PROGRESS Campaign for Research into Human Reproduction was launched in November 1985 to campaign for the protection of human embryo research so that IVF treatment could continue. PROGRESS was wound up after the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was passed in 1990, but in May 1992 Progress Educational Trust was established to carry on the educational work of PROGRESS. See http://www.progress.org.uk/ for further information.
The Political Studies Association (PSA) was founded in 1950 with the aim of developing and promoting the study of politics. The PSA organises annual conferences, publishes series of works on political subjects, offers research scholarships and prizes, and maintains contact with other similar organisations. It also publishes four periodicals: Political Studies, the British Journal of Political and Industrial Relations, Politics, and PSA News. Overall policy and administration is decided by an Executive Committee.
Thomas Thornely, 1781-1862, was educated in 'mercantile pursuits' and continued in commerce until later life, when he became a Liberal MP. He represented the borough of Wolverhampton for twenty-four years, from 1835.
Charles Pelham Villiers, 1802-1898, was educated at Haileybury and St John's College, Cambridge, becoming a barrister of Lincoln's Inn in 1827. He held Benthamite political views, and enjoyed a long career in public service and Parliament. In 1832, he was a Poor Law Commissioner, and from 1833 to 1852, an official of the court of Chancery. He served as an MP for Wolverhampton from 1835 to 1898, during which time he worked towards free trade and opposed the Corn Law and home rule for Ireland. He also served as Judge-Advocate General, 1852-1858, Privy Councillor, 1853, and President of the Poor Law board, 1859-1866.
Maud, John Primatt Redcliffe was born in Bristol in 1906. He was educated at Summer Fields School in Oxford, Eton College and New College Oxford. In 1929 he became Junior Research Fellow at University College Oxford. In 1932 he married (Margaret) Jean Hamilton (1904-1993) and undertook a Rhodes Travelling Fellowship to Johannesburg where he wrote a history of local government. Between 1932 and 1939 he also served as Fellow and Dean at Oxford University, lectured in politics and tutored the Colonial Administrative Services Course. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Maud was summoned into public service and took up a post in Reading Jail. Although he continued to fulfil his duties as Master of Birkbeck College from 1939 until 1943, he rose quickly in the ranks of the civil service. From Principal Private Secretary Ministry of Food in 1940 to Deputy Secretary (later Second Secretary) Ministry of Food 1941-1944, Second Secretary to the Office of the Minister of Reconstruction 1944-1945 and Secretary to the Office of the Lord President of the Council 1945. In the immediate post-war years he assumed the posts of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, 1945 (-1952); Member, Economic Planning Board, 1952 (-1958); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1952 (-1959). In this period he was also one of the founding fathers of UNESCO. In 1959 he accepted the roles of British High Commissioner in South Africa (-1961), High Commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland (-1963) and in 1961 became the first British Ambassador to the new South African republic (-1963). He returned to Oxford in 1963 as the Master of University College, (-1976). But he also undertook enquiries into local government. Between 1964 and 1967 he Chaired the Committee on the Management of Local Government and worked closely with the Committee on Staffing Local Government, Chaired by Sir (Howard) George Mallaby. This was followed with his Chairmanship of the Royal Commission on Local Government, 1966-1969. In 1967 he was awarded a Baronetcy and assumed the title, Baron Redcliffe-Maud. During these years he also undertook the roles of High Bailiff of Westminster, 1967 and Chairman, Prime Minister's Committee on Local Government Rules of Conduct, 1973-1974. From 1974 to 1976, with the support of the Calouste-Gulbenkian Foundation, he conducted an enquiry into funding for the arts in England and Wales. Throughout his life Redcliffe-Maud was an accomplished public speaker and made numerous speeches and broadcasts. Among his publications are: Local Government in modern England, (Thornton Butterworth, London, 1932). City Government: The Johannesburg Experiment, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1938). Johannesburg and the Art of Self-Government, (R Esson and Co, Johannesburg, 1937). Expanding horizons in a contracting world: the challenge to education, (University of Natal, Durban, 1960). Aid for developing countries, (Athlone Press, London, 1964). Leadership and democracy, Foundation Orations 1966, University of London, Birkbeck College, (London 1966). The future of the individual, Bellman Memorial Lectures (London, 1968). English Local Government Reformed, (Oxford University Press, London, 1974). Support for the arts in England and Wales : a report to the Colouste Gulbenkian Foundation (London, 1976). Experiences of an Optimist, (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1981). Redcliffe-Maud retired in 1976 but remained active as the President of Royal Institute of Public Administration, 1969-1979, and the British Diabetic Association, 1977-1982. He died in 1982.
Foundation. The Royal Economic Society (RES) was founded in 1890 as the British Economics Association (BEA) with the aim of promoting and encouraging the study of economic science and with the particular objective of publishing an economic journal in Britain. Many prominent British economists were involved in the foundation of the BEA, including Inglis Palgrave, Herbert Foxwell and Alfred Marshall. At the particular urging of Alfred Marshall, membership of the BEA was declared open to all and has been ever since, making the Society not only a learned professional body but also an open society for anyone interested in economics. Members have included prominent academics, businessmen, journalists, clergymen, politicians and civil servants.
Structure. On the initiative of Henry Higgs (Secretary of the Society, 1892-1906), the BEA applied for and was granted a Royal Charter in December 1902 and became the Royal Economic Society. The Charter specifies that there shall be a Council which will be responsible for the 'management and direction of the Society'. It also lays down that 'The Council shall consist of the President, Vice-Presidents, and not less than twenty Councillors; and the Treasurer or Treasurer and the Secretary or Secretaries if honorary'. Many distinguished economists have been associated with the RES throughout its history, as Presidents, Council members, Secretaries, Treasurers and Editors of the Economic Journal. The first two Presidents of the Society were prominent statesmen, namely George Goschen who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and R B Haldance, another prominent politician who remained President of the Society for 22 years. In 1929 the Council re-affirmed an earlier resolution that 'it was considered advisable that as a rule the President should not hold office for more than three years'. In fact, apart from Herbert Foxwell, the term of office of the Society's Presidents was two years until 1986 when a three-year term was introduced. Past Presidents include John Maynard Keynes, William Beveridge, Lionel Robbins, James Meade, Nicholas Kaldor and Richard Stone. In its early years, the day-to-day running of the Society was left to Henry Higgs and F Y Edgeworth (Editor of the Economic Journal, 1892-1906). Among later Secretaries and Editors who also took a prominent part in the administration of the Society's affairs were John Maynard Keynes (1912-1945), Roy Harrod (1945-1961) and Austin Robinson (1945-1971). The retirement of Austin Robinson in 1971 was followed by the decentralisation of the Society's activities as well as significent changes in its administration. These changes were overseen by the then President, Sir Alec Cairncross, and they included the formation of an Executive Committee in 1975. This committee is responsible for the execution of the Society's policy as laid down by the Council (which now meets twice a year) and for the co-ordination of the activities of its officers. Other changes which have taken place include the introduction of a more direct say by members in the composition of the Council and the selection of the President.
The EJ and other Publications. The first Economic Journal (EJ) appeared in 1891. The first page of the first issue stated 'The British Economic Association is open to all schools and parties: no person is excluded because of his opinions. The Economic Journal, issued under the authority of the Association, will be conducted in a similar spirit of toleration'. The EJ has been produced ever since, even during war years, quarterly until 1991 and six times a year since then. Successive editors to 1970 (F Y Edgeworth, J M Keynes, Roy Harrod and Charles Carter) took responsibility for the articles and notes sections: book reviews were handled by separate assistant or joint editors following the appointment of Austin Robinson in 1934. From 1970 onwards the editorship became more collaborative and much greater use began to be made of referees and associate editors. In addition, the Society has produced a Newsletter since 1972; at first this contained mainly information on visiting scholars, appointments and conferences, but it now also publishes short articles of topical interest, correspondence and news about research. The Newsletter is published quarterly. One of the objectives of the Society at its foundation was to make scholarly economic works available to its members, primarily by the reprinting of early tracts, the translation of important foreign works and producing definitive editions of economic texts. Early publications included Quesnay's Tableau Economique; later more ambitious undertakings included the multi-volume editions of the Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo and the Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. The Keynes Edition was one of the Society's major undertakings from its conception in 1954 to the publication of its final volume in 1989.
Other activities. The RES continues to contribute today to the advancement and dissemination of economic knowledge. The aims and activities of the Society have, however, broadened since 1890. In addition to its publishing activities, the Society contributes to the exchange of ideas in the profession through its Annual Conference, through its support for the standing Conference of Heads of University Departments of Economics (CHUDE) established in 1987 to promote the study and teaching of economics in the UK, and through its Visiting Lectureship scheme. Support for younger members is provided through summer research workshops, the Easter School, junior fellowships and the conference grant scheme. The Society also co-operates with other economic societies both nationally and internationally. It was a founding member of the International Economic Association and of the Confederation of European Economic Associations.
Born 1898; educated Southall County School, University College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science; served World War One, 1916-1919, in the Royal Field Artillery; Lecturer, New College Oxford University, 1924; Lecturer, LSE, 1925-1927; Fellow and Lecturer, New College, Oxford University, 1927-1929; Professor of Economics, LSE, 1929-1961; Director, Economic Section, Offices of the War Cabinet, 1941-1945; President, Royal Economic Society, 1954-1955; Trustee, National Gallery, 1952-1974, and Tate Gallery, 1953-1967; Director, Royal Opera House, 1955-1981; Chairman, Financial Times, 1961-1970; Chairman, Committee on Higher Education (Robbins Committee), 1961-1964; President, British Academy, 1962-1967; Member, Court of Governors, LSE, 1968-1974; First Chancellor of Stirling University, 1968-1978; died 1984. Publications: Liberty and equality (1977); Political economy past and present (1976); Against inflation (1979); Higher education revisited (1980); (ed) Studies in Economics and Commerce (London, 1933-1948); Aspects of post-war economy (Institute of economic Affairs, London, 1974); Autobiography of an economist (Macmillan, London, 1971); The balance of payments (Athlone Press, London, 1951); Bentham in the twentieth century (Athlone Press, London, 1965); Economic aspects of federation (Macmillan, London, 1941); The economic basis of class conflict (Macmillan, London, 1939); The economic causes of war (Jonathan Cape, London, 1939); Economic planning and international order (Macmillan, London, 1937); The economic problem in peace and war (Macmillan, London, 1947); The economist in the twentieth century (Macmillan, London, 1954); An essay on the nature and significance of economic science (Macmillan, London, 1932); The evolution of modern economic theory (Macmillan, London, 1970); The Great Depression (Macmillan, London, 1934); The international monetary problem (Oxford University Press, London, 1973); Money, trade and international relations (Macmillan, London, 1971); Politics and economics (Macmillan, London, 1963); Robert Torrens and the evolution of classical economics (Macmillan, London, 1958); The theory of economic policy in English classical political economy (Macmillan, London, 1952); The university in the modern world, and other papers on education (Macmillan, London, 1966); Wages (Jarrolds, London, 1926).
William Alexander Robson, 1895-1980, was a student at the London School of Economics, gaining his BSC (Economics) First Class Honours in 1922, PhD in 1924 and LLM in 1928. He saw active service as a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps and RAF during World War One and was called to the Bar in 1922. He did not practice law for long, however, becoming a lecturer at LSE in 1926 and then a Reader in Administrative Law from 1933 to 1946. He was made a professor in 1947 and continued at the school until his retirement in 1962. From 1940 to 1942, Robson was Principal of the Mines Department before becoming Principal of the Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1942 to 1943. He was Assistant Secretary to the Air Ministry 1943 to 1945 and to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1945. He was also a member of the Council of the Town and Country Planning Association, the Committee on Training in Public Administration for Overseas Countries. From 1950 to 1953 he was chairman of the Greater London Group. In 1930 he helped to found the 'Political Quarterly' and went on to be its joint editor, 1930 to 1975 and chairman of the editorial board from 1975 to his death in 1980.
No information available at present.
Sir (Alfred) Chester Beatty was an American mining engineer, who founded Selection Trust Ltd in 1913. This remained a small company until after World War One, when Beatty embarked on the development, finance and administration of mining businesses throughout the world, notably in Siberia, the west coast of Africa, Serbia and Northern Rhodesia. Beatty built an expert team of geologists and mining engineers whom he sent abroad with specific instructions on the areas to explore: he never travelled to these places himself. Though many of these mining enterprises were later nationalised, Selection Trust had by then acquired valuable interests in other mines around the world. Beatty retired in 1950, and handed over control of Selection Trust to his son, Alfred Chester Beatty, who retired in 1968, the same year as his father's death. Beatty Senior was also well known for his philanthropic interests in cancer research, and his fascination with collecting oriental manuscripts and impresionist art. The Selection Trust Ltd was taken over by BP, and was known as, successively, BP Minerals International Ltd and BP Minerals Development Ltd. It was acquired from BP by the Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation Plc in 1989.
Charles Seligman, 1873-1940, was educated at St Paul's School. He qualified as a doctor and became Director of the Clinical Laboratory at St Thomas's hospital, and also treated shellshock victims during World War One. He became interested in tropical diseases and it was for this reason that he went on his first expedition to Borneo and the Torres Straits. Whilst there, he developed an interest in anthropology and the rest of his life was devoted to this discipline. He also attempted to combine disciplines, using psychology to explain anthropological problems. He first taught at the London School of Economics in 1910, and was appointed to the Chair of Ethnology of the University of London in 1913, the first of its kind at the University. He retired in 1934, and was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. Brenda Seligman, d 1960, accompanied her husband on anthropological expeditions and published material in her own right. Like her husband she acquired her knowledge of anthropology whilst working in the field. She was particularly interested in kinship and the lives of women and children.
Beatrice Serota (1919-2002) was born in London on 15 October 1919, the daughter of Alexander Katz and Milly Witkower. She was educated at the Clapton county secondary school and at the London School of Economics. In 1942 she married Stanley Serota. After wartime service in the Ministry of Fuel and Power, Serota was elected as a Labour member of Hampstead Borough Council in 1945, beginning a long involvement with local politics. In 1954 she was elected to the London County Council (LCC), serving as Chairman of the Children's Committee. When the LCC was abolished in 1965, Serota was elected to the Greater London Council (GLC) which replaced it. She became the Labour Chief Whip on the GLC, and served on the Inner London Education Authority, until 1967. Serota's work for the LCC and GLC led to her being awarded a peerage for services to children in 1967. This enabled her appointment as Minister of State for Health in the Department of Health and Social Security, 1969-1970. Prior to becoming a minister, Serota had served on a number of advisory bodies and commissions. She was a member of the Longford Committee on crime, 1964; the Royal Commission on the Penal System, 1964-1966; the Latey Committee on the Age of Majority, 1965-1967; and the Advisory Council on the Penal System, 1966-1968, and 1974-1979. Following the Labour government's defeat in 1970, Serota served on the Community Relations Commission, 1970-1976; and was Chair of the Commission for Local Administration, 1974-1982; the BBC Complaints Commission, 1975-1977; and was a Governor of the BBC, 1977-1982. Serota also had an active career in the House of Lords, being Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees and a member of the European Communities Select Committee, 1986-1992. she was Deputy Speaker in the Lords from 1985 until her death in 2002.
She was also involved with the National Council for One Parent Families and the Family Service Units until her death in 2002.
Peter Shore (1924-2001) was born in Great Yarmouth, the son of a commercial sea captain. He attended Quarry Bank Grammar School, Liverpool and King's College, Cambridge, where he studied History; he served in the RAF as a flying officer from 1943-1946. In 1948 he joined the Labour Party and was employed in the Research Department, producing the tract 'Industry and Society' (1957), and becoming its head from 1959-1964. Shore stood for St Ives, Cornwall, in 1950 and Halifax in 1959 before being elected for Stepney in 1964. He retained the seat, which became Bethnal Green and Stepney, until 1997. He was Harold Wilson's private paliamentary secretary from 1965-1966, then beoming joint parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Technology (Tony Benn) from 1966-1967 and at the Department of Economic Affairs in 1967. He joined the Cabinet in 1967 upon his appointment as Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1967-1969). When the Department for Economic Affairs was dissolved in 1969 Shore remained in the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Leader of the House (1969-1970). While the Labour Party was in opposition Shore became opposition spokesman on Europe (1971-1974) and with the Labour Party's return to power he was Secretary of State for Trade (1974 - 1976) and Secretary of State for the Environment (1976-1979). During the Labour Party's period in opposition from 1979-1987 Shore services as opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, Treasury and Economic Affairs and Trade and Industry as well as being Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He was a member of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs (1987-1997) and the Committee on Standards in Public Life (1994-2001). He was created Baron Shore of Stepney in 1997.
Possibly Charles William Smith of Liverpool, who published a series of books and articles on international trade, including Commercial gambling: the principal causes of depression in agriculture and trade (Sampson Low and Co, London, 1893), Original theories upon and remedies for depression in trade, land, agriculture and silver (Sampson Low and Co, London, 1893); International, commercial and financial gambling in Options and Futures' (PS King and Son, 1906), and The South African war and theBear' operator: a financial revolution (PS King and Son, London, 1912).
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer, initiated a scheme for the funding of national debt through the South Sea Company, founded in 1711 to trade with Spanish America, on the assumption that the War of the Spanish Succession would end with a treaty permitting such trade. The Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, was less favourable than had been hoped, but confidence in the Company remained artificially high, eventually leading to the collapse of the stock market in 1720 (the South Sea Bubble) and the ruin of many investors. The Company, however, survived until 1853.
For a full biography, see the description for the Shaw business papers (Ref: Shaw).
No information available at present.
For a biographical history of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, see the description for the Passfield personal papers (Ref: Passfield).
For a full administrative history of the LSE, see the description for the main LSE records (Ref: London School of Economics and Political Science Archives).
John Thomson was a talented and influential photographer, who had spent ten years travelling in, and taking photographs of, the Far East. On his return to London he joined with Adolphe Smith, a socialist journalist, in a project to photograph the street life of the London poor. The volumes were published in monthly parts as Street Life in London, and were an early example of social and documentary photography.
Born 1938; educated Prince of Wales School, Nairobi, and George Watson's College, Edinburgh University; President, Edinburgh University Liberals, 1959, and the Students' Representative Council, 1960; Assistant Secretary, Scottish Liberal Party, 1962-1964; BBC television interviewer in Scotland, 1964-1965; Liberal (later Liberal Democrat) MP for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, 1965-1983, and Tweedale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, 1983-1997; President, Anti-Apartheid Movement of Great Britain, 1966-1969; Member, Parliamentary Delegation to the UN General Assembly, 1967; Chairman, Shelter in Scotland, 1969-1973; Liberal Chief Whip, 1970-1975; Member, British Council of Churches, 1971-1975; Council of Management, Centre for Studies in Social Policy, 1971-1976; Advisory Council, European Discussion centre, 1971-1976; Leader of the Liberal Party, 1976-1988; Rector, Edinburgh University, 1982-1985; Chubb Fellow, Yale University, USA, 1987; KBE, 1990; Co-Founder, Social and Liberal Democrats, 1988; President, Countryside Movement, 1995-; President, Liberal International, 1994-1996; created Life Peer, 1997; Liberal Democrat Member and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, 1999-. Publications: No entry: the background and implications of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act (C Hurst and Co, London, 1969); The Liberal way forward (Liberal Publication Department, London, 1975); A new majority for a new parliament (Liberal Publications Department, London, 1978); The high ground of politics (Liberal Publication Department, 1979); A house divided: the Lib-Lab Pact and the future of British politics (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1980); Labour at 80: time to retire (Liberal Publication Department, London, 1980); Partners in one nation: a new vision of Britain 2000 (Bodley Head, London, 1985); The decade of realignment: the leadership speeches of David Steel (Hebden Royd Publications, Hebden Bridge, 1986); Sharing profits: the partnership path to economic recovery (Hebden Royd Publications, Hebden Bridge, 1986); Mary Stuart's Scotland (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1987); The time has come: partnership for progress (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1987); Against Goliath (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1989); Border country (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1985).
Born [1860]; HM Senior Inspector of Factories, [1893-1897]; Member, War Office Commission of Enquiry into Concentration Camps during the Boer War, 1901-1902; Member, Royal Commission on the Civil Service; first female Organising Officer, National Health Insurance Commission, London; Member, Commission of Enquiry into the Conditions of the Women's Army Auxilary Corps in France; Member, Kent Executive Committee of the Women's Land Army; Vice-Chairman, Kent Council of Social Service; married Granville Edward Stewart Streatfeild in 1911; died 1950.
Richard Henry Tawney, 1880-1962, was born in Calcutta and educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford. After leaving Oxford, he became an assistant at Glasgow University, 1906-1908, before returning to Oxford to become a member of the Teacher for Tutorial Classes Committee, 1908-1914. He became Director of the Ratan Tata Foundation at the University of London, 1913-1914 and Professor of Economic History at the University of London, 1931-1949. After 1949, he was Professor Emeritus. Tawney was also a member of numerous committees relating to trade and education. He was a member of the executive of the Workers Educational Association, 1905-1947 and President, 1928-1944, and also a member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education, 1912-1931. He was a member of the University Grants Committee 1943-1948. In 1919, he joined the Coal Industry Commission, and he was also a member of the Chain Trade Board, 1919 - 1922, and the Cotton Trade Conciliation Commission, 1936-1939.
Documentary produced by Brook Productions, broadcast as 'The Writing on the Wall'.
Richard Morris Titmuss, 1907-1973, was educated at St Gregory's preparatory school in Luton and at the age of fourteen went on to Clark's Commercial College for a six month course in bookkeeping. At eighteen he was engaged as a probationary clerk to the County Fire Insurance Office and he stayed there for the next sixteen years. In 1937, Titmuss married Kay Miller, who influenced his interests towards more social and political themes. He began writing articles on topics such as public health and migration, and his first book 'Poverty and Population' was published in 1938. When war broke out, Titmuss' job in war damage insurance became a reserved occupation. However, his name was added to the Ministry of Labour's Central Register of professional people. In this capacity he informally advised the Ministry of Information on some social survey reports and was statistical adviser in a voluntary capacity to the Ministries of Health and Economic Warfare on wartime German vital statistics.
In 1942, he left the County Fire Insurance Office to join a group of historians commissioned to write the civil histories of the Second World War and to cover the work of the Ministry of Health. Throughout this period he continued writing on the problems of poverty and population, publishing books, and from late 1944 working as a statistical and demographic adviser to Luton. His interest in social inequality led him to abandon the Liberal Party and join other wartime political groups. He worked with the Liberal MP Sir Richard Acland, whose publication 'Unser Kampf' demanded that steps should be taken during the war towards a new order of society. They formed a group called Forward March which then merged with other groups to become the short lived Commonwealth Party.
In 1947, Titmuss was working as Social Economist and Deputy Director of the Social Medicine Research Unit. However with the publication of his book 'Problems of Social Policy' academic employment opened up for him. He was offered the chairs of social administration at Birmingham and the London School of Economics and chose LSE, arriving in 1950. Here he continued to define and analyse social services and to establish the academic respectability of social administration until his retirement.
No further information available at present.
David Barry was born in the vicinity of Rochester, New York. He and his family moved in 1861 to Wisconsin. Barry was employed by the internant photographer O.S. Goff and joined him at his gallery in Bismarck. Between 1878-1883, Barry travelled around Dakota territory. He used a portable photographic studio to take portaits of famous Native American chiefs, women, scouts and warriors. Barry also took photographs of forts and battlefields of the Plains Wars. He moved to Superior, Wisconsin in 1890 to open a photographic studio and gallery.
Will Fancy joined the Socialist Review Group as a young man and was involved in Trotskyist politics until the early 1980s. He was active within the white-collar trade union, NALGO, playing a leading role in transforming the union into playing a more militant, campaigning organisation. Will Fancy was elected to the NALGO national executive: in the 1970s the Daily Mail described him as "the most dangerous man in Britain". In the early 1980s Will Fancy became a full-time union secretary and broke with the Socialist Workers Party.
Charles Lahr was born Karl Lahr in 1885 at Wendlesheim in the Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. During his teenage years he became first a Buddhist and later an anarchist. In 1905, to escape conscription into the German army, he left Germany for London. On arriving in London he worked as a baker and expressed his political involvement by joining and frequenting anarchist clubs. By 1914 Lahr had taken work as a razor grinder and had joined the British Section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He began to accumulate books at around this time as he moved from residence to residence in the Kings Cross area of London. He also let rooms to people he met through his political activities. Designated an enemy alien, Lahr was interned in Alexandra Palace in London from 1915 to 1919. After the war Lahr returned to his trade and continued his involvement with the IWW, where he met his future wife, Esther Archer, whom he married in 1922. Lahr and Archer both joined the Communist party in 1920, but left in 1921. It was during this brief membership that the Lahr met and became friends with Liam O'Flaherty. In 1921 Lahr took over the Progressive Bookshop at 68 Red Lion Square, Holborn. The bookshop became a centre for new writers and political activists from around the world, and specialised in the sale of radical literature and first editionsThe Lahr's first moves into publishing came in when K. S. Bhat recommended the editors of the New Coterie to take the magazine to the Lahrs. From 1925 onwards Lahr started publishing items on his own account, often using his wife's maiden name to counter anti-German prejudice. During 1925 to 1927 these took the form of offprints from New Coterie, and then articles within the magazine itself. In the publishing world he was in close contact with writers such as D. H. Lawrence, T. F. Powys, James Hanley, A.S.J. Tessimond, Liam O' Flaherty, Paul Selver, Russell Green, George Woodcock, Rhys Davies and several others. The New Coterie ran until 1927, and in 1930 Lahr launched his Blue Moon Booklets and a year later the Blue Moon Press. However, by 1933 Lahr was having financial problems. In 1935 his difficulties came to a head when he was found guilty of receiving stolen books and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. However, after his release he continued his publishing activities although on a much reduced scale. The bookshop continued to be a focus for radicals and revolutionaries.The bookshop in Holborn was bombed in May 1941. Lahr moved the bookshop to several locations in central London before finally moving it to the headquarters of the Independent Labour Party at 197 Kings Cross Road, London. Charles Lahr died in London in 1971.
References:R. M. Fox, 'Lahr's Bookshop' in Smoky Crusade, Hogarth Press, 1938, pp. 180-188.D. Goodway, 'Charles Lahr: Anarchist, Bookseller' in London Magazine, Jun-Jul 1977, pp. 47-55.
Geoffrey Wharton Robinson was the son of Ellen Ternan and her husband, Geoffrey Wharton Robinson. Robinson was a captain in the Lancashire Fusiliers in the years before the First World War. Previously he had served in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers before being transferred after the disbandment of the 3rd and 4th battalions. By 1913, he had retired from the army and was looking for alternative employment.
John Urpeth Rastrick was born at Morpeth in Northumberland on 26 January 1780, the son of John Rastrick, an engineer to whom he became articled in 1795. In about 1801, he was working at the Ketley Iron Works in Shropshire and, in or after 1805, he joined in partnership with John Hazledine (soon succeeded by Robert Hazledine) of Bridgenorth, Shropshire. During this time, Rastrick assisted in the construction of the locomotive 'Catch me who Can' for Richard Trevithick in 1808, and in 1814, he took out a patent for a steam engine and soon started experimenting with steam traction on railways. His first major work was the cast iron road bridge over the Wye at Chepstow (1815-1816). In 1817 Rastrick left that partnership, to join with James Foster, in about 1819, at the iron works which then became known as Foster, Rastrick and Co., at Stourbridge, Worcestershire. His association with railway engineering began in 1822 when he became an engineer for the Stratford and Moreton Railway. Rastrick became an active supporter of railway proposals put before Parliament, an adviser to railway companies, and a designer and builder of locomotives - the 'Agenoria' and 'Stourbridge Lion' for example. He acted as surveyor or engineer to parts of a large number of lines, among them the Liverpool & Manchester (1829 onwards), the Manchester and Cheshire Junction (1835 onwards), and the series of lines later known as the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (1836 onwards). About 1847, he retired from engineering work, although he continued to occupy himself with railway business, and was active in a number of arbitrations concerning railway disputes. He retired to Sayes Court, Chertsey, Surrey and died on 1 November 1856.
In 1724-1725, the British government attempted to impose a new and debased currency of copper halfpence and farthings on Ireland. The "Drapier's Letters" (1724-1725) by Johnathan Swift attacked this scheme, and were part of a successful campaign against it.
The South Sea Company was founded in 1711 to trade (mainly in slaves) with Spanish America, on the assumption that the War of the Spanish Succession, then drawing to a close, would end with a treaty permitting such trade. The company's stock sold well, but the Treaty of Utrecht made with Spain in 1713, was less favourable than had been hoped, imposing an annual tax on imported slaves and allowing the company to send only one ship each year for general trade. The success of the first voyage in 1717 was only moderate, but King George I of Great Britain became governor of the company in 1718, creating confidence in the enterprise, which was soon paying 100 percent interest. In 1720 there was an incredible boom in South Sea stock, as a result of the company's proposal, accepted by Parliament, to take over the national debt. The company expected to recoup itself from expanding trade, but chiefly from the foreseen rise in the value of its shares. By September the market had collapsed, and by December South Sea shares had plummeted in value, dragging other, including government, stock with them. Many investors were ruined, and the House of Commons ordered an inquiry, which showed that at least three ministers had accepted bribes and speculated. Many of the company's directors were disgraced, but the company itself survived until 1853, having sold most of its rights to the Spanish government in 1750.
Bilson born 1547 in Winchester, where he was educated and at New College Oxford; fellow 1564/5; Prebendary of Winchester, and Warden of the College there; Bishop of Worcester, 1596; translated to the see of Winchester, three years later; died 1616.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Charles Davenant was born in London in 1656. Educated at the grammar school, Cheam, Surrey and Balliol College, Oxford University, he became MP for St Ives, Cornwall, in 1685, and for Great Bedwin, 1690 and 1700. He was Commissioner of the Excise, 1678-1689, and Inspector General of Exports and Imports from 1705 until his death in Nov 1714. Davenant also wrote widely on politics and economics.
Publications: Reflections upon the Constitution and Management of the Trade to Africa, through the whole course and progress thereof, from the beginning of the last century, to this time (John Morphew, London, 1709); The Songs in Circe (Richard Tonson, London, 1677); An Account of the Trade between Great-Britain, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Africa, Newfoundland, etc. With the importations and exportations of all commodities, particularly of the woollen manufactures. Deliver'd in two reports made to the Commissioners for Publick Accounts (A. Bell, W. Taylor; J. Baker, London, 1715); An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war (London, 1695); Essays upon Peace at Home, and War Abroad (James Knapton, London, 1704); A Discourse upon Grants and Resumptions, showing how our ancestors have proceeded with such Ministers as have procured to themselves Grants of the Crown revenue; and that the Forfeited Estates ought to be applied towards the payment of the Publick Debts (London, 1700); Sir Thomas Double at Court, and in High Preferments. In two dialogues, between Sir T. Double and Sir Richard Comover, alias Mr. Whiglove: on the 27th of September, 1710 (John Morphew, London, 1710); An Essay on the East India Trade (London, 1696); Discourses on the Publick Revenues, and on the Trade of England (J Knapton, London, 1698); A Report (a second Report) to the Honourable the Commissioners for putting in execution the Act, intitled, An Act for the Taking, Examining, and Stating the Publick Accounts of the Kingdom (London, 1712); An Essay upon the probable means of making a People gainers in the Ballance of Trade (London, 1699); Essays upon I. the Ballance of Power; II. The right of making war, peace, and alliances; III. Universal Monarchy (London, 1701); New Dialogues upon the Present Posture of Affairs, the species of mony, national debts, publick revenues, Bank and East-India Company, and the trade now carried on between France and Holland (John Morphew, London, 1710).
Alexander John Ellis, B.A., F.C.P.S.
Samuel Wilderspin was the controversial self-styled founder of the Infant School System. He was born in Hornsey, North London in 1792 and was an apprentice clerk in the City before being introduced to infant education by Buchanan. He trained with Buchanan at a school in Vincent Square, London and then became master of his own school in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. From 1824 he worked for the Infant School Society and as a freelance, teaching others about his system of schooling. He ran an infant school supply depot in Cheltenham for supplying apparatus and in 1839 set up the Central Model School in Dublin which was subsequently run by Sarah Anne and Thomas Young (his daughter and son-in-law). After returning from Dublin he was heavily involved with the Mechanics' Institute movement. In 1848, having founded several hundred schools, he retired to Wakefield on a civil list pension.Wilderspin's theories on education were mainly a product of his Swedenborgian beliefs. He saw education as a life long training of the child's soul and as such approached education from social, moral and religious aspects.
Publications include:
'Early discipline illustrated; or, the infant system progressing and successful' (1832)
'The importance of educating the infant poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years' (1824)
'The infant system, for developing the intellectual and moral powers of all children, from one to seven years of age' (1834)
'Manual for the religious and moral instruction of young children' (1845) co-author with Thomas John Terrington
'On the Importance of educating the Infant Children of the Poor ... Containing also an account of the Spitalfields Infant School' (1823)
'A system for the education of the young: applied to all the faculties' (1840)
Charles Lahr was born Karl Lahr in 1885 at Wendlesheim in the Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. During his teenage years he became first a Buddhist and later an anarchist. In 1905, to escape conscription into the German army, he left Germany for London. On arriving in London he worked as a baker and expressed his political involvement by joining and frequenting anarchist clubs. By 1914 Lahr had taken work as a razor grinder and had joined the British Section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He began to accumulate books at around this time as he moved from residence to residence in the Kings Cross area of London. He also let rooms to people he met through his political activities. Designated an enemy alien, Lahr was interned in Alexandra Palace in London from 1915 to 1919. After the war Lahr returned to his trade and continued his involvement with the IWW, where he met his future wife, Esther Archer, whom he married in 1922. Lahr and Archer both joined the Communist party in 1920, but left in 1921. It was during this brief membership that the Lahr met and became friends with Liam O'Flaherty. In 1921 Lahr took over the Progressive Bookshop at 68 Red Lion Square, Holborn. The bookshop became a centre for new writers and political activists from around the world, and specialised in the sale of radical literature and first editions. The Lahr's first moves into publishing came in when K. S. Bhat recommended the editors of the New Coterie to take the magazine to the Lahrs. From 1925 onwards Lahr started publishing items on his own account, often using his wife's maiden name to counter anti-German prejudice. During 1925 to 1927 these took the form of offprints from New Coterie, and then articles within the magazine itself. In the publishing world he was in close contact with writers such as D. H. Lawrence, T. F. Powys, James Hanley, A.S.J. Tessimond, Liam O' Flaherty, Paul Selver, Russell Green, George Woodcock, Rhys Davies and several others. The New Coterie ran until 1927, and in 1930 Lahr launched his Blue Moon Booklets and a year later the Blue Moon Press. However, by 1933 Lahr was having financial problems. In 1935 his difficulties came to a head when he was found guilty of receiving stolen books and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. However, after his release he continued his publishing activities although on a much reduced scale. The bookshop continued to be a focus for radicals and revolutionaries.The bookshop in Holborn was bombed in May 1941. Lahr moved the bookshop to several locations in central London before finally moving it to the headquarters of the Independent Labour Party at 197 Kings Cross Road, London. Charles Lahr died in London in 1971.
References:R. M. Fox, 'Lahr's Bookshop' in Smoky Crusade, Hogarth Press, 1938, pp. 180-188; D. Goodway, 'Charles Lahr: Anarchist, Bookseller' in London Magazine, Jun-Jul 1977, pp. 47-55.
Born in 1771, Fellowes was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford, where he received a BA in 1796 and an MA in 1801. He published A Picture of Christian Philosophy of Illustration of the Character of Jesus in 1798. From 1804-1811, he edited Critical Review. Fellowes wrote and lectured on politics and religion. In 1826 he gave benefactions to encourage the study of philosophy at Edinburgh University and at London University (now University College London). He died in London on 6th February 1847.
James Hogg was born in Ettrick, Selkshire, Scotland in November 1770. Having received little formal education, Hogg taught himself to read and write in his late teens. He continued to work as a labourer and shepherd for twenty five years. Between 1794-1810 Hogg wrote songs which appeared in magazines and in two small collections. Determined to make a career as a professional writer, Hogg, aged 40, moved to Edinburgh in 1810. In Edinburgh, Hogg established a weekly paper entitled, The Spy but only managed to keep it going for a year and in 1813 he decided to return to writing poetry again. He died in 1835.
William Morris was born on 24 March 1834 at Elm House, Walthamstow, London. Morris received his education at Marlborough College, 1848-1851, and Exeter College, Oxford, 1853-1855, where he originally intended to take holy orders. While studying at Oxford Morris became interested in social criticism and medieval art. On leaving university Morris began work at the architectural office of G. E. Street. By 1856 Morris abandoned architecture as a career to become an artist. He painted the Oxford Union frescoes which set in place his career as a designer and established the Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, renamed Morris and Company in 1876. In 1862 he designed his famous textiles and wallpaper for the company. Morris also wrote poetry and prose. His first volume of poetry, The Defence of Guenevere appeared in 1858 and the poem which established his reputation as a poet, The Earthly Paradise was published between 1868-1870. Morris became involved in national politics. In 1876 he became treasurer of the Eastern Question Association and in 1879, a year after the Morris family moved to Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, he became treasurer of the National Liberal League. In 1883 Morris was made an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. That year he joined H. M. Hyndman's Socialist Democratic Federation. In 1884 Morris published Art and Socialism with Hyndman and after disagreements with Hyndman, Morris left to form the Socialist League and later the Hammersmith Socialist Society. He became editor of the Socialist Society's journal, Commonweal in 1885. In the 1880s and 1890s Morris lectured and wrote widely on socialism. In 1890 Morris founded the Kelmscott Press at premises near his Hammersmith home. Morris designed typefaces for the company and printed sixty-six volumes. Morris died at Kelmscott House on 3 October 1896.
Algernon Charles Swinburne was born in Grosvenor Place, London on 5 April 1837. Swinburne attended Eton in 1849 before entering Balliol College, Oxford in 1856. He left Oxford without graduating in 1860. He contributed to periodicals including the Spectator and Fortnightly Review. The first poem to be published under his name was Atalanta in Calydon (1865), which was received with critical acclaim. He also wrote the political work Songs before Sunrise and continued to write until a few years before his death. He died of influenza on 10 April 1909.
James Barrie was born at Kirriemuir, Forfarshire on 9 May 1860. He received his education from, the Glasgow Academy, Dumfries Academy, 1873-1878 and Edinburgh University, 1878-1882.
He was appointed leader writer and sub-editor on the Nottingham Journal in January 1883. In March 1885, Barrie moved to London, where he wrote for many magazines including, the British Weekly.
Barrie published his first book Better Dead in November 1887 and his first play, Richard Savage, on which he collaborated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1891. His plays were performed in theatres in London's West End. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published in 1906, the same year as his play, Alice by the Fire, which was produced at the Duke of York's Theatre. Barrie continued to write many plays, including Shall We Join the Ladies in 1921 and The Boy David, 1936, the last work which Barrie wrote.
He received honorary degrees from the universities of St. Andrews, 1898, Edinburgh 1909, Oxford, 1926, and Cambridge, 1930. He was appointed as Lord Rector of St Andrews University in 1919 and chancellor of Edinburgh University in 1930. He was appointed the Order of Merit in 1922. Barrie died in London on 19 June 1937.
Herbert Ernest Bates (later known to his friends and wife as 'H.E') was born in Rushton, Northamptonshire on 16 May 1905. He received his education at Kettering Grammar School and when he left at the age of sixteen he became, first, a clerk and then a provincial journalist. His first novel, The Two Sisters, was published in 1926 by Jonathan Cape after being rejected by 9 other publishers. By 1931, Cape had published three further novels.
In 1941, the Royal Air Force recruited Bates as a short story writer under the pseudonym of 'Flying Officer X'. This work included, The Greatest People in the World (1942) and Fair Stood the Wind for France. The latter was published by Michael Joseph who was to be his publisher for the rest of his life.
The Darling Buds of May (1959) began a popular series of earthy novels set in a rural context and for this work, he may be best remembered. His acclaimed autobiography was published in three volumes: The Vanished World (1969), The Blossoming World (1971) and The World in Ripeness (1972). Bates died in Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury, Kent on 29 January 1974.
Henry Hector Bolitho was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1897. In 1915 he became a reporter for a newspaper in New Zealand. In 1922 Bolitho came to England, where he published his first novel. Bolitho wrote widely on historical subjects, most notably on the Royal Family. Before the Second World War he travelled throughout Europe, Africa, North America and Australia. Between 1939-1945 he became a Squadron Leader with the RAF and was the editor of the RAF journal. After the war, Bolitho conducted lecture tours of the United States of America between 1947-1949. He died in England on 12 September 1974.
Liam O'Flaherty was born in the Aran Islands, County Galway, Ireland on 28 August 1896. He was educated at Rockwell College, Black Rock College and University College Dublin. From 1915 to 1917 O'Flaherty served with the Irish Guards. On returning to Ireland he became active in the Irish Civil War. Between 1918 and 1921 he worked at various jobs in London, New York and Hartford Connecticut. He started writing in 1921 and published his first novel, The Neighbour's Wife in 1924. In 1974 he was awarded a Honorary D Litt from the National University of Ireland. O'Flaherty died on 7 September 1984.
Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole was born on 13 March 1884 in Auckland, New Zealand. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, Durham School and in 1903 he attended Emmanuel College Cambridge. Before the First World War Walpole joined the staff of the Mersey Mission to Seaman in 1906; he travelled to France and Germany in 1907 and became the assistant master at Epsom College in 1908. In 1909 he went to London where he published his first novel The Wooden Horse. While in London he also became a book reviewer for the Evening Standard, in 1913. During the First World War, 1914-1918, he served with the Red Cross in Russia, receiving the Order of St George for his heroism. He was also awarded a CBE in 1918 and during the following two years he received the literary prize, the James Tait Black Prize. Walpole was a prolific writer, averaging about a novel a year. He was knighted in 1937. Walpole died in his country home in Keswick, Cumbria on 1 June 1941.
Israel Zangwill was born in London on 1 February 1864. He was educated at schools in Bristol and Plymouth. In 1873 his parents returned to London, where they sent Zangwill to the Jews' Free School at Spitalfields, London. He received a BA with triple honours from the University of London. He published his first literary work, a short story in the journal Society. His first novel, The Premier and the Painter, appeared in 1888. From 1888 to 1926 Zangwill wrote many novels and plays including, The Big Bow Mystery, 1891, Children of the Ghetto: A study of a Peculiar People, 1892-1893 and the play We Moderns, 1926. During his lifetime, Zangwill also worked as a teacher, a lawyer and editor of the journal Ariel. Zangwill was involved in the Zionist movement. In 1904 he founded the Jewish Territorial Organisation. He also became the president of several Jewish cultural organisations including the Jewish Historical Society of England and the Jewish Drama League. He wrote pamphlets and addressed meetings in America, Europe and Israel on Jewish life and politics. Zangwill died on 1 August 1926 at his home in Midhurst, Sussex.
Gaetano Donizetti was born on 29 November 1797 in Bergamo, modern day Italy. His first successful opera was Enrico di Borgogia, which appeared in Venice in 1818. Between 1818-1830 Donizetti composed 33 operas. Donizetti also composed operas in Paris and Vienna. In 1842 Emperor Ferdinand I appointed Donizetti the official composer to the Emperor. Donizetti's most important works include, Anna Bolena 1830, Lucia di Lammermoor 1835 and The Elixir of Love 1832. He died in Bergamo on 8 April 1848.
Hanley, James (1901-1985), novelist and playwright, was born in Dublin in 1901, the son of Edward Hanley, a ship's stoker. The only school Hanley attended was St Alexandra's Roman Catholic primary school, near his home. At the age of twelve he left school and joined the merchant navy, serving in a submarine during the First World War. Three years later he jumped ship at New Brunswick to enlist in the Canadian Black Watch and eventually saw action in France. Invalided out of the army suffering from the effects of gas, he returned to the sea, working as a stoker on troop carriers, which he featured in some of his novels. He continued to educate himself, mainly by reading Russian literature, and having come ashore in the late 1920s earned a precarious living in a variety of jobs in docks, on the railway, and for a while at Aintree racecourse. Many of his early stories were published in the Liverpool Echo, the editor of which, E. Hope Prince, became his mentor.
Hanley's first novel, Drift (1930), and his first volume of stories, The German Prisoner (1930), were published shortly before his move to Wales, where he settled first at Glan Ceirw, Ty-nant, near Corwen in Merioneth, and then, in the autumn of 1941, at Bodynfoel Lodge and Tan-y-ffridd in the village of Llanfechain, Montgomeryshire. His second novel, Boy (1932), was originally published in an edition of 145 copies for subscribers only. An expurgated trade edition followed, but when in 1934 it was issued in a cheap edition, copies were seized by the police and the book was successfully prosecuted for obscenity. The publisher was fined £400 and copies of the book were burnt. Hanley forbade republication of the novel during his lifetime and it was not reissued until 1990.
The first of Hanley's novels about the Furys, a Liverpool Irish family, appeared in 1935 and a volume of autobiography, Broken Water, in 1937. On the outbreak of the Second World War he found work with the BBC and later with the Ministry of Information, but his home remained in Llanfechain until 1963, when he and his wife moved to London. During the war he wrote three novels of the sea which are among his best work: Hollow Sea (1938), The Ocean (1941), and Sailor's Song (1943). He also wrote the autobiographical No Directions (1943). Many of his stories and radio plays were broadcast on the BBC Third Programme during the 1940s. During his long residence in Wales, Hanley wrote four books: a collection of essays, 'Don Quixote Drowned' (1953), and the novels The Welsh Sonata (1954), Another World (1971), and A Kingdom (1978). His Selected Stories appeared in 1947 and Collected Stories in 1953. Hanley of bronchial pneumonia died in November 1985.