan club of the United Nations" and has always reflected the concerns of the United Nations. It began by focussing on the issues of world peace and the danger of war through hunger and whilst these have remained central issues for them they have expanded to include human rights, third world development and the environment as issues of major importance to them. The range of activities that the UNA undertake has also changed. In the beginning they mainly concentrated on lobbying government and meeting civil servants and ministers, however they gradually expanded into campaigning in their own right and educating the public about the issues that they are concerned about. Education has become a large part of the work of the UNA. It strives to educate the public about the role and activities of the United Nations and how the UNA is involved in these. It also publishes leaflets on various issues that it thinks is important.
The UNA itself is divided into various branches which are largely independent of the centre, co-ordinating regional officers who are in touch with both the centre and the branches, committees relating to single issues such as human rights and a general council which meets once a year to debate issues raised by the branches. Information from the central organisation is sent out to the branches via the Branch Letter and campaign packs are sent out for the annual nationwide UNA campaign.
Prior to 1834 Ireland did not have any kind of poor law system. Outdoor relief was provided through local parochial (Church of Ireland) boards. The Poor Law Act of 1834 divided Ireland into poor law unions. Each union was to have an elected Board of Guardians. The Board was responsible for building and administering workhouses and providing further care for the poor within its bounds. An Irish poor law union consisted of an area approximately ten miles in radius. Multiple townlands, usually with a large market town as its centre were found in each union. Although most unions were located within one county, some encompassed up to three counties. Large cities contained their own unions. By 1842, 37 workhouses were operation. In that year alone, more than 30,000 people sought relief. By 1846 there were 130 Irish poor unions housing 94,437 destitute people in its workhouses.
The Social Democratic Federation was founded by Henry Mayers Hyndman (1842-1921), who converted to socialism after reading 'Das Kapital' while on holiday in the United States. This work inspired him to form a Marxist political group, and in 1881 he formed the Social Democratic Federation. This became the first Marxist political group in Britain and over the next few months Hyndman was able to recruit trade unionists such as Tom Mann (1856-1941) and John Burns (1858-1943) into the organisation. Eleanor Marx (1855-1898), Karl's youngest daughter became a member, as did the artist and poet William Morris (1855-1898). By 1885 the organisation had over 700 members. At first the Federation was mainly concerned with land nationalisation but this quickly changed and their aims became more obviously socialist. Their manifesto "Socialism Made Plain" sets out their aims. These were improved housing for the working classes, free compulsory education for all classes, including free school meals, an eight hour working day, state ownership of banks and railways, abolition of the national debt, nationalisation of the land and the organisation of agricultural and industrial armies under state control run on co-operative principles. The Federation produced a weekly propaganda paper call 'Justice'. This was initially financed by Edward Carpenter and thereafter by William Morris. Its many contributors included George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and William Morris.
In 1886 the Federation became involved in organising strikes and demonstrations against low wages and unemployment. After one demonstration that led to a riot in London, three of the Federation's leaders, Hyndman, John Burns and H H Champion, editor of 'Justice', were arrested but acquitted. By 1884 there was disagreement within the Federation about the best way to achieve their aims. Henry Hyndman favoured using the parliamentary structure to achieve change but other members of the Federation were against this. The Federation split, with many members following William Morris to form the Socialist League. Champion, also left, taking his journal with him. Although the membership was never very large, the Social Democratic Federation continued and in February 1900 the group joined the Independent Labour Party, the Fabian Society and several trade unions to form the Labour Representation Committee, which eventually evolved into the Labour Party.
Thomas Allsop 1795-1880, entered the silk mercery trade in London in 1812. He then joined the Stock Exchange. He made the acquaintance of Samuel Coleridge in 1818, and on the poet's death published his "Letters, Conversations, and Recollections". Allsop was also a friend of the essayists Charles Lamb (1775-1834), William Hazlitt (1778-1830), and the poet Barry Cornwall (1787-1874). Allsop provided the Irish Radical Feargus O'Connor (1796-1855) with his property qualification as representative of Chartism on his election as MP for Nottingham. He was in sympathy with Felice Orsini, the conspirator against Napoleon III. Allsop was charged by the government of having knowingly purchased shells to be used by Orsini in an assassination attempt upon the emperor Napoleon III. Allsop was not brought to trial, however. A reward was offered for his apprehension as accessory in the "attempt of Felice Orsini", but the overtness of his actions disarmed suspicion.
The Wolfenden Committee on Voluntary Services was set up by the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, who jointly financed it. Chaired by Sir John Frederick Wolfenden. The report was published as "The Future of Voluntary Organisations".
The Committee on woman power was a committee of women MPs and women sympathisers, to investigate possibilities for and problems of, women' war work. The Committee was chaired by Irene Ward (1895-1980) and it met at the House of Commons.
The Movement for Colonial Freedom was a group formed in 1954 to campaign for the right of all people to full independence and international mutual aid. It became "Liberation" in 1970.
Margaret Tyssen-Amherst (1835-1919) was the only child of Admiral Robert Mitford (d 1870). She married William Tyssen Amherst in 1856, who was created 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney in 1892. They had six daughters. Her book A Sketch of Egyptian History was published in 1904. She was also a member of the Ladies' Grand Council of the Primrose League. The League was founded in 1883 to commemorate the work of Benjamin Disraeli. Its aim was the maintenance of religion, the monarchy, the constitution, the unity of the commonwealth and the improvement of the condition of the people.
The Advisory Committee on Local Government was set up by the Labour Party to explore the feasibility of reconstructing local government. It had a sub-committee which dealt with town-planning which discussed controlling the price of building materials.
The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff was founded in 1890 when about a dozen men met in an office in the Strand and decided to form the Clerk's Union. As membership increased and spread across the country, the name was changed to the National Union of Clerks. In 1920, after rapid growth and the absorption of a number of other unions, the membership figure was around 40,000 and the name was again changed to the National Union of Clerks and Administrative Workers (NUCAW). In 1940, the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries transferred to NUCAW and a new title was agreed: the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union. Then, in 1972, arising from the spread of the union's influence, changes in office skills and the growing ability of the union to represent staff at all levels, it changed its title to the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) and they joined GMB in 1989. More recently, APEX accepted the Transfer of Engagements of the Automobile Association Staff and the General Accident Staff. Since the amalgamation, the Greater London Staff Association, who earlier transferred to GMB, have joined the APEX Partnership and the National Union of Labour Organisers and Legal Aid Staff Association have also transferred to APEX.
In 1928 a birth control information centre was established in London under the direction of Edith How-Martyn (1875-1954). In 1930, following the Seventh International Conference on Birth Control in Zurich, the centre was re-organized as the Birth Control International Information Centre (BCIIC), with Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) as president and How-Martyn as director. Eileen Palmer was secretary of the BCIIC mainly during the 1930s. She worked closely with How-Martyn to forward the spread of information world-wide and maintained close links with Sanger's movement for planned parenthood in the USA. The BCIIC merged with the National Birth Control Association of England (name later changed to the Family Planning Association of England) in 1938, which continued much of the international agenda of the Centre until the formation of the International Committee on Planned Parenthood in 1948. The stated purpose of the BCIIC was to "spread the knowledge of birth control all over the world." The Centre acted as a clearinghouse for birth control information, responding to inquiries regarding the location of clinics, availability and effectiveness of particular contraceptives, methods, and legal restrictions. The Centre published numerous pamphlets, transcriptions of speeches, newsletters, bulletins and other information about contraception, new research and clinic updates. The BCIIC co-ordinated international birth control activities (the organisation of clinics and conferences) with the help of correspondents in over 30 countries. Centre staff also arranged for visitors to tour clinics in London and New York, and hosted weekly meetings in London with guest speakers from various countries.
The Stapletons were an old landed family in Carlton, North Yorkshire. Their seat was Carlton Hall. Thomas Stapleton's son Miles claimed the title of Baron Beaumont in 1840.
The Independent Labour Party: The activities of the Manchester Independent Labour Party (established in 1892) inspired Liberal-Labour MPs to consider setting up a new national working class party. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was consequently formed in 1893 under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915). The chief objective of the ILP would be "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange". The ILP had 35,000 members at the time of the 1895 General Election, and put forward 28 candidates, but only won 44,325 votes. The party had more success in local elections, winning over 600 seats on borough councils. The ILP joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1898 to make West Ham the first local authority to have a Labour majority. On 27th February 1900 representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, joined trade union leaders to form the Labour Representation Committee.
The National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers was formed in 1932. It consisted of various smaller unions, among them the Amalgamated Society of Tailors, the London Society of Tailors and Tailoresses, the United Clothing Workers Union and the National Unions of Tailors and Garment Workers. In 1991 it joined the General Municipal and Boilermakers (GMB).
Sir Dingle Foot (1905-1978) was educated at Bembridge School, Isle of Wight, and Balliol College, Oxford. He was President of the Union, 1928. From 1931 to 1945 he was Liberal MP for Dundee, 1931-45. In 1930 Dingle Foot was called to the bar (Gray's Inn), 1930. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare, 1940, and a member of the British delegation to San Francisco Conference, 1945. Dingle Foot left the Liberal party and joined the Labour party in 1956. He was Labour MP for Ipswich, 1957-1970. He became Solicitor-General and was knighted, 1964. His publications include: "British Political Crises" (1976) and "Despotism in disguise" (1937).
Reuben Kelf-Cohen (1905-1978) was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford. He served in the Royal Field Artillery during World War One (1914-1918). In 1920 he entered the Board of Education. from 1924 to 1939 he was Tutorial Class Tutor, London University. He was a member of the Board of Trade 1925-1941, the Petroleum Department 1941-1942, and Principal Assistant Secretary (Gas and Electricity) at the Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1942-1945. From 1946 to 1955 he was Under-Secretary at the Ministry. Kelf-Cohen was also Director of the East Indian Produce company 1955-1959, and Visiting Lecturer at St. Andrews University, 1970, and University College, Aberystwyth, 1971. His publications include: Nationalisation in Britain: the end of a dogma (1958); To whom is nationalized industry responsible? (1959); Twenty years of nationalisation: the British experience (1969).
George Hammond (1763-1853) was educated at Merton College, Oxford, and was elected a fellow in 1787. He was secretary to David Hartley the younger at Paris, who was conducting peace negotiations with France and America. Hammond was charge d'affaires at Vienna 1788-1790. In August 1791 Hammond became the first British minister accredited to the United States. He left America in 1795 he returned to London to become foreign under-secretary. Hammond became intimate with his chief at the foreign office Lord Grenville (1759-1834) and the Tory politician George Canning (1770-1827). Hammond was joint editor of the "Anti-Jacobin". This journal was founded by George Canning in 1797. The intentions of the journal was to combat the radical political ideas which had emerged as a result of the French Revolution. It appeared weekly from 20th November 1797 to 7th July 1798.
Resisters Inside The Army or RITA was an American semi-underground group, based in Heidelberg, Germany. It campaigned amongst US GIs against the army, racism and the war in Vietnam.
The Anarchist Communist Alliance: No further information available.
The Socialist League: In 1884 a group of members of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) attempted to remove H H Hyndman (1842-1921) from the leadership of the party. This group shared Hyndman's Marxist beliefs, but objected to his nationalism and the dictatorial methods he used to run the party. At a meeting of the Social Democratic Federation executive on 27th December, 1884, there was a debate about Hyndman's leadership. There were complaints about his control over the party's journal "Justice". Others were unhappy about Hyndman's tendency to expel members he disagreed with. The SDF executive voted by a majority of two (10-8), that it had no confidence in Hyndman. When Hyndman refused to resign, some members left and formed a new organisation called the Socialist League. After six months the Socialist League only had eight branches and 230 members. Britain's economic problems in the 1880s helped to revive interest in the Socialist League. By January 1887 the membership of the party reached 550. The Socialist League continued to grow and by 1895 had over 10,700 members. Numbers declined after this and when the organisation disbanded in 1901 it was down to less than 6,000.
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.
The posters were produced by the Ministerstvo Edravookhraneniia of Russia in 1930.
No further information available.
The New Leader was the journal of the Independent Labour Party. These are the papers of L A Plummer, who was General Manager of the New Leader, between 1923 and 1930.
George Soloveytchik, 1902-1982, was born in St Petersburg, the son of the Managing Director of the Siberian Bank of Commerce. He was educated at St Catharine's School, and The Reformation School, Petrograd, Russia. He also studied at Queen's College, Oxford, Paris University and Berlin University. Soloveytchik escaped from Soviet Russia to England in 1918, and began to write and lecture while still at Oxford. He became a frequent free lance contributor to leading British and overseas newspapers and periodicals chiefly on international affairs, history and biography. He was Editor of the 'Economic Review' 1926-1927, and Foreign Editor of the 'Financial Times' 1938-1939. Soloveytchik was also Director of Publicity at the International Colonial Exhibition at Paris in 1931. From 1941 to 1945 he was Special adviser to the exiled Belgian Government in London, and official lecturer to HM Forces, 1940-1945. Soloveytchik delivered addresses to the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and at Princeton, Yale, etc., in 1944. He went on numerous lecture tours in USA, Canada and Europe from 1946 onwards. He also went on a special mission to Scandinavian countries on behalf of UNESCO, 1947. Soloveytchik was Visiting Lecturer at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva Univ., 1948-1956, also at School of Economics, St Gallen. His publications include: 'The financier: the life of Ivar Kreuger, (1933); 'Peace or chaos?' (1943); 'Potemkin: a picture of Catherine's Russia' (1938); 'Russia in perspective' (1945); 'Switzerland in perspective' (1954).
Alan Crosland Graham (1896-1964) began his career in the army serving in France and Russia between 1916 and 1920. After leaving the army his political career began as secretary to the Earl of Balfour, 1925-1929 and Viscount Hailsham, 1932-1935. During this time he contested the parliamentary constituencies parliamentary contests of Stirling, Denbigh and Darwen. He was finally elected as Conservative MP for Wirral in 1935. He remained MP for Wirral until 1945. During his time in Parliament he displayed an interest and involvement in anti-Nazi and anti-Communist groups in Europe. This is reflected in his chairmanship of the Anglo-Polish Parliamentary Committee and the files among his papers relate to Austria, Poland, France and the Never Again Committee. His publications include: "Does Poland matter to Britain? [An indictment of political isolationism, a cry for justice and for Christianity in action]".
Frank Walter Paish, 1898-1988, was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He worked for the Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd, in London and South Africa, 1921-1932. From 1931 to 1938 he was a Lecturer at the London School of Economics, 1932-1938. Paish was a Reader, 1938-1949, and later became Professor of Economics (with special reference to Business Finance), 1949-1965. He was made an Honorary Fellow in 1970. Paish was also Secretary of the London and Cambridge Economic Service, 1932-1941, and 1945-1949, and Editor, 1947-1949. From 1941 to 1945 Piash was Deputy-Director of Programmes at the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He was also Consultant on Economic Affairs for Lloyds Bank Ltd, 1965-1970. His publications include: The Post-War Financial Problem and Other Essays (1950); Business Finance (1953); Studies in an Inflationary Economy (1962); Long-term and Short-term Interest Rates in the United Kingdom (1966); How the Economy Works and Other Essays (1970); The Rise and Fall of Incomes Policy (1969).
Distributism: Distributionists believe that the means of production should be distributed as widely as possible among the populace. Distributism opposes Communism and Socialism and any form of centralisation. It embraces property of ownership, small economies of scale, belief in God and maintaining families, and sensible technology. Distributism is generally against big systems and in favour of small and private systems. Distributism promotes independence and self-reliance provided it is understood to br subsequent to higher values such as religious faith and promotion of the family. The Distributist League was founded in 1926. Its President was the writer G K Chesterton (1874-1936). The Distributist Party was formed at a meeting at the Charing Cross Hotel on 25th May 1933. A resolution was passed at the meeting that the party should pursue "...the encouragement of individual ownership in the means of livelihood; the dispersal of unnecessarily large aggregates of industrial and commercial capital".
Crawfurd Price was a journalist who toured the Balkans between 1920 and 1922. The Balkans had been ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire from 1867 until its defeat at the close of World War I (1914-1918). The Versailles peace treaties defined a new pattern of state boundaries in the Balkans, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded in 1918.
The Committee on the Prevention and Relief of Distress examined the plight of various areas throughout Britain which were considered to be in need of financial assistance during World War One (1914-1918). It had the power to recommend that Local Representative Committees grant various sums of money to these areas.
Professor John Michael Lee (b 1932): Lee was educated at Christ Church Oxford. From 1958 to 1967 he was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in government at Manchester University. Lee went on an academic secondment to HM Treasury, 1967-1969. He was Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1969-1972, and Reader in Politics at Birkbeck College, 1972-1981. He was Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bristol, 1987-1990 (Professor of Politics, 1981-1992 and Emeritus Professor 1992). From 1993 to 1995 Lee was a Visiting Fellow for the Centre for International Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His publications include: "Social Leaders and Public Persons" (1963); "Colonial Development and Good Government" (1967); "African Armies and Civil Order" (1969); "The Churchill Coalition" (1980); "At the Centre of Whitehall (1998 with GW Jones and June Burnham).
The Fulton Report: In 1968 the Fulton Committee urged radical reform in the civil service, recommending the establishment of agencies through the subdivision of departments on a functional basis. Other Fulton report recommendations included the establishment of a civil service college, improving in-service training practices, and increasing the role of specialists. All centred on improving the quality of management in the civil service, as a means to increased efficiency and economy. The principle civil service reforms implemented since the early 1980s have their origins in the recommendations of the Fulton Report.
The British Association for Labour Legislation was a small group of people who were attached to the London School of Economics. The association dealt with issues such as the health and welfare of workers, education and the implementation of a National Health Service.
Frederick Bernal, 1828-1903, was HM Consul in Madrid (1854-1858), Cartagena (1858-1861), Baltimore (1861-1866), and Le Havre (1866-1896).
The membership of this organisation included religious, political, trade union, co-operative, peace society, womens', council and youth representatives. The organisation's first chairman was John Beckett (1894-1954). Beckett was educated at Latymer School and was a journalist and Company Director. He was Labour MP for Gateshead 1924-1929, and Peckham 1929-1931.
The Joint Board consisted of three representatives and the secretaries from the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Labour Party. The Joint Board met to:
- consider and report as whether new societies connected with trades already covered by existing organisations should be encouraged or otherwise.
- consider and agree upon joint political or other action when such is deemed to be advantageous or necessary.
3.use its influence to bring about a settlement in cases of trade disputes, provided it had the concurrence of the Executive of the union or unions affected.
Formerly the National Committee for the Promotion of the Break Up of the Poor Law. Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), Prime Minister 1902-1905, set up a Royal Commission under Lord George Hamilton (1845-1927) to look into the Poor Law of 1832. The Act was considered to be too severe, it was no longer universally applied and was open to abuse. The Local Government Act of 1929 established a revised approach to the conditions of the poor.
Edward Pease 1857-1945 was the sixth of fifteen children, was born at Henbury Hill, near Bristol on 23rd December, 1857. Edward was the grandson of Edward Pease (1767-1858) the railway entrepreneur. His parents were devout Quakers. Pease moved to London in 1874 where he found work as a clerk in his brother-in-law's textile firm. Later he became a partner in a brokerage company. The business was very successful, but Pease, who was gradually developing socialists ideas, became increasingly uncomfortable about his speculative dealings on the Stock Exchange. In the early 1880s Pease became friends with Frank Podmore (1856-1910), who invited him to join the Society for Physical Research. The following year, the two men, joined a socialist debating group established by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. In January, 1884, the group became known as the Fabian Society. Podmore's home, 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster, became the official headquarters of the organisation. The success of "Fabian Essays in Socialism" (1889) convinced the Fabian Society that they needed a full-time employee. In 1890 Pease was appointed as Secretary of the Society. In 1894 Henry Hutchinson, a wealthy solicitor from Derby, left the Fabian Society £10,000. Hutchinson left instructions that the money should be used for "propaganda and socialism". Hutchinson selected Pease, Sidney Webb (1859-1947) and Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) as trustees of the fund, and together they decided the money should be used to develop a new university in London. The London School of Economics (LSE) was founded in 1895. Pease was also a member of the Independent Labour Party. On 27th February 1900, Pease represented the Fabian Society at the meeting of socialist and trade union groups at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London. The Conference established a Labour Representation Committee (LRC). Pease was elected to the executive of the Labour Representation Committee (named the Labour Party after 1906) and held the post for the next fourteen years. Pease established the East Surrey Labour Party and served on local council.
Charlotte Wilson (1854-1944)was born in Kemerton, Overbury, Tewkesbury. Her father was surgeon to the Shrewsbury Union and to the Worcester Friendly Institution. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. Sometime between 1880-1883 she married Arthur Wilson, a stockbroker who became editor of "The Investors Review". In 1884 she met Edward Pease, who introduced her to the Fabian Society. Wilson was elected a member of the society on 17th October 1884 and on 7th November read a paper to the society on anarchism. When the executive was established on 19th December she was made one of its members. Wilson left the Fabian Society in 1915 on the grounds of ill health. She was honorary secretary to the Prisoner of War Fund, Oxford and Bucks Regiment 1918-1919, and died at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York in 1944.
Margaret Harkness (1854-c1921) was a relative of the social reformer Beatrice Potter, and was born at Upton-upon-Severn in 1854. Her father was an Anglican priest. In 1877 she went to London to train at Westminster Hospital. In January 1878 she began as an apprentice dispenser, but around 1881 decided to try to earn a living as a journalist and author. Her first known publication was an article entitled "Women as Civil Servants" in the liberal monthly journal "Nineteenth Century". At the same time she began writing books and novels. During the early 1880s she became interested in the social problems of London's East End. In January 1888 Harkness joined the group around Henry Hyde Champion (1859-1928), editor of the Social Democratic Federation's journal "Justice", for which she published several of her articles. She left the group in 1889. In 1906 she went to India, where she stayed for several years working as a writer and probably a journalist. Harkness appears to have died some time after 1921.
Amber Blanco White, nee Reeves (b 1887) was the eldest daughter of William Pember Reeves (1857-1932), High Commissioner of New Zealand, and Maud Pember Reeves (1865-1953), a member of the Fabian Society's executive and founder of the Fabian Womens Group. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, gaining a double first in moral sciences. She was involved in the suffrage movement and the Fabian Society.
John Robert Riding, 1902-1983, was born in Gateacre, near Liverpool, and lived at Newcastle-under-Lyme until he was three years old, when his parents moved to London. Ridings began his career as an office boy with Camberwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 1917. In September 1940 he became Assistant Solicitor for Camberwell Metropolitan Borough Council. Riding was appointed Solicitor and Deputy Clerk to Hayes and Harlington Urban District Council, Middlesex in July 1943. In October 1946 he was appointed Clerk and Solicitor to Willenhall Urban District Council, Staffordshire. He retired from this post in March 1966 on the re-organisation of local government in the West Midlands. He went on to become Clerk of Shifnal Parish Council, Shropshire in 1968. In October 1976 Riding was appointed Town Clerk of Shifnal when the Parish Council became a Town Council. In March 1977 Riding retired after sixty years in local government. In February 1926 Riding was appointed Secretary to the Joint Committee of the Peckham branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and Camberwell Local Communist Party. In 1930 Riding retired from this post as he was moving from the Borough following his marriage. In 1928 Riding became Acting Secretary to the ILP South London Federation. He became Propaganda Secretary for the Federation in 1930. He was Member of the National Executive Committee of the Society of Clerks of the Urban District Councils, 1952-1968; President of the Society of Clerks of the Urban District Councils, 1954-1966; Member of the Executive Council of the Urban District Councils Association, 1966-1967; Member of the National Executive Committee of the Society of Local Council Clerks, 1972-1975; Chairman of the Executive Committee, Shropshire Association of Parish & Town Councils, 1974-1977, and continued as a co-opted member of this Committee after his retirement.
The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF) or "The Fed" as it was sometimes known was founded in 1898. William Brac of the South Wales branch of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) became Vice-President, and the Lib-Lab MP for the Rhondda William Abraham (1842-1922), who was prominent within the Cambrian Miners' Association, became the President. Abraham was also Teasurer of the MFGB. He was often referred to as "Mabon" (Welsh for the bard) by miners. A few months after its founding the SWMF became affiliated with the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. In 1899 it had 100,000 members, and by 1914 it had 200,000, making it the largest group affiliated to the MFGB. It became the largest unit within British coalmining unionism. In 1912 the SWMF secured a minimum wage for coalminers by advocating the first Britain-wide coal strike. However, the failure of the 1926 General Strike saw a decline in the SWMF's membership from 136,000 to 60,000 by 1932. Relevant publications include: The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century (1980) by Hywel Francis and Dai Smith.
The committee comprised representatives of organisations affiliated to, or eligible for affiliation to the Labour Party. They discussed the relief of civil distress, food prices, housing and pensions.
Charles Roden Buxton 1875-1942: Roden Buxton was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was private secretary to his father Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1837-1915) when he was Governor of South Australia, 1897-1898. In 1902 he was called to the Bar, Inner Temple. From 1902 to 1919 Roden Buxton was Principal of Morley College (for working men and women). He was the first President of the South London Branch of the Workers' Educational Association. Roden Buxton was also the Editor of the Albany Review (formerly Independent Review) 1906-1908. He contested East Hertfordshire, 1906, Mid Devon, 1908 and December 1910, Accrington, 1918, 1923 and 1924. He was Liberal MP for Mid or Ashburton Division, Devon, January to December 1910, and Labour MP for Accrington, November 1922 to December 1923, and for Elland Division of West Riding, Yorkshire 1929 to 1931. Roden Buxton was Honourable Secretary to Land Enquiry Committee 1912 to 1914, Treasurer of the Independent Labour Party 1924 to 1927, and Parliamentary Adviser to the Labour Party, 1926. During World War One (1914-1915) he went on a political mission with his brother Lord Noel Buxton (1869-1948) in an attempt to secure the neutrality of Bulgaria. In the course of this a Turkish assassin made an attempt on their lives (October 1914), shooting Roden Buxton through the lung. His publications include:Towards a Lasting Settlement (1915) (joint author); Shouted Down (1916); Peace this Winter (1916); The Secret Agreements (1918); The World after the War (1920) (joint author); In a German Miner's Home (1920) (joint author); In a Russian Village (1922); Essays on English Literature (1929); The Race Problem in Africa (1931); The Alternative to War (1936).
The British National Party (BNP) was founded by John Tyndall in 1982 as an offshoot of the National Front. The BNP aims to ensure that the "British people retain their homeland and identity" through such measures as the halt to all further immigration, opposition to the single European Currency, and the selective exclusion of foreign-made goods from British markets and the reduction of foreign imports. The BNP is headed by its National Chairman Nick Griffin (1959 - ), who sits upon the Advisory Council with the Deputy Chairman, national officers of the party and organisers from the party's regions. The Council deals with the party's financial and agenda issues. Current BNP publications include: "Asylum seeker leaflet - say YES to putting our own people first!"; "Europe leaflet - say YES to restoring Britain's freedom!"; "Crime leaflet - say YES to clamping down on crime!".
The Committee on Scientific Research on Human Institutions was set up by the Division of the Social and International Relations of Science of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in order to consider how the results of scientific research on human institutions and human needs and their interrelations could be co-ordinated and brought to bear on the formation of public policy. The Association is a nation-wide organisation and holds an annual festival of science. It is also involved in running activities for young people and science communication projects. It has an open membership policy and currently has approximately 2,100 members. It produces a monthly newsletter "The Banter" which provides details of forthcoming events, and "Science & Public Affairs".
No information available at present.
The Reform League was established in 1865 to press for manhood suffrage and the ballot. It collaborated with the more moderate and middle-class Reform Union and gave strong support to the abortive Reform Bill of 1866 and the Reform Act of 1867. The 1867 Reform Act gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency. Male lodgers paying £10 for unfurnished rooms were also granted the vote. This gave the vote to about 1,500,000 men. The League ran parliamentary candidates in the general election of 1868 but with little success. It was dissolved in 1869.
Born 1902; educated privately; social worker in South and East London, 1924-1929; student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, 1926-1929; Lecturer, LSE, 1929-1939 and 1944-1957; Principal Officer for Employment and Training, National Association of Girls' Clubs, 1939-1944; Director of British Council Social Welfare Courses, 1942-1944; Member, McNair Committee, 1943; Member, Departmental Committee on Social Workers in the Mental health Services, 1948; Member, Committee of Enquiry into the Law and Practice Relating to Charitable Trusts; Chairman, Ministry of Health Working Party on Social Workers in the Health and Welfare Services, 1959; Adviser, National Institute for Social Work Training, 1961-1967; President, International Association of Schools of Social Work, 1961-1968; Member, Committee on the Probation Service, 1962; DBE, 1964; member of various committees for penal reform, child care, youth service, care of old people, family welfare, social studies and international social work; René Sand Award, International Council on Social Welfare, 1976; Chairman, Hammersmith Juvenile Court; died 1981. Publications: The education and training of social workers (Carnegie UK Trust, 1947); Social work in Britain (Carnegie UK Trust, 1951); Social work and social change (London, 1964); Social work in Britain, 1950-1975: a follow-up study (Allen and Unwin, London, 1978); The newest profession: a short history of social work (Community Care, Sutton, 1981).
Colonial Research covers the papers relating to various councils and committees concerned with colonial research. The Colonial Social Science Research Council was established by the British Government at the end of World War Two to undertake research into the economic development of the colonies. The records held at the LSE appear to represent private sets of the Council's papers collected by its leading members, specifically Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders and Sir Arnold Plant. The Council was superceded by the Overseas Development Committee and various other councils and committees, represented by each section of the collection. Official Colonial Office records deposited at The National Archives may contain the Council's central archive.
Arthur Cooke was a member of Working Men's College, Great Ormond St, and a trade union official for 30 years. He was an active member of the Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process Workers.
This research explored the effects of changing legal regulation between 1983 and 1992 on relations of power within local government. The methodology of the project involved case studies in four local authorities with in-depth interviews being undertaken with local officials, councillors and other relevant individuals. The project resulted in a book, Governing out of order: space, law and the politics of belonging by Davina Cooper.