David Hylton Thomas was born in 1910 in Chester, where his father and grandfather had been superintendants of the Chester Industrial School. He was educated at grammar schools in Chester and Altrincham, and won a technological scholarship to university. As part of his course at the Manchester College of Technology (now UMIST), he undertook a nine-month probationary apprenticeship at the Metropolitan Vickers factory in Trafford Park. he graduated in eletrical engineering in 1933, specialising in light-current engineering; having won a further research scholarship, he took an MSc(Tech) for research on the synthesis of musical tone by photo-electrical means. Thomas also gained an external degree of the University of London during the war. In 1934, he returned to Metropolitan Vickers to complete his apprenticeship and then took up a research post there, working on high-vacuum problems and acoustics. In 1936 Thomas was awarded the Joseph Swan Scholarship by the Institute of Electrical Engineers, which enabled him to go to Germany to study under Professor Barkhausen. His study was cut short by the approach of World War Two, and he returned home after two semesters. Upon his return he was appointed Lecturer in electrical engineering at University College, Nottingham, 1938-1946, subsequently becoming senior lecturer and departmental head at the Nottingham and District Technical College, 1946-1947. In November 1947, Thomas became Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Rutherford College of Technology in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (later the Newcastle Polytechnic and the University of Northumbria), a post which he held until his retirement in 1975. He was also an active member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1931-1999; and the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions. He travelled to Chile and West Germany as an adviser on technical education, and published numerous books and articles on electronics and teaching methods. His other interests included music, including participation in the Northumberland Orchestra. He also invented a device for duplicating Braille simply and cheaply (The Anwell-Thomas Embosser), and founded a talking newspaper for the blind on Tyneside in 1976. In retirement, with a grant from the Nuffield Foundation, Thomas conducted extensive research into the history of the industrial school movement, publishing eight articles on individual schools.
In 1968 the Advisory Centre for Education published a supplement to Where: Information on Education entitled Unstreaming Comprehensives. As a result of this, the Librarian of the Institute of Education, University of London, Douglas John Foskett, wrote to schools which were listed as participating in mixed ability teaching.
Founded in 1904 as the Equal Pay League, part of the National Union of Teachers, in 1906 this organisation was re-named the National Federation of Women Teachers. In 1920 it it broke away to form an independent union, the National Union of Women Teachers. It was a feminist organisation and maintained close links with other groups and individuals in the women's movement. Its main aim was to obtain equal pay but it also interested itself in the wide range of issues affecting women teachers, including the marriage bar, maternity rights and family allowances. It was also concerned with education in its widest sense and took an interest in many issues such as class sizes, corporal punishment, the school leaving age, teacher training, and wider social and political debates such as capital punishment, the minimum wage and health policy. In 1961, when equal pay had been achieved, the Union was wound up.
Tobias Rushton Weaver was born in London in 1911, the younger son of Sir Lawrence and Lady Weaver (nee Kathleen Purcell, harpist). He was educated at Temple Grove School, Eastbourne, and at Clifton College, Bristol. In 1929 he attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, gaining degrees in classics and law. In October 1932, Weaver moved to Toronto to work as a bank clerk for two years at the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Upon his return to England, he enrolled at the London Day Training College (later the Institute of Education) and gained a teaching certificate. Weaver's first post (1935-1936) was as a class teacher at the Park Modern School, Barking, which he followed with a one-term appointment as a 'beak' at Eton. In 1936 he was appointed Assistant Director of Education to Wiltshire County Council, and in 1939 became Assistant Director for Higher Education to the Essex County Council. Weaver served in the Royal Navy during World War Two, before taking up a post at the War Office in the Army Education Branch in 1942. Here he was Civil Assistant to the Director and later the Director General of Army Education. It was also during the war that Weaver married Marjorie Trevelyan (1941) and saw his first two children born. In 1946, Toby Weaver joined the Civil Service and was posted to the Ministry of Education, where he joined the Teachers Branch. The Branch was at that time employed in the creation of 55 Emergency Training Colleges to absorb the 100,000 applicants for a shortened training. By 1947, he had moved to the Schools Branch as Territorial Officer in charge of LEAs in the south east. In Jan 1948 Weaver became the Assistant Secretary to the External Relations Branch, with the title of Chief Information Officer. Responsibilities included the Ministry's press and public relations, editing the Annual Report, and representing the Ministry at overseas educational conferences. His next role was once more in the Schools Branch as Assistant Secretary in charge of the School Building Programme and the organisation of schools, 1952-1956. In 1956, Weaver became Under-Secretary in charge of Schools Branch, taking responsibility for advising on all aspects of policy affecting schools, including the reorganisation of all-age schools, the comprehensive system, maintenance allowances, and attendance on the Minister during debates. In Jan 1962 he was promoted Deputy-Secretary, Schools. In 1963, he was appointed Deputy-Secretary, Higher Education, a post he held until his retirement in 1973. Early on, the role included advising Ministers on the implementation of the Robbins Report on Higher Education, and Weaver largely drafted the 1966 White Paper `A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges'. His work was therefore largely responsible for the establishment of the binary policy for higher education and the creation of polytechnics. Other responsibilities included liasing with the University Grants Committee, university salaries, teachers' salaries and assessor on the Burnham Committee, further education, art education and teacher training. Following his retirement, Weaver acted as Visiting Professor of Education at the University of Southampton, 1973; Professor of Higher Education at the Institute of Education, 1974-1976; and Professor of Educational Administration at the Open University, 1976-1978. In addition to the above, Toby Weaver acted as Governor of Clifton College; a member of the Education for Capability Committee of the Royal Society of Arts; Governor of Imperial College (1963-1987); Chairman of the Validation Board of the School of Independent Study, North-East London Polytechnic; Chairman of the Housing Association for Officers and their families; Member of the All Souls Group; and a Member of the British Academy. Toby Weaver was honoured with a CB in 1961 and a knighthood in 1973.
Balfour served as a Lieutenant on the Challenger expedition (1873-1875) and was Commander on HMS Penguin (1893-1896).
A C Hoey accompanied N C Cockburn on his journey to Abyssinia and made astronomical observations of the area South of Mount Nyiro and West of Mount Ndoto, 1909.
An H Cecil Hoey was Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1909-1919, but it is not certain whether this was the same person.
Captain A G Stigand was Resident Magistrate of Toteng, Ngamiland, administrator of the Batawana Reserve and the head of the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police in the region, 1910-1923. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1910-1950 (resigned).
Arnold Danvers Power was a publisher with Hutchinsons and the London manager for Sir Isaac Pitman, he became a partner in W.H. Smith in 1911. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1918-1959.
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1927-1932; travelled widely in South America.
Leo Austen was Assistant Resident Magistrate of the Western Division of Papua in the 1920s and served elsewhere in Papua during the 1930s. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1929-1938.
Born, 1853; acting stipendiary magistrate, Fiji, 1885-1886; elephant hunter in connection to the African Lakes Corporation, East Africa; actively engaged in the defence of the recently founded Nyasaland Protectorate and played a leading role in the establishment of British rule in the region; Commissioner of British Central Africa, 1897-1910 (title known as Governor of the Nyasaland Protectorate from 1907); Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), 1891-1935; RGS Cuthbert Peek Award, 1898; Member of the Council of the RGS, 1913-1917; died, 1935.
Born, 1873; educated at Whitgift Grammar School, Croydon, 1882-1892; Trinity College, Cambridge, 1892-1895; second assistant at the Cambridge observatory under Sir Robert Ball and demonstrator in practical astronomy, 1895; chief assistant, 1903-1913; studied the surveying methods taught at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, 1903; appointment as Lecturer in Surveying and Cartography in the Cambridge School of Geography, 1908; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1911-1945; gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1912; FRS, 1913; Secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1909-1912 and a Vice-President from 1912-1913; Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), 1912-1915; RGS Secretary and editor of the Geographical Journal, 1915-1945; geographical and map preparation work for the General Staff, First World War; President of geography section of the British Association, 1925; RGS Victoria medal, 1938; died, 1945.
Virginia Adam was born in 1938 and educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and Newnham College, Cambridge University. Following graduation in 1960 she became an Assistant Research Fellow at the Applied Research Unit of the East African Institute of Social Research. The Applied Research Unit, set up to produce research which would be of use to government departments as well as the University, was largely financed by the Ford Foundation. Virginia Adam's project, under the direction of Dr Derrick Stenning, was intended both to supply information to the Community Development Department and to supply facts about a largely unknown area of central Tanzania. From 1961-1963, she took part in the daily life of her study area in Tanzania, investigating the myths, legends and history of the tribes that she studied. Adam worked at University College London from 1964.
No information available at present.
AEGIS (Aid to the Elderly in Government Institutions) was a pressure group set up by Barbara Robb (d 1975) to campaign about the treatment of elderly people in the psychiatric and geriatric wards of British hospitals, following her personal involvement in the case of Amy Gibbs, a patient at Friern Barnet Hospital. AEGIS was founded in November 1965, and the publication of Sans Everything: a case to answer (Nelson, London, 1967) by Robb led to government debates and the setting up of Committees of Inquiry into the conditions at several hospitals in Great Britain. The first reading of the NHS Reorganisation Bill took place in 1972, and a Health Ombudsman was appointed in 1973. Robb died in 1975.
(Andrews). Born in Southampton, 1914; educated at the University of Southampton; Open Foundation Scholar, University College Southampton, 1931-1934; British Association Exhibitioner, 1934; Assistant Lecturer in Economics, University College Southampton, 1935-1936; Worker, Education Association (Southern District), 1936-1937; Research Staff, Social Studies Research Group, Oxford, 1937-1941; Lecturer in Economics, New College, Oxford University, 1941-1948; Chief of Statistics, Social Reconstruction Survey, 1941-1946, and Fellow, 1946-1967, Nuffield College, Oxford University; first Bley Stein Memorial Lecturer, University of California, USA, 1963; Special University Lecturer in Economics, Lancaster University, 1967-1971; General Editor, Journal of Industrial Economics, 1952-1971, and member of the Editorial Board, Oxford Economic Papers, 1948-1952; died 1971.
No information available for Elizabeth Brunner at present.
Publications: (Andrews and Brunner) Capital Development in Steel: a study of the United Steel Companies Ltd (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1951); The Life of Lord Nuffield: a study in enterprise and benevolence (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1955); The Eagle Ironworks Oxford: the story of W. Lucy and Company Limited (Mills & Boon, 1965); Studies in pricing (Macmillan, London, 1975); (Andrews and Frank Adzley Friday) Fair Trade: resale price maintenance re-examined (Macmillan & Co, London; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1960); (Andrews) Manufacturing business (Gregg Revivals, Aldershot, 1994); (Brunner) Holiday Making and the Holiday Trades (Oxford University Press, London, 1945).
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.
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.
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.