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.
Born 1900; educated at Mount School in York, and Bedford College, University of London, where she graduated in modern languages; prospective parliamentary candidate for St Albans, 1936-1941; admitted to the Inner Temple, 1941, and called to the Bar, 1943; practised as a barrister in London and on the Midland Circuit; during World war Two, lectured on current events to troops under the War Office Scheme for Education; stood as Liberal candidate for Barnet, 1945, Lincoln, 1950, and Luton, 1955; prospective parliamentary candidate for Watford, 1953; contested Hendon Borough Council elections (Garden Suburb Ward), 1949 and 1953; Honorary Secretary, Women's Liberal Federation, [1941-1949]; served on the Executive of the Liberal Candidates Association; President, Hampstead Garden Suburb Ward Liberal Association; independent member of five Industrial Wages Councils; Head of Chambers, 5 Pump Court, Temple, [1970-1979]; Member, Management Board, Gladstone Benevolent Fund for Liberal Agents, [1973-1988]; died 1997.
Francis Horner, 1778-1817, studied at Edinburgh, was called to the Scottish Bar in 1800, and joined the English Bar in 1807. He was MP for St Ives in 1806, for Wendover in 1807, and was returned for St Mawes in 1813. As an MP he took part in debates on the Corn Law and slavery in 1813-1815, and proposed a measure to regulate the proceedings of the Irish grand juries in 1816. As chairman of the bullion committee in 1810, he recommended early resumption of cash payments. Francis Horner also translated Euler's Elements of Algebra in 1797 and published Short Account of a late Short Administration in 1807.
The Inflation Accounting Steering Group was a Committee of the Accounting Standards Committee, the governing bodies of which were the Institutes of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, of Scotland and in Ireland, the Association of Certified Accountants, the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. The IASG developed a major document on inflation accounting (ED 18).
Per Jacobsson, 1894-1963, was born in Tanum, Sweden, and educated at the High School, Vaesteraas and Upsala University. He left to take up a lectureship in Economics at the High School of Forestry in Stockholm, 1918-1920. He left teaching to become a member of the Economic and Financial Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations in 1920, a post that he held until 1928. He subsequently became Secretary-General to the Economic Defence Council in Stockholm, 1929-1930. He entered banking in 1931 and was Economic Advisor and Head of the Economic Department of the Bank of International Settlements in Basle, 1931-1956. In 1956 he left the bank to take up his most prestigious appointment, that of Chairman of the Executive Board and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, a post that he held until 1963.
Lena May Jeger (nee Chivers) was born in Yorkley, Gloucestershire on 19 November 1915, the daughter of Charles Chivers and Eugenie Alice James. She was educated at Southgate County School and Birkbeck College London where she gained a BA. In 1948 Lena Chivers married Dr Santo Jeger, Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras South. After her husband's death in 1953, Jeger stood for, and won, her late husband's seat which she held between 1953-1959 and again between 1964-1979. As a member of local government she served on St. Pancras Borough Council between 1945-1959 and the London County Council between 1952-1955.
Jeger's career began in the Civil Service where she worked in HM Customs and Excise, the Ministry of Information and the Foreign Office between 1936-1949. In 1947 she worked at the British Embassy in Moscow as assistant editor of the British Ally, a newspaper published by the British Government for distribution in the Soviet Union. As a journalist, she was on the London staff of the Guardian and regularly contributed to other national newspapers. Her political career also included membership of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party betwwen 1968-1980, serving as Vice-Chairman between 1978-1979 and Chairman between 1979-1980. She was the UK representative on the United Nations Status of Women Commission in 1967; a member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and Western European Union 1969-1971; a member of the Chairman's Panel in the House of Commons between 1971-1979; Opposition spokesman (Lords) on Social Security 1983-1989 and made an honorary fellow of Birkbeck College London in 1994. She retired from politics in 1979 and was created Baroness Jeger of St Pancras in Greater London.
Born 1900; educated at Seymour Lodge School in Dundee, St Andrews University and Newnham College, Cambridge University; research secretary to the Parliamentary Radical Group; joined National League of Young Liberals, 1924, serving as Honorary Secretary, Vice-Chairman and President (1939), and representing the NLYL on the Liberal Party Executive; British Representative, Committee of the International League of Young Liberals, Radicals and Democrats, 1931-1939; fought six elections as Liberal Parliamentary candidate, in Winchester, 1929, Basingstoke, 1931, Devizes, 1935 and 1945, and Cambridge City, 1950 and 1951; Member, Women's Press Club, [1947-1960]; joined Federal Union, 1939, elected to Executive Committee and Chairman, 1941-1945; edited Federal News, 1944-1946; Member, Central Committee, European Union of Federalists, 1946-; Member, Executive Committee, European Movement; Member of Political Commission, Council of Europe, 1948; attendee at Consultative Assembly, Council of Europe, 1948-1960; became freelance International Conference Translator, Reviser and Précis-Writer, 1951-1956; worked for 9 years as a reviser for the Assembly of Western European Union in Paris, the World Veterans Association and the North Atlantic Assembly; died 1984.
The Journal of Public Economics commenced publication in 1972. Its aim is to encourage original scientific contributions on the problems of public economics, with particular emphasis on the application of modern economic theory and methods of quantitative analysis. It provides a forum for discussion of public policy of interest to an international readership.