No information available at present.
Hugh Chevins, 1898-1975, grew up in Retford, Nottinghamshire. He worked on a number of papers before joining the Daily Telegraph in 1934, where he remained until his retirement in 1960, working as news editor for a short time, and later as industrial and labour correspondent. He was one of a group of industrial and labour correspondents who raised the profile of industrial journalism during the 1930s, and a founder member of the Labour and Industrial Correspondents' Group.
At a conference in Zurich in 1912, the International Association of Labour Legislation requested that the national sections of the organisation should draw up reports on the subject of child labour in their respective countries, for presentation to an international Commission specially appointed to discuss the problem. The British section of the IALL appointed a sub-committee to draw up a report on child labour in the United Kingdom, consisting of Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, Constance Smith, Mary Phillips, Sophy Sanger, and Frederick Keeling, who acted as Chairman of the sub-committee and drafted the report.
This collection contains the material from which the report was drafted. It was gathered by the committee members specially for the report, and consists of correspondence, memoranda, transcriptions of personal interviews, newspaper cuttings, and questionnaires circulated by the committee to local authorities responsible for the administration of the Employment of Children Act (1903). It also contains various official documents, including a collection of all bye-laws regarding street trading and/or child labour made by UK local authorities. The scope of the Report was limited to the examination of the regulation of child labour in relation to the Employment of Children Act (1903), in occupations which were not covered by the Factory and Mines Acts, and its aim was to suggest practical ways of dealing with the problem, rather than studying its effects. Consideration was also given to the definition of 'juvenile' labour, and to the administration of the law as it stood at the time, with particular reference to the inadequacies of the Education Act as a means of restricting the employment of children.
In the years immediately preceding the drafting of the Report, there had been several unsuccessful attempts by campaigners to amend the Employment of Children Act (1903), along the lines recommended by a Departmental Committee on street trading set up by the Government in 1909. Organised opposition from the Press helped to block the first private member's Bill to amend the Act, introduced into the House of Lords in 1911 by Lord Shaftesbury, and the following year, another Bill proposed by Beck and Denman was similarly unsuccessful. In 1913, the Government itself introduced a watered-down version of Beck and Denman's Bill, but again, the difficulty of securing its passage led to its abandonment. The report of the IALL's sub-committee on child labour was one of many investigations into the subject by local authorities, private societies and individuals, but it is distinguished by the amount of fresh information gathered by committee members, particularly the statistics on the condition of wage-earning children in occupations which had been hitherto ignored by other studies. The report was published in 1914, with the hope that it would be 'a means of bringing to the notice both of Parliament and of local authorities the urgent necessity of raising the standard of protection' of working children.
Bell Brothers Ltd, iron and steel manufacturers, colliery and quarry owners, Middlesbrough Cleveland
Bell Brothers, South Brancepeth Colliery and Clarence Iron Works: Bell Brothers was formed in 1884 by Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell to operate an iron works. Clarence Works was added in 1854. Later the company gained control of ironstone and coal mines. In 1899 Bell Brothers became a public company and Droman Long a steel company took a 50% interest. In 1902 the two companies merged although a complete amalgamation did not take place until 1923.
No further information available.
William Beveridge, 1879-1963: William Beveridge was educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford. He was sub-warden of Toynbee Hall 1903-1905, and leader-writer on "social problems" for the "Morning Post" 1906-1908. From 1905 to 1908 Beveridge was a member of the Central (Unemployed) Body for London, and was also the first Chairman of the Employment Exchanges Committee. He was a member of the Board of Trade 1908-1916 and Director of Labour Exchanges 1909-1916. During World War I he was Assistant General Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions (1915 - 1916) and Second Secretary in the Ministry of Food (1916-1918). In 1919 Beveridge became Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Food. In the same year he was knighted. He then retired from the civil service and was appointed director of the London School of Economics (1919-1937). He then moved on to be Master of University College, Oxford (1937-1944). During World War II he was Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Labour (1940) and was Chairman of the Social Service Inquiry (1941-1942) he produced "Social Insurance and Allied Services", a report prepared for government which proposed a social system "from the cradle to the grave" for British citizens. This report became known as the "Beveridge Report" and became the blueprint for the welfare-state legislation of 1944-1948. Beveridge was Liberal MP for Berwick on Tweed 1944-1945, and was made 1st Baron Beveridge of Tuggal in 1946.
His publications include: Unemployment: A problem of industry (1909); Prices and Wages in England from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century (1939); Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942) (Beveridge Report); Full Employment in a Free Society (1944); The Economics of Full Employment (1944); Report on the Methods of Social Advance (1948); Voluntary Action (1948); A Defence of Free Learning (1959).
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. In January 1885 Beatrice became a rent collector and manager for Katharine Buildings in the East End of London. She worked alongside Ella Pycroft, a physician's daughter from Devon. Pycroft had arrived in London in 1883 and spent 5 years working at Katharine Buildings. The property was owned by the East End Dwelling Company and situated in Aldgate. The tenants were casual labourers, dock-workers, porters, hawkers and coster-mongers. Beatrice's task was to collect rents and choose the tenants, replacing them if she felt it to be necessary.
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).
In October 1883 Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) and Hubert Bland (1855-1914) decided to form a socialist debating group with their Quaker friend Edward Pease (1857-1955). They were also joined by Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) and Frank Podmore (1856-1910). In January 1884 they decided to call themselves the Fabian Society. Hubert Bland chaired the first meeting and was elected treasurer. By March 1884 the group had twenty members. However, over the next couple of years the group increased in size and included socialists such as Annie Besant (1847-1933), Sidney Webb (1859-1947), Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Clement Attlee (1883-1967), Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), H G Wells (1866-1946) and Rupert Brooke (1887-1915). By 1886 the Fabians had sixty-seven members and an income of £35 19s. The official headquarters of the organisation was 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster. The Fabian Society journal, "Today", was edited by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. The Fabians believed that capitalism had created an unjust and inefficient society. They agreed that the ultimate aim of the group should be to reconstruct "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities". The Fabians adopted the tactic of trying to convince people by "rational factual socialist argument", rather than the "emotional rhetoric and street brawls" of the Social Democratic Federation, Britain's first socialist political party. On 27th Febuary 1900, representatives from the Fabian Society and all the other socialist groups in Britain met at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London. This conference established the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which in 1906 changed its name to the Labour Party. At its outset the LRC had one member of the Fabian Society among its members.
The land club movement was set up in response to the introduction of the Small Holdings Act of 1907. Its aim was to put "the new land law into force" and aid "the renewal of country life". Two people from each village and hamlet in the area were chosen to form a committee to "get the land club started and thus obtain land for the people". The League also aimed to assist people in the cultivation of land through agricultural education and co-operative purchasing and loans, and to help them obtain proper representation for people on their own parish, district and county councils. The League was also concerned with ensuring that country children received an education suitable for country life, providing its members with access to legal advice on questions affecting tenure of homes and land and to generally promoting the country way of life. The Land Club League worked in co-operation with other groups and amalgamated with the Rural Development Society and the Rural Housing and Sanitation Association.
Edward R Pease was appointed President to the Land Club League in 1908. He was born in Bristol in 1857. From 1874 to 1878 he worked in a merchant's office, and in 1880 he became a member of the London Stock Exchange. In 1886 he left the Stock Exchange and went to Newcastle to become a cabinet-maker and trade unionist. Pease co-founded the Fabian Society in 1883, and was Secretary 1890-1913, and Honorary Secretary 1914-1938. He was also Governor of London School of Economics from its foundation in 1895. From 1900 to 1913 he was a member of the Executive of the Labour Party. He died in 1955. His publications include: "The History of the Fabian Society" (1916) and "Webb and the Fabian Society" in "The Webbs and their Work" (1949).
The People's League of Health was founded in 1917 by Olga Nethersole (1870-1951). Nethersole was a former actress who joined the British Red Cross in 1916 during World War I (1914-1918). She was on the nursing staff of the Hampstead Military Hospital as a VAD 1916-1919. Nethersole represented the People's Health League at conferences held in Brussels (1920), Lausanne (1924), Washington DC (1926) and Rome (1928). She was the League's representative on the Council of the Central Chamber of Agriculture in 1931. Following speculation that tuberculosis could be passed to be people through milk supplies, the League conducted a Survey of Tuberculosis of Bovine Origin in Great Britain from February 1930 to October 1931. The report of the findings of this survey urged that the "...adequate supervision and control over the health of all persons engaged in the production and distribution of milk should be secured".
The Russell family, Dukes of Bedford: The Russell family first appeared prominently in the reign of Henry VIII. John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, c1486-1555, was Lord High Steward and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was created 1st Earl of Bedford in 1550, and had a part in arranging the marriage of Mary I to Philip II of Spain. He died possessing lands, which have remained in the family until the 20th century; these now include Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire and large parts of Bloomsbury in London. His son, Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, c 1527-1585, was an Privy Councillor under Elizabeth I and President of the Council of Wales. Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, 1593-1641, was an opponent of Charles I in the House of Lords. William Russell, 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Bedford, 1613-1700, fought first for Parliament and then for the king in the Civil War. In 1694, when his sons attainder was reversed, the 5th earl was made Duke of Bedford. John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, 1710-1771, served in the cabinets of Henry Pelham, 4th Duke of Newcastle, 1696-1754, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, 1713-1792, and George Grenville, 1712-1770. He was the leader of a faction of Whig politicians, known as the Bedford Group.
In 1917 the Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1863-1945) set up a Ministry of Information. The newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) was put in overall charge of the organisation as Minister of Information. Other appointments included the Managing Director of United Newspapers Ltd, Robert Donald (1860-1933), who became Director of Propaganda in Neutral Countries) and Lord Northcliffe, (1865-1922), another newspaper magnate, who became Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. The Ministry evolved from Lloyd George's decision in December 1916 to invite Donald to write a report on the effectiveness of the secret War Propaganda Bureau. As result of Donald's recommendations, the government established a Department of Information, which in turn became the Ministry of Information.
In 1911 Henry Hyndman (1842-1921) left the Labour Party to establish the British Socialist Party (BSP). this new party failed to win any of the parliamentary elections it contested. When Hyndman voiced support for Britain's involvement in World War One the party split into two with Hyndman forming a new National Socialist Party, of which he remained leader until his death in 1921.
The Labour Representation Committee was formed in February 1900 after a resolution drafted by James Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) was carried at the 1899 Trade Union Congress (TUC). The resolution called for a special congress of the TUC parliamentary committee to campaign for more Labour members of Parliament.
The Co-operative Women's Guild was formed in 1883 following the first inclusion of a women's page in 'Co-operative News'. Its aim was to spread the knowledge of the benefits of co-operation and improve the conditions of women with the slogan "co-operation in poor neighbourhoods". In 1885 the organisation changed its name to the Women's Co-operative Guild. In 1889 Miss Margaret Llewelyn Davies (1861-1943) became General Secretary on a voluntary basis and Miss Lilian Harris was appointed Cashier to the Guild. Under the direction of these two women the organisation expanded rapidly from 51 branches and a membership of 1700 in 1889 to a peak of 1500 branches and a membership of 72,000 in 1933. By this time the organisation had again been changed to the Co-operative Women's Guild. Margaret Llewelyn Davies was the daughter of Reverend John Llewelyn Davies, a Christian Socialist and supporter of women's rights. She ran the Guild's affairs from her father's vicarage at Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria. Under her leadership the Guild became a campaigning body. After carrying out an investigation into the working conditions of the 2000 women employed in co-operative stores, the Guild advocated the introduction of a minimum wage. By 1912 the Co-operative Wholesale Society and 200 other retail stores had complied with the Guild's policy on wages.
Llewelyn Davies was a member of the National Union of Suffrage Societies, and she took part in several peaceful demonstrations, including a sandwich-board picket of the House of Commons in 1912. She also gave evidence to the Royal Commission on divorce reform and the Guild created great controversy by urging that divorce by mutual consent after two years separation should be legalised. Other campaigns instigated by Llewelyn Davies included an attempt to reduce the high infant-mortality rates by the introduction of improved ante-natal, natal, and post-natal care. Her publications include: 'Maternity' (1915); 'Life as We Have Known It' (1931).
Richard Tawney, 1880-1962, was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford. He was a fellow at Balliol, 1918-1921, and an honorary fellow, 1938. Tawney was a member of the executive committee of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) 1905, and held WEA tutorial classes in Rochdale and Manchester, 1908-1914. From 1906-1908 he taught political economy at Glasgow University. Tawney joined the Fabian Society in 1906. He was a member of the Society's executive 1921-1933. In 1909 he joined the Independent Labour Party. He was wounded during World War One. After the war he stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in 1918, 1922 and 1919. Tawney was a member of the consultative committee of the Board of Education 1912-1931. In 1919 he became a member of the Coal Industry Commission. Tawney was a lecturer in economic history at London School of Economics 1917 and 1920-1949, becoming a professor in 1931. From 1927-1934 he co-edited the 'Economic History Review'. His publications include: 'The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century' (1912); 'The Acquisitive Society' (1921); 'Religion and the Rise of Capitalism' (1926); 'Equality' (1931); 'Business and politics under James I: Lionel Cranfield as merchant and minister' (1958).
The State Children Aid Association was formed in 1896 with the aim "to obtain individual treatment for children under the guardianship of the state", following a report on poor law schools.
In the 1895 General Election the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates but won only 44,325 votes. James Keir Hardie (1856-1915), the leader of the party believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. On 27th February 1900, representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, met with trade union leaders at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London. After a debate the 129 delegates decided to pass Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." To make this possible the Conference established a Labour Representation Committee (LRC). This committee included two members from the Independent Labour Party, two from the Social Democratic Federation, one member of the Fabian Society, and seven trade unionists. Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) was chosen as the secretary of the LRC. As he was financed by his wealthy wife, Margaret MacDonald (died 1911) he did not have to be paid a salary. The LRC put up fifteen candidates in the 1900 General Election and between them they won 62,698 votes. Two of the candidates, Keir Hardie and Richard Bell (1866-1937) won seats in the House of Commons. The party did even better in the 1906 election with twenty nine successful candidates. Later that year the LRC decided to change its name to the Labour Party.
Richard Cobden was born in Heyshott, near Midhurst, Sussex, the son of a farmer. Cobden's father was poor and was obliged to send his eleven children to various relatives. He was sent to an uncle in Yorkshire where he was mistreated. Cobden received little formal schooling and in 1819 became a clerk in the textile industry. In 1820 he became a commercial traveller. After developing a knowledge of the cotton trade he became a partner in a London calico factory. The business was a success and in 1831 he also became a partner in a Lancashire calico factory. By 1832 Cobden was living in an affluent part of Manchester. He wrote about the subject of economics in the "Manchester Examiner" and published pamphlets on free-trade (1838-1846). Between 1833 and 1837 Cobden visited France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, America, Egypt, Greece and Russia. He was a leader of the Anti-Corn Law League 1838-1846. The Corn Laws had been passed during the Napoleonic Wars (1804 and 1818) to impose duties on imported corn, and led to high bread prices. The Anti-Corn Law League succeeded in having the corn laws repealed in 1846. Cobden was MP for Stockport 1841-1847, and for the West Riding of Yorkshire 1847-1857. Cobden campaigned against the Crimean War (1854-1856), despite the public's support for the war, and Cobden subsequently lost his seat on Parliament in the General Election of 1857. In the General Election of 1859 he was elected MP for Rochdale. He was offered the post of President of the Board of Trade (1859) and a baronetcy (1860), but refused both. Cobden died of an acute attack of bronchitis on 2nd April 1865. His publications include: "Agricultural distress: speech of R. Cobden...in the House of Commons, on Thursday, the 13th of March, 1845, on moving for a select committee to inquire into the extent and causes of the alleged existing agricultural distress, and into the effects of legislative protection upon the interest of landowners, farmers, and farm-labourers" (1845); "Alarming distress: speech of Richd. Cobden, Esq. in the House of Commons on Friday evening, July 8, 1842" (1842); "The corn laws: speech of R. Cobden, Esq., MP, in the House of Commons, on Thursday evening, February 24, 1842" (1842); "England, Ireland, & America" (1835); "How wars are got up in India: the origin of the Burmese war" (1853).
In October 1883 Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) and Hubert Bland (1855-1914) decided to form a socialist debating group with their Quaker friend Edward Pease (1857-1955). They were also joined by Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) and Frank Podmore (1856-1910). In January 1884 they decided to call themselves the Fabian Society. Hubert Bland chaired the first meeting and was elected treasurer. By March 1884 the group had twenty members. However, over the next couple of years the group increased in size and included socialists such as Annie Besant (1847-1933), Sidney Webb (1859-1947), Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Clement Attlee (1883-1967), Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), H G Wells (1866-1946) and Rupert Brooke (1887-1915). By 1886 the Fabians had sixty-seven members and an income of £35 19s. The official headquarters of the organisation was 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster. The Fabian Society journal, "Today", was edited by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. The Fabians believed that capitalism had created an unjust and inefficient society. They agreed that the ultimate aim of the group should be to reconstruct "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities". The Fabians adopted the tactic of trying to convince people by "rational factual socialist argument", rather than the "emotional rhetoric and street brawls" of the Social Democratic Federation, Britain's first socialist political party. On 27th Febuary 1900, representatives from the Fabian Society and all the other socialist groups in Britain met at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London. This conference established the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which in 1906 changed its name to the Labour Party. At its outset the LRC had one member of the Fabian Society among its members.
Ernst Meyer (1887-1930), Chairman of the KPD, was born in Prostken, Germany, the son of a train driver. He studied philosophy, history, theology, psychology and economics at Koeningsberg and Berlin universities. From 1912 he worked for the Imperial government in the Kaiserlichen Statistischen in Berlin. In 1908 he became a member of the German Social Democrat Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). He was also a founder member of the Spartacus League. The League was founded in 1914 by members of the Social Democrat Party who were opposed to the party's decision to support Germany's involvment in World War I. In 1918 he helped found the German Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands). He was voted on to the Executive Committee of the KPD and was director of KPD publications. From 1921 to 1923 he was Chairman of the Politbureau of the KPD. In 1922 he married Rose Levine (1890-1971), widow of Eugene Levine (1883-1919), who was leader of the German Communist Party until his execution in 1919. Meyer died of tuberculosis in 1930.
The 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 Social Democratic Federation was founded by Henry Mayers Hyndman (1842-1921), who converted to socialism after reading 'Das Kapital' while on holiday in the United States. This work inspired him to form a Marxist political group, and in 1881 he formed the Social Democratic Federation. This became the first Marxist political group in Britain and over the next few months Hyndman was able to recruit trade unionists such as Tom Mann (1856-1941) and John Burns (1858-1943) into the organisation. Eleanor Marx (1855-1898), Karl's youngest daughter became a member, as did the artist and poet William Morris (1855-1898). By 1885 the organisation had over 700 members. At first the Federation was mainly concerned with land nationalisation but this quickly changed and their aims became more obviously socialist. Their manifesto "Socialism Made Plain" sets out their aims. These were improved housing for the working classes, free compulsory education for all classes, including free school meals, an eight hour working day, state ownership of banks and railways, abolition of the national debt, nationalisation of the land and the organisation of agricultural and industrial armies under state control run on co-operative principles. The Federation produced a weekly propaganda paper call 'Justice'. This was initially financed by Edward Carpenter and thereafter by William Morris. Its many contributors included George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and William Morris.
In 1886 the Federation became involved in organising strikes and demonstrations against low wages and unemployment. After one demonstration that led to a riot in London, three of the Federation's leaders, Hyndman, John Burns and H H Champion, editor of 'Justice', were arrested but acquitted. By 1884 there was disagreement within the Federation about the best way to achieve their aims. Henry Hyndman favoured using the parliamentary structure to achieve change but other members of the Federation were against this. The Federation split, with many members following William Morris to form the Socialist League. Champion, also left, taking his journal with him. Although the membership was never very large, the Social Democratic Federation continued and in February 1900 the group joined the Independent Labour Party, the Fabian Society and several trade unions to form the Labour Representation Committee, which eventually evolved into the Labour Party.
The Wolfenden Committee on Voluntary Services was set up by the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, who jointly financed it. Chaired by Sir John Frederick Wolfenden. The report was published as "The Future of Voluntary Organisations".
Sir Dingle Foot (1905-1978) was educated at Bembridge School, Isle of Wight, and Balliol College, Oxford. He was President of the Union, 1928. From 1931 to 1945 he was Liberal MP for Dundee, 1931-45. In 1930 Dingle Foot was called to the bar (Gray's Inn), 1930. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Warfare, 1940, and a member of the British delegation to San Francisco Conference, 1945. Dingle Foot left the Liberal party and joined the Labour party in 1956. He was Labour MP for Ipswich, 1957-1970. He became Solicitor-General and was knighted, 1964. His publications include: "British Political Crises" (1976) and "Despotism in disguise" (1937).
Resisters Inside The Army or RITA was an American semi-underground group, based in Heidelberg, Germany. It campaigned amongst US GIs against the army, racism and the war in Vietnam.
George Soloveytchik, 1902-1982, was born in St Petersburg, the son of the Managing Director of the Siberian Bank of Commerce. He was educated at St Catharine's School, and The Reformation School, Petrograd, Russia. He also studied at Queen's College, Oxford, Paris University and Berlin University. Soloveytchik escaped from Soviet Russia to England in 1918, and began to write and lecture while still at Oxford. He became a frequent free lance contributor to leading British and overseas newspapers and periodicals chiefly on international affairs, history and biography. He was Editor of the 'Economic Review' 1926-1927, and Foreign Editor of the 'Financial Times' 1938-1939. Soloveytchik was also Director of Publicity at the International Colonial Exhibition at Paris in 1931. From 1941 to 1945 he was Special adviser to the exiled Belgian Government in London, and official lecturer to HM Forces, 1940-1945. Soloveytchik delivered addresses to the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and at Princeton, Yale, etc., in 1944. He went on numerous lecture tours in USA, Canada and Europe from 1946 onwards. He also went on a special mission to Scandinavian countries on behalf of UNESCO, 1947. Soloveytchik was Visiting Lecturer at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva Univ., 1948-1956, also at School of Economics, St Gallen. His publications include: 'The financier: the life of Ivar Kreuger, (1933); 'Peace or chaos?' (1943); 'Potemkin: a picture of Catherine's Russia' (1938); 'Russia in perspective' (1945); 'Switzerland in perspective' (1954).
Frederick Bernal, 1828-1903, was HM Consul in Madrid (1854-1858), Cartagena (1858-1861), Baltimore (1861-1866), and Le Havre (1866-1896).
Charles Roden Buxton 1875-1942: Roden Buxton was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was private secretary to his father Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1837-1915) when he was Governor of South Australia, 1897-1898. In 1902 he was called to the Bar, Inner Temple. From 1902 to 1919 Roden Buxton was Principal of Morley College (for working men and women). He was the first President of the South London Branch of the Workers' Educational Association. Roden Buxton was also the Editor of the Albany Review (formerly Independent Review) 1906-1908. He contested East Hertfordshire, 1906, Mid Devon, 1908 and December 1910, Accrington, 1918, 1923 and 1924. He was Liberal MP for Mid or Ashburton Division, Devon, January to December 1910, and Labour MP for Accrington, November 1922 to December 1923, and for Elland Division of West Riding, Yorkshire 1929 to 1931. Roden Buxton was Honourable Secretary to Land Enquiry Committee 1912 to 1914, Treasurer of the Independent Labour Party 1924 to 1927, and Parliamentary Adviser to the Labour Party, 1926. During World War One (1914-1915) he went on a political mission with his brother Lord Noel Buxton (1869-1948) in an attempt to secure the neutrality of Bulgaria. In the course of this a Turkish assassin made an attempt on their lives (October 1914), shooting Roden Buxton through the lung. His publications include:Towards a Lasting Settlement (1915) (joint author); Shouted Down (1916); Peace this Winter (1916); The Secret Agreements (1918); The World after the War (1920) (joint author); In a German Miner's Home (1920) (joint author); In a Russian Village (1922); Essays on English Literature (1929); The Race Problem in Africa (1931); The Alternative to War (1936).
Colonial Research covers the papers relating to various councils and committees concerned with colonial research. The Colonial Social Science Research Council was established by the British Government at the end of World War Two to undertake research into the economic development of the colonies. The records held at the LSE appear to represent private sets of the Council's papers collected by its leading members, specifically Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders and Sir Arnold Plant. The Council was superceded by the Overseas Development Committee and various other councils and committees, represented by each section of the collection. Official Colonial Office records deposited at The National Archives may contain the Council's central archive.
This research explored the effects of changing legal regulation between 1983 and 1992 on relations of power within local government. The methodology of the project involved case studies in four local authorities with in-depth interviews being undertaken with local officials, councillors and other relevant individuals. The project resulted in a book, Governing out of order: space, law and the politics of belonging by Davina Cooper.
An ESRC funded project drawing together two key contemporary political debates: on the one hand, the democratic implications of the expansion in non-elective government in recent years, and on the other the media's growing centrality in the political system. Apart from providing unique data on the hitherto neglected relationship between these areas, the project aimed to contribute to current debates regarding democratic accountability, information flows, news management and state-media relations. The research programme combines several empirical strands various facets of the relationship between the appointive, Quasi-non governmental organisations ('Quangos') and the British news media.
The Economic History Society was inaugurated at a general meeting held at the London School of Economics on 14 July 1926. R H Tawney took the chair and, after the resolution to form the Society had been carried unanimously, the meeting discussed the constitution and aims of the Society and proceeded to elect its first officers, with Sir William Ashley as the first President. The publication of the Economic History Review was also discussed and R H Tawney and Mr Lipson were appointed as joint editors. The aims of the Society are:
- To promote the study of economic history.
- To issue the Economic History Review.
- to publish and sponsor other publications in the fields of economic and social history.
- To establish closer relations between students and teachers of economic and social history.
- To hold an annual conference and to hold or participate in any other conference or meeting as may be deemed expedient in accordance with the objects of the Society.
6.To co-operate with other organisations having kindred purposes.
The promotion of economic history has mainly been effected through the publication of the Economic History Review and the holding of annual conferences. The Society has also liased with academic funding councils about support for economic history teaching and research and has sought to encourage schools to promote the teaching of economic history.
William Farr, 1807-1883, was born in Kenley, Shropshire. At the age of two, he was effectively adopted by a local squire, Joseph Pryce, who paid for Farr's education. From 1826 to 1828, Farr worked as a dresser in the infirmary at Shrewsbury and studied medicine with a doctor there. On Pryce's death in 1828, Farr received a legacy that enabled him to pursue his studies in Paris and Switzerland. In 1831, Farr returned to Shrewsbury to work as an unqualified locum before studying at University College London, becoming a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries. In 1833, he established an apothecary's practice in Bloomsbury, London, and proceeded to publish a number of articles in The Lancet on such topics as hygiene, quack medicine, life assurance and cholera. Farr had first demonstrated an interest in medical statistics during his studies abroad, and in 1832 he published his "Vital Statistics" in Macculloch's Account of the British Empire, thus starting a new interest in statistics. From 1838 to 1879, he worked in the Registrar General's Office compiling abstracts. In 1855, he served on the Committee for Scientific Enquiry into the cholera epidemic of 1854, and produced statistical evidence that cholera was spread by polluted water, though he and his colleagues continued to adhere to the theory that epidemic disease was spread by miasma. Farr also served as commissioner for the 1871 census. He retired from public service in 1879.
The Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions was set up in 1976 with Sir James Harold Wilson as its Chair. The Committee's report was published in 1984.
Born 1870; educated Harrow and New College, Oxford University; Fellow, New College, 1892-1899; Arnold Essay Prize, 1893; called to Bar, Lincoln's Inn, 1894; practised until the War at the Chancery Bar; Liberal Candidate for Oxford City, December 1910; CBE, 1917; Assistant Legal Adviser, Home Office, 1918-1920; British Legal Representative on the Reparation Commission under the Treaty of Versailles, 1920-1930; KC, 1920; Kt, 1923; Chairman, Royal Commission on Tithe Rent Charge, 1934; British Member of Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, 1936-[1947]; Governor, Fisheries Organisation Society; Member, Institute of International Law; died 1947.
Publications: Aspects of Modern International Law (Oxford University Press, London, 1939); Chapters on Current International Law and the League of Nations (Longmans & Co, London, 1929); Harrow (1901); International Change and International Peace (Oxford University Press, London, 1932); International Law and International Financial Obligations arising from Contract (1924); International Law and the Property of Aliens; Life Insurance of the Poor (P. S. King & Son, London, 1912); Proportional Representation and British Politics (John Murray, London, 1914); Some Aspects of the Covenant of the League of Nations (Oxford University Press, London, 1934); The Geneva Protocol of 1924 (G. Allen & Unwin, London, 1924); The Reform of Political Representation (John Murray, London, 1918).
Eric George Molyneux Fletcher began his career as a solicitor. He was the member of London County Council for Islington South, 1934-1949; Labour MP for Islington East, 1945-1970. He served as Minister without Portfolio, 1964-1966; and, Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, 1966-1968. He was created Baron Fletcher of Islington (life peer) in 1970. Baron Fletcher was also a governor of the LSE.
Ellis Charles Raymond Hadfield, 1909-1996, was born in Pietersburg, South Africa, and educated at Blundell's School, Devon, where he began his first researches into canal history. After studying economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, Hadfield became a bookseller. He joined the Oxford University Press in 1936 and rose to become Director of Publications, Central Office of Information, 1946-1948, and Controller (Overseas), 1948-1962. David and Charles publishers was formed in 1960, and Hadfield was Director of this company from 1960-1964. Hadfield is best known for his extensive publications which chart the history of British canals and waterways. His most notable publications are The Canal Age, David and Charles (1968), and British Canals - An Illustrated History, David and Charles (1984). In 1945 he became the first Vice Chairman of the Inland Waterways Association, and he was a member of the British Waterways Board from 1962 to 1966.
Thomas Bewley Haran was born in Wishaw, Scotland. He was a retired bank official, whose career spanned 43 years, the majority in the City of London. He died on 15 July 2000.
Frederic Harrison, 1831-1923, was educated at Kings College, London and Wadham College, Oxford, where he was a Fellow and Tutor from 1854 to 1856. He was called to the Bar in 1858 and held the post of Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law to the Inns of Court, 1877-1889. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on Trades Unions, 1867-1869, Secretary to the Royal Commission for Digesting the Law, 1869-1870, Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society and the London Library, and an alderman of the London County Council, 1889-1893. However, Frederic Harrison is perhaps best known as the president of the English Positivist Committee, a post that he held from 1880 to 1905.
Robert Beach was a member of the Gay Liberation Front which held its first meeting on 13 October 1970 at the London School of Economics. It was the beginning of a three year period of great activity, with demonstrations, debates, street theatre, and the establishment of a new gay press. Although GLF began in London, local groups rapidly grew up.
The Coleherne Patrons Committee was formed in 1978 to improve relations between the patrons of the Coleherne Pub, Earls Court, and the local residents, police and local authority.
Born 7 March 1947; lifelong Labour activist; openly gay member of the Labour party at a young age; moved to Manchester in 1970s to attend the Polytechnic; during this time became local Councillor in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. Later moved to Islington, where he was elected Councillor in 1982; represented Highview, Gillespie and Highbury wards. As Councillor fought for development of better housing and local education services; represented Islington on Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) from 1983, serving as Chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee; Mayor of Islington 1986-1987. Leader in gay community; founder and Chairman of the Islington Lesbian and Gay Committee; fought against injustice and discrimination toward gay men and lesbians; during 1980s worked as equal opportunities advisor for Education Department of Haringey Council. Member of London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, Gay Man Fighting Aids, National Aids Helpline, Food Chain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (from 1960), Labour Movement Campaign for Palestine and National Anti-Racist Movement in Education (NAME); founder member of Gay Labour Group (later renamed the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Provided training for men on business and motivation; died 21 October 1996.
Antony Grey is the pseudonym of Anthony Edgar Gartside Wright. After taking a degree in history at Magdalene College, Cambridge (1945-1948), he worked as a journalist on The Yorkshire Post, Leeds, before moving to London in 1949 where he was employed in the Secretary's Department of the British Iron and Steel Federation and (from 1961) as a public relations executive with the London Press Exchange. One of the earliest voluntary helpers since 1958 of the newly-formed Homosexual Law Reform Society, he joined the Society's executive committee (using the name 'Antony Grey') as Honorary Treasurer in 1960 and became Secretary of the HLRS and also of its sister counselling and research charity, the Albany Trust, at the end of 1962, at first on a part-time basis and full-time from 1964. Grey campaigned tirelessly for the law reforms advocated by the Government-appointed Wolfenden Committee's report (1957), writing many articles, making numerous speeches to interested groups, lobbying MPs, and organising action to promote the passage of the (Arran/Abse) Sexual Offences Bill through Parliament until it became law in 1967. He resigned in 1970, but again became Secretary of the Sexual Law Reform Society - successor to the HLRS - and Director of the Albany Trust from 1971 to 1977, continuing to press for further liberalisation of the law and social attitudes. He was invited to become Chairman of the National Federation of Homophile Organisations (NFHO), 1971-72. Following his retirement from the Albany Trust in 1977, he was involved in counselling and training work and was for some years a member of the executive committee of the British Association for Counselling. In 1998 Antony Grey was awarded the Pink Paper Lifetime Achievement Award. He has published Quest for Justice: Towards Homosexual Emancipation (1992), Speaking of Sex (1993), and Speaking Out (1997)(Collected articles). Histories of the HLRS/SLRS and of the Albany Trust/Albany Society may be found in the description for the Albany Trust papers.
Lewisham Friend was founded in 1976 as a voluntary organisation to run a telephone helpline providing in confidence information and advice to lesbian, gay and bisexual people on issues they may have in connection with their sexuality and others who may be worried about issues concerning the sexuality of a relative or friend. Lewisham Friend was affiliated to National Friend. The organisation folded in 2006.
No information available at present.
Robert Palmer was Treasurer, 1977-1978, and Chairperson, 1978-1980, of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). He was actively involved in the activities of CHE at other times, and was a member of the Executive Committee until Sep 1980.
The 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised adult homosexual relationships, did not apply in Scotland. The first meeting of the Scottish Minorities Group took place in Jan 1969 in the drawing room of Ian Dunn's parents house in Glasgow, and consisted of only 6 people. The group was officially founded on 9 May 1969 as a self-help organisation working for the rights of homosexual men and women which aimed to provide counselling, work for law reform and provide meeting places for lesbians and gay men. Meetings were initially held in Glasgow; they moved to Edinburgh in August 1969.
During the early 1970s, SMG began to develop its organisation with a central address, a monthly newsletter (SMG News, begun in 1971), an Annual General Meeting, and coordination of the whole by a National Executive Committee. It also organised annual conferences and regular national forums, and established local branches. SMG was involved in campaigning against legal and social discrimination, providing venues for social activities, and running a befriending service. Amongst other things the group organised the Cobweb disco, Scotland's first gay disco, set up the SMG Glasgow and Edinburgh Women's Groups, established the Edinburgh Gay Switchboard, and held the first International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh. In 1977 the Glasgow Gay Centre was opened (it closed in 1982).
In 1978 SMG changed its name to the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group, and the name of the newsletter was changed to Gay Scotland. In 1980, an amendment to the 1980 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill partially decriminalised gay sex between men under 21. At its peak, SHRG had 1200 members. SHRG changed its name to Outright Scotland.
No information available at present. Publications: State of the queer nation: a critique of gay and lesbian politics in 1990s Britain (Cassell, London, 1995).
Michael Hellman came to the UK from Austria in 1938. In 1950 he underwent a surgical procedure to cure a fissure and the resultant problems led to his referral to a psychiatrist and his sectioning and detention in Horton Hospital, Epsom in 1955. There he was treated for an alleged serious mental illness including the use of insulin comas and ECT. Michael Hellman was released from Horton Hospital in January 1956. In 1958 he applied for a copy of his certificate and reception order from Horton Hospital which confirmed that his original medical condition had been ignored by the Hospital. Hellman later attempted to bring his case to court and sue the doctor involved. However, having been refused legal aid and conducting his own case he was refused leave to bring proceedings. All subsequent attempts to have the case reviewed by the Department of Health were refused. In 1997, Glenda Jackson, MP for Hampstead, took up the case with the Ministry of Health, but to date no enquiry has ever been held.