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William Gawan Sewell was born on 6 July 1898, in Whitby, Yorkshire. He was born into an old Quaker family. He was educated at Ackworth School, Whitby County School and took his M.Sc. in chemistry at Leeds University. In 1921 he was appointed Demonstrator and Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Colour Chemistry at Leeds University. In 1922 he married Hilda Guy, a fellow student at Leeds (Botany and Education). They were to have three daughters and one son (the eldest daughter died in Chengdu at the age of seven).

In 1924 he resigned his University post to go, with his wife, to the West China Union University, Chengdu, Sichuan, as part of the Friends Foreign Mission Association (later the Friends Service Council). After a years language study he joined the Department of Chemistry, eventually becoming the Head and Associate Dean of the College of Science. In 1927 he was evacuated from Chengdu. After some time in Shanghai, he spent two terms teaching at Lingnan University, Canton, before returning to Sichuan.

From 1942 to 1945, he and his family were interned by the Japanese at Stanley, Hong Kong. After recuperation in England he returned to Chengdu in 1947. In 1949, after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he was one of the few foreign teachers invited to stay. He continued his teaching at the West China Union University, returning to England in 1952.

After leaving China, he worked for eleven years (1952-1963) as Assistant Registrar (London Representative) of the University of Ghana (formerly the University College of the Gold Coast). He retired in 1964, and spent his time involved chiefly with China and Quaker committees. He was for several years a Vice-Chairman of the Friends Service Council, a Chairman for one year. He paid three visits to New Zealand, which gave him the opportunity of lecturing on China. In 1974 he visited eastern China. He died on 13 January 1984.

His publications (with the Edinburgh House Press) include Land and Life of China (1933); Turbid Waters (1934); China Through a College Window (1937); Strange Harmony (An Account of Internment) (1946); I Stayed in China (1966); The People of Wheelbarrow Lane (1970); China and the West: Mankind Evolving (1970).

H. G. A. Hughes was born 21 July 1921 in Pontlottyn, Wales. He was educated in Pontypridd and at Jesus College, Oxford. In 1947 he gained a diploma in Education from the Institute of Education and then remained there as a research assistant on Community Development and Tropical Education. From 1949 to 1954 he was lecturer in Linguistics with reference to Oceanic Languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies and during this period, from Jan 1951 - Jun 1952, he undertook research in Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands, Solomon Islands and Samoa. From 1955 to 1959 he was International Librarian at the International Library, Liverpool and from 1959 to 1963 Head of Department of Commerce and Liberal Studies at the Technical College, Colwyn Bay. In 1963 he became Visiting Senior Lecturer at Charles University, Prague and received a doctorate from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. From 1966 to 1974 he was Borough Librarian for Flint and then worked as a tutor for the Open University, trainee solicitor and financial administrator and Hospital Secretary, St. Clare's, Pantasaph.

Dr Hughes has written numerous publications on a wide range of subjects, but with a particular reference to the Pacific, and since 1947 he has been Director of a number of companies involved in reviewing, publishing and translating; particularly on Welsh subjects. Membership of organisations includes Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Societé des Oceanistes, Polynesian Society, Linguistic Society of New Zealand, Association of Social Anthropologists in Oceania, Institute of Journalism, Society of Authors, Translators Association, Welsh Academy, Welsh Union of Writers, Communist Party of Great Britain, Democratic Left, and Plaid Cymru.

Thomas Walker Arnold was born on 19 April 1864 and educated at the City of London School. He entered Magdalene College, Cambridge University in 1883. From 1888 he worked as a teacher at the Mahommedan Anglo-Orient College, Aligarh. In 1898, he accepted a post as Professor of Philosophy at the Government College, Lahore and later became Dean of the Oriental Faculty at Punjab University. From 1904 to 1909 he was on the staff of the India Office as Assistant Librarian. In 1909 he was appointed Educational Adviser to Indian students in Britain. From 1917 to 1920 he acted as Adviser to the Secretary of State for India. He was Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, 1921-1930. He was made Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1912, and in 1921 was given a Knighthood by the Crown. He married Celia Mary Hickson in 1892. He died on 9 June 1930.

Donald James Mackay was born in the Hague on 22 December 1839. He was naturalised in 1877 and succeeded to the title of 11th Baron Reay in 1881. From 1884-1886 he was Rector of St. Andrew's University. From 1885-1890 he was Governor of Bombay. From 1892-1918 he was Lord-Lieutenant of Roxburghshire. He served as Under-Secretary for India from 1894-1895, and from 1897-1904 as Chairman of the London School Board. He was President of the Royal Asiatic Society and University College London, and the first President of the British Academy from 1901-1907. He died on 1 August 1921.

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

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

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

Born 1818 in Trier, Prussia; studied at the University of Bonn, 1835-1836, and the University of Berlin, 1836-1841; contributor to and editor of the Cologne liberal democratic newspaper, the Rheinische Zeitung, 1842; following marriage to Jenny von Westphalen, moved to Paris, where he became a revolutionary and communist; co-editor, with Arnold Ruge, of a new review, the Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher (German-French Yearbooks), 1843-1845, during which time he met Friedrich Engels; expelled from France, 1845, moved to Belgium, and renounced Prussian nationality; wrote and published Die heilige Familie (1845) with Engels; in Jun 1847 joined a secret society in London, the League of the Just, which afterwards became the Communist League, for whom he and Engels wrote a pamphlet entitled The Communist Manifesto, (1848); returned to Prussia, 1848, where he founded the Neue Rheinische Zeitung in 1849, and used the newspaper to urge a constitutional democracy and war with Russia; became leader of the Workers' Union and organized the first Rhineland Democratic Congress in August 1848; banished in May 1849, and moved to London; European correspondent for the New York Tribune, 1851-1862, though for the most part he and his family lived in poverty; published his first book on economic theory, Zur Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy), 1859; member of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association, 1864-1876; published Das Kapital, Berlin 1867 (the second and third volumes, unfinished by Marx, were edited by Engels and published in 1885 and 1894); died 1883.

No further information available at present

Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver was born in Johannesburg in 1890. He was educated at Wellington College, after which he spent two years in the Indian Police force before joining Alexander Gibb and Partners, Engineers. In 1931 the firm was commissioned by the Canadian government to conduct a survey of its national ports. Sir Hugh spent seven months in Canada, during which time he was asked to supervise the rebuilding of the Port of St John in New Brunswick, which had been destroyed by fire. He was a partner of the firm, 1932-1942, and Director General and Controller General of the Ministry of Works,1940-1945. In 1946, he became a managing director of Arthur Guinness, Son and Co Ltd and stayed there until he retired in 1960. He was much involved in the efforts to rebuild the country and the Empire after World War II, and was a co-opted member of Lord Reith's Committee on New Towns 1946-1947, a member of the Building Industry Working Party 1948-1950, Director of the Colonial Development Corporation 1951-1960, and the chairman of the Committee on Power Station Construction 1952-1953. Sir Hugh Beaver was also interested in the promotion and application of science, and was chairman of the committee on Air Pollution 1953-1954, chairman of the Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research 1954-1956, and chairman of the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Education in Schools 1958-1963. He was knighted in 1943 and awarded a KBE in 1956. He also received honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, and the National University of Ireland, and was made an honorary fellow of the London School of Economics in 1960. He died in 1967.

No information available at present.

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

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

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

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

Born in 1840; educated at Littlemore Village School, Oxfordshire; worked in a blacksmith's shop, then as a stonemason until 1872; Secretary, Labour Representative League, 1875; Secretary, Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress, 1875-1890; MP for Stoke-on-Trent, 1880-1885, Bordesley, 1885-1886, Nottingham, 1886-1892, and Leicester, 1894-1906; Under-Secretary of State, Home Department, 1886; served on Royal Commissions, including Reformatory and Industrial Schools, Housing of the Working Classes, and the Condition of the Aged Poor; offered and refused Inspectorship of Factories and Workshops, 1882, and the Inspectorship of Canal Boats, 1884; JP and Alderman, County of Norfolk; Poor Law Guardian, Erpingham Union; member of Cromer Urban District Council; Chairman, Lifeboat Committee; founder of Tooting Common Club; founder of the Golf Links, Cromer and Sheringham, Norfolk; died 1911.
Publications: Henry Broadhurst, M.P: the story of his life from a stonemason's bench to the Treasury bench told by himself (Hutchinson & Co., London, 1901); Handy book on household enfranchisement (1885).

Born 1902; educated Harrow County School and the London School of Economics; Assistant Inspector of Taxes, 1923-1926; entered Colonial Office, 1926; Secretary, West Indian Sugar Commission, 1929; Secretary, UK Sugar Industry Inquiry Committee, 1934; Financial Secretary, Hong Kong, 1937; Assistant Secretary, Colonial Office, 1944; CMG, 1945; Deputy Under-Secretary for State, Colonial Office, 1947-1948; KCMG, 1947; 3rd Secretary of the Treasury, 1948; Head of the UK Treasury and Supply Delegation, Washington, 1949-1951; Chief of the World Bank Mission to Ceylon, 1951; Vice-Chancellor, University of Malaya, 1952-1956; Chairman, British Caribbean Federation Fiscal Commission, 1955; Director, London School of Economics, 1957-1967; Chairman, Grassland Utilisation Committee, 1957-1958; Member, 1960-1967, and Deputy Chairman, 1964-1967, Independent Television Authority; Chairman, International Institute of Educational Planning, 1963-1970; Governor, Reserve Bank of Rhodesia, 1965-1967; Coordinator, Indonesian Sugar Study, 1971-1972; Chairman of the Governing Body and Member of the Board, University College at Buckingham, 1973-1983; died 1991. Publications: British Universities: purpose and prospects (Bodley Head, London, 1969); Prices for primary producers (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1963); The history of the foundation of the London School of Economics and Political Science (G Bell and Sons, London, 1963); University independence: the main questions (Rex Collings, London, 1971); The price of stability: a study of price fluctuations in primary products with alternative proposals for stablisation (Institute of economic Affairs, London, 1983).

The Commission on Citizenship was set up in 1988 by the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Bernard Weatherill, in order to consider how to 'encourage, develop and recognise Active Citizenship within a wide range of groups in the community, both local and national, including school students, adults, those in full employment, as well as volunteers'. The Chair was Maurice Stonefrost, and the Secretary Frances Morell. The Commission's report was published as Encouraging citizenship (HMSO, 1990).

Walter McLennan Citrine, 1887-1983, left school at 12 to work in a flour mill. He soon became an electrician holding a variety of jobs. He joined the Electrical Trades Union in 1911, becoming Mersey District Secretary, 1914-1920, and General Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, 1920-1923. He was Assistant Secretary of the TUC, 1924-1925, and General Secretary, 1926-1946. From 1928 to 1945 he was President of the International Federation of Trade Unions. He was also a Director of the Daily Herald Ltd, 1929-1946. During World War Two, Citrine was a member of the National Production Advisory Council, 1942-1946 and 1949-1957, and a trustee of the Imperial Relations Trust, 1937-1949,and the Nuffield Trust for the Forces, 1939-1946. He was also a member of the Cinematograph Films Council, 1938-1948, and served on the Executive Committee of the Red Cross and St John War Organisation, 1939-1946. He was chairman of the Production Committee on Regional Boards (Munitions)in 1942. After the war, he returned to the electrical industry, becoming President of the British Electrical Development Association, 1948-1952, Chairman of the Central Electricity Authority, 1947-1957, and President of the Electrical Research Association, 1950-1952 and 1956-1957. He was also a member (and President in 1955) of the Directing Committee, Union Internationale des Producteurs et Distributeurs d'Energie Electrique. He was a part time member of the Electricity Council, 1958-1962, and a part time member of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, 1958-1962.

No information available at present.
Publications: editor of Anatomy of decline: the political journalism of Peter Jenkins (Cassell, London, 1995); David Astor and the Observer (Deutsch, London, 1991); editor of My dear Max: the letters of Brendan Bracken to Lord Beaverbrook, 1925-1958 (Historians' Press, London, 1990); Twilight of truth: Chamberlain, appeasement, and the manipulation of the press (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1989).

No information available at present.

Jones Lloyd and Company was a banking firm based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.

Daniel Asher Alexander (1768-1846) was educated at St Paul's School. He was a silver medallist, Royal Academy. He was also surveyor to London Dock Company (1796-1831) and to Trinity House. Alexander designed lighthouses at Harwich and Lundy Island, and prisons at Dartmoor and Maidstone. William Vaughan (1752-1850) was a merchant and author. He was a director of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, London, 1783-1829. He advocated canal extension, 1791; published pamphlets urging extension of London Docks, 1793-1797. His publications include: "Answer to objections against the London-docks" (1796); "A collection of tracts on wet docks for the Port of London: with hints on trade and commerce and on free-ports" (1797); "A comparative statement of the advantages and disadvantages of the docks in Wapping and the docks in the Isle of Dogs" (1799); "A letter to a friend on commerce and free ports and London-docks" (1796).

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.

Richard Potter MP (1778-1842) was the brother of Sir Thomas Potter (1773-1845), MP and first Mayor of Manchester (1838). They grew up on their father's farm at Tadcaster, North Yorkshire and collaborated both in business and politics in Manchester. They helped found the Manchester Guardian newspaper in 1821, which became The Guardian in 1959 to reflect its national distribution and news coverage. The Potter brothers also founded the Times(Manchester), later called the Examiner and Times, and established the wholesale house in Manchester trade which became known as "Potter's". This place became a rendezvous for political and philanthropic reformers. In 1830 Richard Potter joined a group campaigning for parliamentary reform. The group proposed that the seats of rotten boroughs convicted of gross electoral corruption should be transferred to industrial towns. In 1831 Absalom Watkin (fl 1807-1861) drew up a petition asking the government to grant Manchester two Members of Parliament. As a result of the 1832 Reform Act Manchester had its first two Members of Parliament. Richard Potter was returned as Liberal MP for Wigan in 1832, 1835 and 1837. He later unsuccessfully contested Gloucester. His political views earned him the nickname "Radical Dick". Richard Potter's son, also called Richard, was President of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and Chairman of the Great Western Railway (1817-1892),and his granddaughter Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), daughter of his son Richard, was a prominent social reformer and wife of fellow reformer Sidney Webb, Baron Passfield (1859-1947). His publications include: "To the independent inhabitants of the Borough of Wigan" (1831).

Sidney Webb, 1859-1947, the son of an accountant, was born in London on 13 July, 1859. At the age of sixteen Webb became an office clerk but he continued to attend evening classes at the University of London until he acquired the qualifications needed to enter the Civil Service. Webb also contributed to the 'Christian Socialist' and taught at the London Working Men's College. In 1885 he joined the Fabian Society. In 1892 Webb married Beatrice Potter (1958-1943), the social reformer. In the same year he stood as the Fabian Society candidate for Deptford in the London County Council elections. Webb won the seat and he retained it for the next eighteen years. Webb was appointed as Chairman of the Technical Instruction Committee and as a result was known as the Minister of Public Education for London. In 1894 Henry Hutchinson, a wealthy solicitor from Derby, left the Fabian Society £10,000. Sidney and Beatrice Webb suggested that the money should be used to develop a new university in London. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) was founded in 1895.

When the Conservative Party won the 1900 General Election, the Webbs drafted what later became the 1902 Education Act. In 1915 Sidney Webb was appointed to the Labour Party National Executive. By 1922 he was Chairman of the National Executive and the following year, in the 1923 General Election, was chosen to represent the Labour Party in the Seaham constituency. Webb won the seat, and when Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) became Britain's first Labour Prime Minister in 1924, he appointed Webb as his President of the Board of Trade. Webb left the House of Commons in 1929 when he was granted the title Baron Passfield. Now in the House of Lords, Webb served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in MacDonald's second Labour Government. His publications include: 'The case for an eight hours bill' (1891); 'The History of Trade Unionism' (1894) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Industrial Democracy' (1897) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Facts for Socialists' (1887); 'Facts for Londoners' (1888); 'The Eight Hour Day' (1891); 'English local government' (1906); 'The decline in the birth-rate' (1907); 'The basis & policy of socialism' (1908); 'The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'Conscience and the conscientious objector' (1917); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'The decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923); 'English poor law history' (1927); 'Soviet communism: dictatorship or democracy?' (1936).

Beatrice Webb, 1858-1943, was born Martha Beatrice Potter at Standish House near Gloucester, she was the eighth daughter of the railway and industrial magnate Richard Potter (1817-1892). Beatrice was educated privately and became a business associate of her father after her mother's death in 1882. She became interested in reform and began to do social work in London.

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

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

Herbert Bryan was Honorary Secretary of the Watford Branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) 1905-1909, of the City of London Branch 1909-1912, of the North London Federation 1910-1912 and of the No 6 London and Southern Counties Divisional Council 1912. From 1908 to 1920, Bryan was a clerk at ILP headquarters. He died in 1950 and at the time of his death lived at 46 Bedford Row, WC1.

The Committee on children and young persons was a Home Office Departmental Committee, chaired by Osbert Peake, 1st Viscount Ingleby (1897-1966). The committee's report was published as Cmnd 1191.

Townships formed the smallest unit of government. In many parts of England parishes formed a single township, but in districts where parishes were large e.g. the Pennines, they were subdivided into townships. In the 16th century townships or civil parishes were given responsibility for the poor and the highways. They were also units of taxation. Townships survived until the creation of Urban and Rural District Councils in the late 19th century.

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 collection is based on that assembled by David Collis and recorded in the printed bibliography British Birth Control Ephemera 1870 to 1947: A catalogue. by Peter Fryer (Barracuda Press, Leicester, 1947). Some of the material listed in the bibliography is missing but there is also additional material not recorded in the bibliography.

Sir David Harrel (1841-1939) entered the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1859. He became a resident magistrate in 1879. From 1883-1893 Harrel was chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. He was under-secretary for Ireland, 1893-1902. He later served on trade-disputes boards in England. Harrel was knighted in 1893. His publications include: "Recollections and reflections" (1926).

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.

Richard Cobden was born in Heyshott, near Midhurst, Sussex, the son of a farmer. Cobden's father was poor and was obliged to send his eleven children to various relatives. He was sent to an uncle in Yorkshire where he was mistreated. Cobden received little formal schooling and in 1819 became a clerk in the textile industry. In 1820 he became a commercial traveller. After developing a knowledge of the cotton trade he became a partner in a London calico factory. The business was a success and in 1831 he also became a partner in a Lancashire calico factory. By 1832 Cobden was living in an affluent part of Manchester. He wrote about the subject of economics in the "Manchester Examiner" and published pamphlets on free-trade (1838-1846). Between 1833 and 1837 Cobden visited France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, America, Egypt, Greece and Russia. He was a leader of the Anti-Corn Law League 1838-1846. The Corn Laws had been passed during the Napoleonic Wars (1804 and 1818) to impose duties on imported corn, and led to high bread prices. The Anti-Corn Law League succeeded in having the corn laws repealed in 1846. Cobden was MP for Stockport 1841-1847, and for the West Riding of Yorkshire 1847-1857. Cobden campaigned against the Crimean War (1854-1856), despite the public's support for the war, and Cobden subsequently lost his seat on Parliament in the General Election of 1857. In the General Election of 1859 he was elected MP for Rochdale. He was offered the post of President of the Board of Trade (1859) and a baronetcy (1860), but refused both. Cobden died of an acute attack of bronchitis on 2nd April 1865. His publications include: "Agricultural distress: speech of R. Cobden...in the House of Commons, on Thursday, the 13th of March, 1845, on moving for a select committee to inquire into the extent and causes of the alleged existing agricultural distress, and into the effects of legislative protection upon the interest of landowners, farmers, and farm-labourers" (1845); "Alarming distress: speech of Richd. Cobden, Esq. in the House of Commons on Friday evening, July 8, 1842" (1842); "The corn laws: speech of R. Cobden, Esq., MP, in the House of Commons, on Thursday evening, February 24, 1842" (1842); "England, Ireland, & America" (1835); "How wars are got up in India: the origin of the Burmese war" (1853).

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

Ernst Meyer (1887-1930), Chairman of the KPD, was born in Prostken, Germany, the son of a train driver. He studied philosophy, history, theology, psychology and economics at Koeningsberg and Berlin universities. From 1912 he worked for the Imperial government in the Kaiserlichen Statistischen in Berlin. In 1908 he became a member of the German Social Democrat Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). He was also a founder member of the Spartacus League. The League was founded in 1914 by members of the Social Democrat Party who were opposed to the party's decision to support Germany's involvment in World War I. In 1918 he helped found the German Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands). He was voted on to the Executive Committee of the KPD and was director of KPD publications. From 1921 to 1923 he was Chairman of the Politbureau of the KPD. In 1922 he married Rose Levine (1890-1971), widow of Eugene Levine (1883-1919), who was leader of the German Communist Party until his execution in 1919. Meyer died of tuberculosis in 1930.

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.

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 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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

Frederick Bernal, 1828-1903, was HM Consul in Madrid (1854-1858), Cartagena (1858-1861), Baltimore (1861-1866), and Le Havre (1866-1896).

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.

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!".