Born 1452; Dominican friar; lecturer in the Convent of San Marco, Florence, 1482, gaining a reputation for learning and asceticism; gave prophetic sermons, proposing the reform of the church and speaking against Lorenzo de' Medici; became the leader of Florence following the overthrow of the Medici, setting up a democratic republic; following numerous attempts by the Holy League to undermine his power, he was hanged and burned in 1498.
Reginald Bassett was born in 1901. On leaving school he entered a solicitor's office, but at the age of twenty five he took up a scholarship at Ruskin College, Oxford and later at New College, Oxford. For fifteen years he was a lecturer under the Extra-Mural Studies Delegacy of the University of Oxford, working mainly in Sussex. When the London School of Economics started a course for students from trade unions in 1945, Bassett was appointed as a tutor. He was a tutor in trade union studies 1945-1950, lecturer in Political Science 1950-1953, Reader in Political Science 1953-1961, and Professor of Political Science from 1961 until his death in 1962. Bassett's main interests were politics and parliamentary government. He joined the Independent Labour Party at an early age and was an active member for many years. However by 1931 he had become a MacDonaldite and ceased to be a member of a political party. His first book The Essentials of Parliamentary Democracy (1935) discussed the conduct of parliamentary government, and he remained convinced that this was the best political system. His other works are Democracy and Foreign Policy (1952) and Nineteen Thirty-one: Political Crisis (1958).
Born in Rangpur, Bengal, 1879; educated at Charterhouse, and Balliol College, Oxford University; Stowell Civil Law Fellow, University College, Oxford University, 1902-1909; Sub-Warden, Toynbee Hall, 1903-1905; leader writer for the Morning Post, 1906-1908; Member of the Central (Unemployed) Body for London and first Chairman of the Employment Exchanges Committee, 1905-1908; employed at Board of Trade, 1908-1916, as Director of Labour Exchanges and Assistant Secretary in charge of the Employment Department; Assistant General Secretary, Ministry of Munitions, 1915-1916; CB, 1916; 2nd Secretary, 1916-1918, and Permanent Secretary, 1919, Ministry of Food; Director of the London School of Economics, 1919-1937; Senator of the University of London, 1919-1937 and 1944-1948; KCB, 1919; Member of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry, 1925; Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, 1926-1928; Chairman, Unemployment Insurance Statutory Committee, 1934-1944; Chairman, Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on Food Rationing, 1936; Master of University College, Oxford University, 1937-1945; Chairman, Committee on Skilled Men in Services, 1941-1942; Fuel Rationing Enquiry for the President of the Board of Trade, 1942; Chairman, Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services, 1941-1942; Liberal MP for Berwick-on-Tweed, 1944-1945; President of the Royal Economic Society, 1940-1944, and the Royal Statistical Society, 1941-1948; Chairman of the Aycliffe Development Corporation, 1947-1953, and the Peterlee Development Corporation, 1949-1951; Chairman, Broadcasting Committee, 1949-1950; died 1963.
Publications: Insurance for all and everything (Daily News, London, 1924); John and Irene: an anthology of thoughts on women (Longmans and Co, London, 1912); New Towns and the case for them (University of London Press, London, 1952); Planning under socialism and other addresses (Longmans and Co, London, 1936); Power and influence: an autobiography (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1953); A defence of free learning (Oxford University Press, London, 1959); An urgent message from Germany (Pilot Press, London, 1946); Blockade and the civilian population (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1939); British food control (Oxford University Press, London, 1928); Causes and cures of unemployment (Longmans and Co, London, 1931); Changes in family life (Allen and Unwin, London, 1932); Contributions for social insurance: a reconsideration of rates (Reprinted from The Times, 1945); Full employment in a free society (Liberal Publication Department, London, 1944); India called them (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1947); Peace by federation? (London, 1940); Security and adventure (Council for Education in World Citizenship, London, 1946); Tariffs: the case examined. By a committee of economists under the chairmanship of Sir William Beveridge (Longmans and Co, London, 1932); The conditions of peace; The London School of Economics and its problems, 1919-1937 (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1960); The past and present of unemployment insurance (Oxford University press, London, 1930); The pillars of security and other war-time essays and addresses (G Allen and Unwin, London, 1943); The price of peace (Pilot Press, London, 1945); The problem of the unemployed (1907); The public service in war and peace (Constable and Co, London, 1920); Unemployment: a problem of industry (Longmans and Co, London, 1909); Voluntary action: a report on methods of social advance (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1948); Why I am a Liberal (Herbert Jenkins, London, 1945).
The Ministry of Reconstruction was set up in July 1917, and covered a wide range of economic, social and political issues, from administrative reform and improvement of industrial relations, to the position of women in society and the prevention of post-war unemployment. It was split into several committees, including the Reconstruction Committee and the Civil War Workers Committe. For a biography, see the Beveridge personal papers (Ref: Beveridge).
Arthur George Bottomley, 1907-1995, was educated at Gamuel Road Council School and took extension classes at Toynbee Hall. He entered politics in 1929 as a councillor in the Borough of Walthamstow, holding the office of mayor 1945-1946. He was the Labour Party MP for Chatham Division of Rochester 1945-1950, for Rochester and Chatham, 1950-1959, for Middlesborough East, 1962-1974, and for Teeside, Middlesborough 1974-1983. His Parliamentary career focused on trade and the Commonwealth. His positions included Parliamentary Under-Secretary for State for the Dominions, 1947-1951; Secretary for Overseas Trade, Board of Trade, 1947-1951; Chairman of the Commonwealth Relations and Colonies Group of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1963; Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, 1964 - 1966; and Minister for Overseas Development, 1966 - 1967. He also participated in many government missions and delegations overseas during the course of his career. He was created a life peer in 1984.
Born 1930; educated Southend High School, University College of the South West, and London School of Economics; Research Fellow, Institute of Historical Research, 1955-1956; Research Fellow, Reading University, 1956; Lecturer, London School of Economics, 1957-1969; Fulbright Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, British Association for American Studies, 1961-1962; Visiting Lecturer, University of California, USA, 1966-1967; Reader in International History, University of London, 1969-1976; Scaife Distinguished Visiting Lecturer, Kenyon College, 1971; Professor of International History, LSE, 1976-1993; Kratter Professor, Stanford University, USA, 1979; Visiting Professor, University of Mississippi, USA, 1981; Griffin Lecturer, Stanford University, 1983; James Pinckney Harrison Professor, College of William and Mary, 1984-1985; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Humanities, University of Colorado, USA, 1988; J Richardson Dilworth Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA, 1989; Nuffield Foundation Social Sciences Research Fellow, 1991; Chairman, Board of Studies in History, University of London, 1983-1984; member of Council, List and Index Society, 1986-1993; Member of British National Committee, International Congress of Historical Sciences, 1987-1988; Member of the Archives and Manuscripts Committee, University of Southampton, 1988-1993; Member of the Senate, University of London, 1987-1991; Member of the Council, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 1987-1992; Governor of Wilson's Grammar School, Camberwell, 1964-1974; Governor of Wilson's School, Sutton, 1972-1984; Governor, LSE, 1986-1990; died 1993.
Publications: Britain and the balance of power in North America, 1815-1908 (Longmans, London, 1967); The foreign policy of Victorian England (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1970); editor Studies in International History (Longmans, London, 1967); editor The Horner papers: selections from the letters and miscellaneous writings of Francis Horner, MP, 1795-1817 (Edinburgh University Press, 1994); editor The blackmailing of the Chancellor: some intimate and hitherto unpublished letters from Harriet Wilson to her friend Henry Brougham, Lord Chancellor of England (Lemon Tree Press, London, 1975); editor The letters of the third Viscount Palmerston to Laurence and Elizabeth Sullivan, 1804-1863 (Royal Historical Society, London, 1979); Palmerston; the early years (Allen Lane, London, 1982).
London merchant bank.
Papers associated with Carlton's work for the Labour Party. Carlton undertook various roles including Labour Party Local Government Officer.
Chilver , Elizabeth Millicent (Sally) , b 1914 , née Graves , political scientist and anthropologist
Born 1914; educated Benenden School, Cranbrook, and Somerville College, Oxford University; Journalist, 1937-39; temporary Civil Servant, 1939-45; Journalist, Daily News, 1945-47; temporary Principal and Secretary, Colonial Social Science Research Council and Colonial Economic Research Committee, Colonial Office, 1948-57; Director, University of Oxford Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1957-61; Senior Research Fellow, University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1961-64; Principal, Bedford College, University of London, 1964-71, and Fellow, 1974; Member, Royal Commission on Medical Education, 1965-68; Trustee, British Museum, 1970-75; Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 1971-79, and Honorary Fellow, 1979; Member of the Governing Body, School of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of London, 1975-80; retired 1979.
Publications: editor of volume 2 of History of East Africa (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1963-76).
When Parliament gave permission for the Great Western Railway in 1835, Bristol merchants began to argue for an extension of the proposed line to Exeter. Permission was granted in 1836 and Isambard Brunel (1806-1859) was appointed engineer. The line was completed in 1844. Over the next nine years branches were opened to Clevedon, Tiverton and Yeovil. Other branches followed in the 1860s (Chard, Portishead, Wells, Barnstaple and Minehead). The Bristol & Exeter Railway was considered to be a reasonable financial success and between 1844 and 1874 the annual dividend was 4.5 per cent.
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).
The London and North Eastern Railway, which incorporates the former Great Central, Great Eastern, Great Northern, Hull and Barnsley, North Eastern, North British and Great North of Scotland Railway Companies, is the second largest railway company in Great Britain. With a total single track mileage, including sidings, of 16,824, the system covers the whole of Eastern England and East and West Scotland It serves the country between the Moray Firth and the Thames.
In 1926 the government set up a Royal Commission to look into the problems of the Mining Industry. The Commission published its report in March 1926. It recognised that the industry needed to be reorganised but rejected the suggestion of nationalisation. The report also recommended that the Government subsidy should be withdrawn and the miners' wages should be reduced. The month in which the report was issued also saw the mine-owners publishing new terms of employment. These new procedures included an extension of the seven-hour working day, district wage-agreements, and a reduction in the wages of all miners. The mine-owners announced that if the miners did not accept their new terms of employment they would be locked out of the pits from the first of May. A Conference of the Trade Union Congress met on 1st May 1926, and afterwards announced that a General Strike "in defence of miners' wages and hours" was to begin two days later. The TUC decided to bring out workers in what they regarded as the key industries - railwaymen, transport workers, dockers, printers, builders, iron and steel workers - a total of 3 million men (a fifth of the adult male population). Only later would other trade unionists, like the engineers and shipyard workers, be called out on strike. During the next two days efforts were made to reach an agreement with the Conservative Government and the mine-owners. For several months the miners held out, but by October 1926 hardship forced men to return to the mines. In 1927 the British Government passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act. This act made all sympathetic strikes illegal, ensured the trade union members had to voluntarily 'contract in' to pay the political levy, forbade Civil Service unions to affiliate to the TUC, and made mass picketing illegal.
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).
Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, was the third son of Lord John Russell (1792-1878), who twice served as Prime Minister (1846-1852 and 1865-1866). His parents died when he was very young and he was brought up by his grandmother. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge and obtained a first-class honours degree in mathematics and philosophy. He became a Fellow of the college in 1895. A visit to Berlin after university led to his first book "German Social Democracy" (1896). In 1907 a group of male supporters of votes for women formed the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. Bertrand Russell joined and stood unsuccessfully as a Suffragist candidate at a parliamentary by-election at Wimbledon. Russell was also a member of the Fabian Society. After the outbreak of the First World War Russell helped form the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF), an organisation that planned to campaign against the introduction of conscription. Russell's activities in the the NCF resulted in him being sacked from his post as a lecturer at Cambridge University. Russell was also the editor of the NCF journal "Tribunal". Russell wrote an article in January 1918 criticising the American Army for strike-breaking. Russell was arrested and charged with making statements "likely to prejudice His Majesty's relations with the United States of America". He was found guilty and sentenced to six months in Brixton Prison. In 1931 Bertrand succeeded his elder brother as 3rd Earl of Russell. He used the forum of the House of Lords to promote his views on pacifism. Russell ceased to be a pacifist in the late 1930s with the rise of Hitler in Germany. Russell was rewarded with the restoration of his fellowship at Cambridge University. In 1950 Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Russell became increasing concerned about the major powers producing nuclear weapons and in 1958 helped form The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. His publications include: "The Principles of Mathematics" (1903); "Principia Mathematica" (1910); "Theory and Practice of Bolshevism" (1919); "An Enquiry into Meaning and Truth" (1940); "History of Western Philosophy" (1945); "Human Knowledge: Its scope and limits" (1948); "Why I am not a Christian" (1957).
Alys Pearsall Smith, 1867-1951, was an American Quaker who worked for the temperance cause. She was the first of Bertrand Russell's four wives. Pearsall Smith married Russell in 1894, despite opposition from both their families. They separated in 1911 and divorced in 1921. She then lived in Chelsea, London, with her brother the writer Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946).
These papers were produced by joint seminars of the London School of Economics and the London Graduate School of Business Studies, on industrial organisation and management. These seminars were held by Professor Sir Ronald Edwards (1910-1976) on Tuesday evenings from 1946, and became known as the "Ronald Edwards Seminars". They were aimed at businessmen, civil servants and academics, and were based on papers prepared by industrialists and civil servants. The majority of the papers related to business administration.
William Alexander Robson 1895-1980, was educated at Peterborough Lodge School, but left at 15 to work as a clerk. During World War One (1914-1918) he served in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, 1915-19. Robson entered the London School of Economics in 1919; B.Sc. (Econ.), first-class honours, 1922; Ph.D., 1924; LLM, 1928. He was called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn)in 1922. From 1926-1933 he was a lecturer in industrial and administrative law at the LSE. he was a reader in administrative law, 1933-1947, and became the first professor of public administration, London University, 1947-1962. He was also a founder and joint editor of 'Political Quarterly', 1930-1975, with Leonard Woolf as co-editor, 1931-1959. Robson was an active member of the Fabian Society, and played a leading role in the creation of the Greater London Council, 1963. During World War Two (1939-1945) Robson worked in the Mines Department and other government ministries. From 1950-1953 he was president of the International Political Science Association. His publications include: Aircraft in War and Peace (1916); The Town Councillor (in collaboration with Clement Attlee, 1925); Justice and Administrative Law(1928); Civilization and the Growth of Law (1935); The Government and Misgovernment of London (1939); Great Cities of the World (1954); Local Government in Crisis (1966); Nationalized Industry and Public Ownership (1960); Welfare State and Welfare Society (1976).
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.
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 Bethnal Green Labour Party was formed in 1908 and aimed to "forward the just claims of the working class and to promote independent Labour representation on all governing bodies". The branch was closely involved with the Trades Union movement and was affiliated to the National Union of Corporation Workers, London Carmen's Trade Union, National Union of Shop Assistants, Glass Bevelers Branch of the Furnishing Trades Association, National League of the Blind and the Independent Labour Party. Like minded individuals could also join.
The Conservative Party: Conservative instead of the traditional term, Tory, was first used in Britain by George Canning (1770-1827) in 1824. The term became more popular after it was used by Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) in his Tamworth Manifesto in 1834. In the Tamworth Manifesto Peel attempted to combine the idea of moderate reform with a strong belief in traditional institutions. After Peel became Prime Minister in 1834, his followers tended to describe themselves as Conservatives rather than Tories.
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.
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 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.
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).
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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".
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.
The Constitutional Reform Centre was founded in 1984 to investigate the reform of the British constitution and government. The work of the CRC is controlled by an advisory board, and includes holding conferences and commissioning investigations into areas of constitutional reform. These have included the role of planning enquiries, the development of a written constitution, the civil service, and the intervention of the European Commission. The Centre has also organised a series of seminars under the aegis of the Rt Hon Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman of Quatt. A working party has investigated company political donations and benefits to business of good government. Publications include the Constitutional Reform Quarterly Review and CRC Politics Briefings. The CRC has worked with other organisations, notably the National Committee for Electoral Reform, and the Campaign for Fair Votes.
No further information available at present.
Delay worked for the Trades Union Congress, mainly concerned with the steel industry. The government-owned British Steel Corporation Ltd was incorporated by the Iron and Steel Act of 1967. It was privatised in 1988.
Born 1865; joined Fabian Society, 1889; received into the Roman Catholic Church, 1897; Editor, Surrey Mirror, 1892-1900; Editor, Review of the Week, 1900-1902; Acting Editor, The Connoisseur, 1902-[1906]; settled in Paris as a journalist and picture dealer, 1906, where he remained throughout the war; Paris correspondent, Manchester Guardian; expelled from France, 1918; Foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian and other newspapers in Geneva, 1920-1921, Berlin, 1922-1924, Paris, 1925-1932, and Geneva, 1932-1939; his writings were controversialist from a variously Catholic modernist, socialist, pacifist and anti-fascist perspective; died in New York, 1940.
Publications: Anglo-French relations: the policy of the Union of Democratic Control (Union of Democratic Control, London, 1920); Germany unmasked: on Germany under the National-Socialist regime (Martin Hopkinson, London, 1934); My second country, France (John Lane, London and New York, 1920); Socialism and personal liberty (Leonard Parsons, London, 1921); The Catholic Church and the social question (Catholic Press Co, London, 1899); translator of Disestablishment in France (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1906); The left bank of the Rhine (Union of Democratic Control, 1919); The Geneva racket, 1920-1939 (Robert Hale, London, 1921).
Ely Devons, 1913-1967, was educated at Hanley High School, Portsmouth Grammar School, and North Manchester Municipal High School. He went on to study at Manchester University, where he obtained a degree in Economics in 1934 and an MA in Economics in 1935. His career in statistics began when he was appointed economic assistant to the Joint Committee of Cotton Trades Organisations in Manchester, 1935-1939. He was subsequently a statistician for Cotton Control at the Ministry of Supply, 1939-1940, and for the Economic Section of the War Cabinet Offices, and Chief Statistician for the Central Statistics Office, 1940-1941. From 1941 to 1945 he was Chief Statistician, Director of Statistics, and Director General of Planning, Programmes and Statistics at the Ministry of Aircraft Production. After World War II, Devons returned to Manchester University, becoming Robert Ottley Reader in Applied Economics in 1945 and became Robert Ottley Professor of Applied Economics, 1948-1959. He then moved to the London School of Economics, where he held the post of Professor of Commerce, 1959-1965. He was a member of the council of the Royal Economic Society 1956-1964, and a member of the Local Government Commission 1959-1965.
Born 1889: educated at Glasgow University; Member, Public Works Loan Board, 1936-1946; Member, Railway Assessment Authority, 1938-1946; Labour MP for North Battersea, 1940-1946; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Education, 1940-1945; Chairman, Finance Committee, London County Council, 1940-1946; Member, Anglo-Scottish Railway Assessment Authority, 1941-1946; Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, 1945-1946; temporary Chairman, House of Commons and Chairman of Standing Committees, 1945-1946; Governor and Commander in Chief, Malta, 1946-1949; KCMG 1947; Vice-Chairman, Corby Development Corporation, 1950-1962; Deputy Speaker, House of Lords, 1962-[1980]; LLD, Royal University of Malta; Partner in Douglas & Company, Solicitors; died 1980.
Publications: Agriculture and Land Value Taxation (United Committee for the Taxation of Land Values, London, 1930); Land-Value Rating. Theory and practice (L. & V. Woolf, London, 1936); Rating and Taxation in the Housing Scene (J. M. Dent & Sons, London & Letchworth, 1942); Social Science Manual. Guide to the study of Henry George's 'Progress and Poverty' (Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, London, 1937); abridged George Henry's 'Protection or Free Trade' (Kegan Paul & Co, London, 1929).
Born 1906; educated Plympton and Exmouth Elementary Schools, Heles School, Exeter, Taunton School, and New College, Oxford University; Lecturer at New College, Oxford University; Junior and Senior Webb Medley Scholarships, Oxford University; Ricardo Fellowship, University College London, 1929-1930; Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics, London School of Economics, 1930-1945; Parliamentary candidate (Labour) for East Grinstead, 1931, and Gillingham, Kent, 1935; temporarily on Economic Section of War Cabinet Secretariat, 1940-1942; temporary Personal Assistant to Clement Richard Attlee, Deputy Prime Minister, 1942-1945; Labour MP for Edmonton, 1945-1948; Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Works, 1947-1948; died 1948.
Publications: How to pay for the war (G Routledge and Sons, London, 1939); Personal aggressiveness and war (Kegan Paul and Co, London, 1939); Problems of economic planning (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1949); Purchasing power and trade depression: a critique of under-consumption theories (Jonathan Cape, London and Toronto, 1933); Socialist credit policy (Victor Gollancz, London, 1934); The politics of democratic Socialism (G Routledge and Sons, London, 1940); The problem of credit policy (Chapman and Hall, London, 1935); The response of the economists to the ethical idea of equality; What have we to defend? A brief critical examination of the British social tradition (G Routledge and Sons, London, 1942); editor War and democracy: essays on the causes and prevention of war (Kegan Paul and Co, London, 1938).
Born 1913; educated Croydon High School for Boys, the London School of Economics (Honorary Fellow, 1986); Chartered Accountant, 1935; Commander, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, 1940-1946; Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, LSE, 1949-55; Reader in Accounting, University of London, 1955-62; Member, UK Advisory Council on Education for Management, 1961-1965; Professor of Accounting, LSE, 1962-1980; Pro-Director, LSE, 1967-70; Member, Academic Planning Board for London Graduate School of Business Studies, and Governor, 1965-71; Chairman, 1965-1971, and Member of Council, 1965-1973, Arts and Social Studies Committee, CNAA; Chairman, Board of Studies in Economics, University of London, 1966-1971; Member of the Senate, University of London, 1975-80; Member of the Council, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, 1969-80; Honorary Freeman, 1981, and Honorary Liveryman, 1986, Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; Honorary Professor, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1980-95; Patron, University of Buckingham, 1984-; Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, 1933; Chartered Accountants Founding Society's Centenary Award, 1987; retired 1980.
Publications: Accounting records and the smaller company (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, London, 1992); editor Modern financial management (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1969); Business Budgets and Accounts (Hutchinson, London, 1959); Introduction to Accounting (Hutchinson, London, 1963); National Income and Social Accounting (Hutchinson's University Library, London, 1954); editor Debits, credits, finance and profits (Sweet and Maxwell, London, 1974); Accounting in England and Scotland: 1543-1800: double entry in exposition and practice (Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1963).
Most of the letters in the collection were collected by Charlotte Erickson and the staff of the Survey of Sources for American Studies during their work in the 1950s, whilst others were donated or purchased.
Sir Thomas Henry Farrer, 1819-1899, was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He received his BA in 1840 and became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in 1844. He became Assistant-Secretary of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade in 1850, assistant secretary to the Board in 1854, and was Permanent Secretary from 1865 to 1886. In addition he was a member (and for several years Vice-Chairman) of the London County Council, 1889-1898, and published writings on economic subjects. He was created baronet in 1883 for his public service, and raised to the peerage in 1893.
Sir Raymond Firth was born in 1901 in New Zealand. He was educated at Auckland University College, where he specialised in economics and wrote his MA thesis on the local kauri gum industry. In 1924 he came to the London School of Economics to work for a higher degree in economics, but on arrival changed his subject to anthropology and completed a PhD on the primitive economics of the New Zealand Maori under the supervision of Malinowski. After obtaining his PhD, Firth returned to New Zealand and in 1928-1929 made his first and longest visit to the island of Tikopia. On his return he joined the staff of the department of anthropology at the University of Sydney, first as a lecturer and then as acting professor. In 1932 he returned to London to take up a post under Malinowski at the LSE. He was a lecturer in anthropology 1932-1935, and a reader 1935-1944. During the Second World War, Firth was posted to the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division, where he was responsible for compiling the geographical handbooks relating to the Pacific islands. Following Malinowski's death in 1942, Firth was appointed Professor of Anthropology of the University of London in 1944. He retired from this post in 1968, but remained professionally active right up until his death at the age of 100 in 2002. Firth had a wide range of research interests, but is best remembered for his work on Tikopia and Malaya. He wrote extensively about Tikopia society and culture throughout his career, and returned to do further fieldwork there in 1952, 1966, 1973 and 1978. He first visited Malaya in 1939-1940 to study the economics and social conditions of peasant communities in the coastal region of Kelantan, and visited again in 1947 and 1963 to continue his research. He also made a significant contribution to the field of kinship studies, leading several projects on kinship in London in the period 1947-1965.
The general election was held in May 2005 and was won by the Labour Party with a reduced majority. Requests for donations were sent out to candidates of all parties throughout the country and major deposits were received from all parts of the United Kingdom. Parties represented include: Conservative Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, UK Independence Party, Socialist Alliance, Plaid Cymru, Scottish National Party and a range of parties from Northern Ireland. The collection also includes a wide range of addresses and material from smaller parties and Independent candidates.
Born 1910; Open Exhibitioner, Magdalen College, Oxford University, 1928; Assistant Lecturer, University College London, 1934-1936; Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, Merton College, Oxford, 1936; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; 1st King's Dragoon Guards, 1939; Historical Section, War Cabinet Office, 1943; Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford, 1953-77; former Chairman, Naval Education Advisory Committee; former Member, International Council of the Institute for Strategic Studies; Member of the Council, Royal United Service Institution; Research Associate, Center for International Studies, Princeton, USA, 1965-66; Visiting Professor, University of New Brunswick, 1975-76, the US Military Academy, West Point, 1978-79, and the National University of Singapore, 1982-84; US Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, 1979; Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1977; died 1990.
Publications: The origins of Imperial defence (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1955); Makers of England (Oxford University Press, London, 1935); The British Cabinet system (Stevens & Sons, London, 1952); Grand strategy: rearmament policy (H.M.S.O, 1976).
Morris Ginsberg, 1889-1970, was born into one of the smaller Lithuanian Jewish communities of the Russian empire. His first language was Yiddish and as a Talmudic scholar he was educated in classical Hebrew. However he quickly mastered English when he migrated to England to work in the business of relatives in Manchester whilst preparing for entry to London University. He entered University College London in 1910 to read for a degree in philosophy and obtained his MA in 1915. He was a temporary lecturer at LSE from 1915-1916, and Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at UCL in 1921. He became an assistant in the Sociology Department at LSE in 1921 and a Lecturer in 1924. He became Martin White Professor of Sociology in 1929, succeeding Hobhouse, and held this chair until 1954. As Professor Emeritus he taught in the School until 1968.
Born 1912; educated at Oxford University; spent World War two in occupations consistent with her pacifist convictions, including voluntary work in one of the newly created Citizens Advice Bureaux; permanent worker at the Poplar Citizens Advice Bureaux, East London, 1955-1969; wrote a series of influential articles and pamphlets about housing, social security and homelessness; advised Jeremy Sandford on the TV drama-documentary Cathy come home, 1965; Founder Member, Child Poverty Action Group, [1965], with particular interest in the defects of the benefits system; First Director, Citizens' Rights Office, Child Poverty Action Group, 1970-1972; independent Lay Advocate for local authority tenants in county court eviction proceedings, [1972-]; died 1997. Publications: Tenants in Danger (Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1964); Remedies for rent arrears: a study in the London Borough of Camden (Shelter, London, 1979).
Following an early career in corporate communications and marketing, Adam Christie began working in the field of HIV/AIDS in 1985 when he was invited to write a paper for a leading UK healthcare provider. Since then he has become a leading AIDS educator, advising the media, the Department of Health Education Authority and the American Medical Association, as well as participating in conferences and publishing several books on the subject. Christie is the founder and Director of Modus Operandi, a UK consultancy, training and publishing business set up to advise companies and organisations on the implications of health, corporate policy and procedures and professional development. In 1990, Modus Operandi launched The Employers' Advisory Service on Aids and HIV (EASAH). It also publishes four newsletters, edited by Christie: The Aids leader, The Aids informer, Infection safety, and Aids business. Publications: Working with AIDS: a guide for businesses and business people (Employers' Advisory Service on Aids & HIV, Bradford, 1995); HIV infection and AIDS: choosing and using resources and materials (Employers' Advisory Service on Aids & HIV, Bradford, 1990); The biological agents and progressive conditions guide 1999 (Modus Operandi Consulting, Leeds, 1998).
The Campaign for Homosexual Equality has its origins in the North-Western Committee of the Homosexual Law Reform Committee (NWHLRC), which was founded in Manchester by Alan Horsfall to support the campaign for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. The first meeting was held on 4 June 1964, but the formal launch took place with a semi-public meeting on 7 Oct of the same year. NWHLRC was renamed the Committee for Homosexual Equality in 1969, and became the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) in 1971. Throughout the 1970s, CHE was the main British homophile organisation, growing from 100 members in 1969 to 2, 800 members and 60 local groups by 1972. Its activities included canvassing for further law reforms, providing educational material for use in schools, and attempting to influence the provision of medical, psychiatric and social services.
The central body of the organisation was the Executive Committee, whose General Secretary maintained contact with local groups, individuals and other organisations. Local groups and members had input into CHE policy through the National Council, which met quarterly at different venues through the country, and was composed of CHE members elected by the whole membership. Annual conferences were also held. The CHE local groups were active throughout England and Wales, retaining a high level of autonomy and often producing regular newsletters giving details of social and campaigning activities. Following reorganisation in 1982, the short-lived Gay Community Organisation took control of these local groups. From 1969-1971, CHE produced a newsletter, which became the CHE Bulletin (1971-1974) and eventually the CHE Broadsheet (1975-1976). A newspaper known as Out was produced from 1976-1977. CHE set up a magazine working party in 1971, which produced the magazine Lunch from 1971-1974. It also created the counselling group Friend, which later became independent.