No information available at present.
Born 1949; educated Sedgehill School, Polytechnic of North London (BA), Institute of Education (PGCE), and University of Sussex (MA); worked in educational publishing, 1974; Schoolmaster, 1976-1985; Conservative Councillor, London Borough of Lewisham, 1974-1982; contested St Pancreas North, 1973, Greenwich by-election, 1974, and GLC elections (Hackney Council), 1979; Member of Education Committee, Inner London Education Authority, 1978-1981; Conservative MP for Pembroke, 1987-1992; Member, Select Committee on Welsh Affairs, 1987-1990, and the Select Committee on Procedure, 1988-1990; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Minister of State, Department of Transport, 1990; Vice Chairman (Wales), Conservative Backbench Party Organisation Committee, 1990; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Welsh Office, 1990-1992; contested Pembroke, 1992, and Reading West, 1997; Member, Further Education Funding Council for England (FEFCE), 1992-1997; Advisor on public affairs, Price Waterhouse, 1993-1998; JP, South West Division, Inner London; Chief Executive, Association of Consulting Engineers, 1998-present.
Elspeth Burn, was the youngest daughter of William Beveridge's wife, Janet Mair. She was responsible for the upkeep of the Master's Lodgings at University College, Oxford. Elspeth Burn was also part of a small 'technical committee' formed by Beveridge in 1943 to investigate full employment funded by a group of progressive businessmen.
BOAPAH was a pilot project conducted by the British Library of Political and Economic Science in 1979-1980, and financed by a Social Science Research Council grant. The aim of the project was to collect a systematic oral archive of interviews with key figures from politics, the civil service and the armed forces. Interviewees were selected predominantly from former Permanent Secretaries or former Cabinet Ministers, and were asked questions relating to the whole period of their official life, concentrating on the post-war years. Day to day administration and interviewing was carried out by Andrew Seldon. A detailed methodology is available in the bound catalogue.
Dr Anne M Bohm obtained a PhD at Berlin University in 1935. She was Assistant to the Dean of Postgraduate Studies, London School of Economics, 1941-1950; Dean and Registrar of the Graduate School, 1950-1977; and, External Relations Consultant, 1978-1985. An Anne Bohm Fund for postgraduate students was launched in summer 2000.
Born in 1840; educated at Littlemore Village School, Oxfordshire; worked in a blacksmith's shop, then as a stonemason until 1872; Secretary, Labour Representative League, 1875; Secretary, Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress, 1875-1890; MP for Stoke-on-Trent, 1880-1885, Bordesley, 1885-1886, Nottingham, 1886-1892, and Leicester, 1894-1906; Under-Secretary of State, Home Department, 1886; served on Royal Commissions, including Reformatory and Industrial Schools, Housing of the Working Classes, and the Condition of the Aged Poor; offered and refused Inspectorship of Factories and Workshops, 1882, and the Inspectorship of Canal Boats, 1884; JP and Alderman, County of Norfolk; Poor Law Guardian, Erpingham Union; member of Cromer Urban District Council; Chairman, Lifeboat Committee; founder of Tooting Common Club; founder of the Golf Links, Cromer and Sheringham, Norfolk; died 1911.
Publications: Henry Broadhurst, M.P: the story of his life from a stonemason's bench to the Treasury bench told by himself (Hutchinson & Co., London, 1901); Handy book on household enfranchisement (1885).
Born 1902; educated Harrow County School and the London School of Economics; Assistant Inspector of Taxes, 1923-1926; entered Colonial Office, 1926; Secretary, West Indian Sugar Commission, 1929; Secretary, UK Sugar Industry Inquiry Committee, 1934; Financial Secretary, Hong Kong, 1937; Assistant Secretary, Colonial Office, 1944; CMG, 1945; Deputy Under-Secretary for State, Colonial Office, 1947-1948; KCMG, 1947; 3rd Secretary of the Treasury, 1948; Head of the UK Treasury and Supply Delegation, Washington, 1949-1951; Chief of the World Bank Mission to Ceylon, 1951; Vice-Chancellor, University of Malaya, 1952-1956; Chairman, British Caribbean Federation Fiscal Commission, 1955; Director, London School of Economics, 1957-1967; Chairman, Grassland Utilisation Committee, 1957-1958; Member, 1960-1967, and Deputy Chairman, 1964-1967, Independent Television Authority; Chairman, International Institute of Educational Planning, 1963-1970; Governor, Reserve Bank of Rhodesia, 1965-1967; Coordinator, Indonesian Sugar Study, 1971-1972; Chairman of the Governing Body and Member of the Board, University College at Buckingham, 1973-1983; died 1991. Publications: British Universities: purpose and prospects (Bodley Head, London, 1969); Prices for primary producers (Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1963); The history of the foundation of the London School of Economics and Political Science (G Bell and Sons, London, 1963); University independence: the main questions (Rex Collings, London, 1971); The price of stability: a study of price fluctuations in primary products with alternative proposals for stablisation (Institute of economic Affairs, London, 1983).
The Commission on Citizenship was set up in 1988 by the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Bernard Weatherill, in order to consider how to 'encourage, develop and recognise Active Citizenship within a wide range of groups in the community, both local and national, including school students, adults, those in full employment, as well as volunteers'. The Chair was Maurice Stonefrost, and the Secretary Frances Morell. The Commission's report was published as Encouraging citizenship (HMSO, 1990).
Walter McLennan Citrine, 1887-1983, left school at 12 to work in a flour mill. He soon became an electrician holding a variety of jobs. He joined the Electrical Trades Union in 1911, becoming Mersey District Secretary, 1914-1920, and General Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, 1920-1923. He was Assistant Secretary of the TUC, 1924-1925, and General Secretary, 1926-1946. From 1928 to 1945 he was President of the International Federation of Trade Unions. He was also a Director of the Daily Herald Ltd, 1929-1946. During World War Two, Citrine was a member of the National Production Advisory Council, 1942-1946 and 1949-1957, and a trustee of the Imperial Relations Trust, 1937-1949,and the Nuffield Trust for the Forces, 1939-1946. He was also a member of the Cinematograph Films Council, 1938-1948, and served on the Executive Committee of the Red Cross and St John War Organisation, 1939-1946. He was chairman of the Production Committee on Regional Boards (Munitions)in 1942. After the war, he returned to the electrical industry, becoming President of the British Electrical Development Association, 1948-1952, Chairman of the Central Electricity Authority, 1947-1957, and President of the Electrical Research Association, 1950-1952 and 1956-1957. He was also a member (and President in 1955) of the Directing Committee, Union Internationale des Producteurs et Distributeurs d'Energie Electrique. He was a part time member of the Electricity Council, 1958-1962, and a part time member of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, 1958-1962.
No information available at present.
Publications: editor of Anatomy of decline: the political journalism of Peter Jenkins (Cassell, London, 1995); David Astor and the Observer (Deutsch, London, 1991); editor of My dear Max: the letters of Brendan Bracken to Lord Beaverbrook, 1925-1958 (Historians' Press, London, 1990); Twilight of truth: Chamberlain, appeasement, and the manipulation of the press (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1989).
No information available at present.
Jones Lloyd and Company was a banking firm based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.
Daniel Asher Alexander (1768-1846) was educated at St Paul's School. He was a silver medallist, Royal Academy. He was also surveyor to London Dock Company (1796-1831) and to Trinity House. Alexander designed lighthouses at Harwich and Lundy Island, and prisons at Dartmoor and Maidstone. William Vaughan (1752-1850) was a merchant and author. He was a director of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, London, 1783-1829. He advocated canal extension, 1791; published pamphlets urging extension of London Docks, 1793-1797. His publications include: "Answer to objections against the London-docks" (1796); "A collection of tracts on wet docks for the Port of London: with hints on trade and commerce and on free-ports" (1797); "A comparative statement of the advantages and disadvantages of the docks in Wapping and the docks in the Isle of Dogs" (1799); "A letter to a friend on commerce and free ports and London-docks" (1796).
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.
Richard Potter MP (1778-1842) was the brother of Sir Thomas Potter (1773-1845), MP and first Mayor of Manchester (1838). They grew up on their father's farm at Tadcaster, North Yorkshire and collaborated both in business and politics in Manchester. They helped found the Manchester Guardian newspaper in 1821, which became The Guardian in 1959 to reflect its national distribution and news coverage. The Potter brothers also founded the Times(Manchester), later called the Examiner and Times, and established the wholesale house in Manchester trade which became known as "Potter's". This place became a rendezvous for political and philanthropic reformers. In 1830 Richard Potter joined a group campaigning for parliamentary reform. The group proposed that the seats of rotten boroughs convicted of gross electoral corruption should be transferred to industrial towns. In 1831 Absalom Watkin (fl 1807-1861) drew up a petition asking the government to grant Manchester two Members of Parliament. As a result of the 1832 Reform Act Manchester had its first two Members of Parliament. Richard Potter was returned as Liberal MP for Wigan in 1832, 1835 and 1837. He later unsuccessfully contested Gloucester. His political views earned him the nickname "Radical Dick". Richard Potter's son, also called Richard, was President of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and Chairman of the Great Western Railway (1817-1892),and his granddaughter Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), daughter of his son Richard, was a prominent social reformer and wife of fellow reformer Sidney Webb, Baron Passfield (1859-1947). His publications include: "To the independent inhabitants of the Borough of Wigan" (1831).
Sidney Webb, 1859-1947, the son of an accountant, was born in London on 13 July, 1859. At the age of sixteen Webb became an office clerk but he continued to attend evening classes at the University of London until he acquired the qualifications needed to enter the Civil Service. Webb also contributed to the 'Christian Socialist' and taught at the London Working Men's College. In 1885 he joined the Fabian Society. In 1892 Webb married Beatrice Potter (1958-1943), the social reformer. In the same year he stood as the Fabian Society candidate for Deptford in the London County Council elections. Webb won the seat and he retained it for the next eighteen years. Webb was appointed as Chairman of the Technical Instruction Committee and as a result was known as the Minister of Public Education for London. In 1894 Henry Hutchinson, a wealthy solicitor from Derby, left the Fabian Society £10,000. Sidney and Beatrice Webb suggested that the money should be used to develop a new university in London. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) was founded in 1895.
When the Conservative Party won the 1900 General Election, the Webbs drafted what later became the 1902 Education Act. In 1915 Sidney Webb was appointed to the Labour Party National Executive. By 1922 he was Chairman of the National Executive and the following year, in the 1923 General Election, was chosen to represent the Labour Party in the Seaham constituency. Webb won the seat, and when Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) became Britain's first Labour Prime Minister in 1924, he appointed Webb as his President of the Board of Trade. Webb left the House of Commons in 1929 when he was granted the title Baron Passfield. Now in the House of Lords, Webb served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in MacDonald's second Labour Government. His publications include: 'The case for an eight hours bill' (1891); 'The History of Trade Unionism' (1894) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Industrial Democracy' (1897) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Facts for Socialists' (1887); 'Facts for Londoners' (1888); 'The Eight Hour Day' (1891); 'English local government' (1906); 'The decline in the birth-rate' (1907); 'The basis & policy of socialism' (1908); 'The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'Conscience and the conscientious objector' (1917); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'The decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923); 'English poor law history' (1927); 'Soviet communism: dictatorship or democracy?' (1936).
Beatrice Webb, 1858-1943, was born Martha Beatrice Potter at Standish House near Gloucester, she was the eighth daughter of the railway and industrial magnate Richard Potter (1817-1892). Beatrice was educated privately and became a business associate of her father after her mother's death in 1882. She became interested in reform and began to do social work in London.
Beatrice investigated working-class conditions as part of the survey 'Life and Labour of the People in London' (1891-1903), directed by her cousin Charles Booth (1840-1916). In 1892 she married Sidney Webb (1859-1947), later Baron Passfield, a member of the socialist Fabian Society. Sidney and Beatrice Webb served on many royal commissions and wrote widely on economic problems. In 1895 they founded the London School of Economics and Political Science. After a tour of the United States and the Dominions in 1898, they embarked on their massive ten-volume work, 'English Local Government' (1906-1929). Beatrice Webb also served on the Poor Law Commission (1906-1909) and was joint author of its minority report. During World War I Beatrice Webb was a member of the War Cabinet committee on women in industry (1918-1919) and served on the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee for women justices (1919-1920), being a justice of the peace herself from 1919 to 1927.
Sidney Webb became an MP in 1922 and held ministerial office in both the early Labour governments. In 1932, after he had left office, the Webbs visited the Soviet Union. They recorded their views in 'Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation' (1935). The Webbs retired to their home in Hampshire in 1928. Beatrice Webb produced two volumes of autobiography: 'My Apprenticeship' (1926) and 'Our Partnership' (1948), which was published after her death. Her publications include: 'The co-operative movement in Great Britain' (1891); 'The history of trade unionism' (1894) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The case for the Factory Acts' (1901); 'English Local Government' (1906) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The charter of the poor' (1909); 'The break-up of the Poor Law: being part one of the Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'The coming of a unified county medical service and how it will affect the voluntary hospital' (1910); 'Complete national provision for sickness: how to amend the insurance acts' (1912); 'The abolition of the Poor Law' (1918); 'Wages of men and women-should they be equal?' (1919); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'Decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923) Co-author with Sidney Webb; 'My apprenticeship' (1926); 'Soviet Communism: a new civilisation' (1935); 'Our partnership' (1948).
Herbert Bryan was Honorary Secretary of the Watford Branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) 1905-1909, of the City of London Branch 1909-1912, of the North London Federation 1910-1912 and of the No 6 London and Southern Counties Divisional Council 1912. From 1908 to 1920, Bryan was a clerk at ILP headquarters. He died in 1950 and at the time of his death lived at 46 Bedford Row, WC1.
The Committee on children and young persons was a Home Office Departmental Committee, chaired by Osbert Peake, 1st Viscount Ingleby (1897-1966). The committee's report was published as Cmnd 1191.
Townships formed the smallest unit of government. In many parts of England parishes formed a single township, but in districts where parishes were large e.g. the Pennines, they were subdivided into townships. In the 16th century townships or civil parishes were given responsibility for the poor and the highways. They were also units of taxation. Townships survived until the creation of Urban and Rural District Councils in the late 19th century.
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 collection is based on that assembled by David Collis and recorded in the printed bibliography British Birth Control Ephemera 1870 to 1947: A catalogue. by Peter Fryer (Barracuda Press, Leicester, 1947). Some of the material listed in the bibliography is missing but there is also additional material not recorded in the bibliography.
Sir David Harrel (1841-1939) entered the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1859. He became a resident magistrate in 1879. From 1883-1893 Harrel was chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. He was under-secretary for Ireland, 1893-1902. He later served on trade-disputes boards in England. Harrel was knighted in 1893. His publications include: "Recollections and reflections" (1926).
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 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".
The Committee on woman power was a committee of women MPs and women sympathisers, to investigate possibilities for and problems of, women' war work. The Committee was chaired by Irene Ward (1895-1980) and it met at the House of Commons.
The Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff was founded in 1890 when about a dozen men met in an office in the Strand and decided to form the Clerk's Union. As membership increased and spread across the country, the name was changed to the National Union of Clerks. In 1920, after rapid growth and the absorption of a number of other unions, the membership figure was around 40,000 and the name was again changed to the National Union of Clerks and Administrative Workers (NUCAW). In 1940, the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries transferred to NUCAW and a new title was agreed: the Clerical and Administrative Workers Union. Then, in 1972, arising from the spread of the union's influence, changes in office skills and the growing ability of the union to represent staff at all levels, it changed its title to the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX) and they joined GMB in 1989. More recently, APEX accepted the Transfer of Engagements of the Automobile Association Staff and the General Accident Staff. Since the amalgamation, the Greater London Staff Association, who earlier transferred to GMB, have joined the APEX Partnership and the National Union of Labour Organisers and Legal Aid Staff Association have also transferred to APEX.
The National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers was formed in 1932. It consisted of various smaller unions, among them the Amalgamated Society of Tailors, the London Society of Tailors and Tailoresses, the United Clothing Workers Union and the National Unions of Tailors and Garment Workers. In 1991 it joined the General Municipal and Boilermakers (GMB).
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.
Frank Walter Paish, 1898-1988, was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He worked for the Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd, in London and South Africa, 1921-1932. From 1931 to 1938 he was a Lecturer at the London School of Economics, 1932-1938. Paish was a Reader, 1938-1949, and later became Professor of Economics (with special reference to Business Finance), 1949-1965. He was made an Honorary Fellow in 1970. Paish was also Secretary of the London and Cambridge Economic Service, 1932-1941, and 1945-1949, and Editor, 1947-1949. From 1941 to 1945 Piash was Deputy-Director of Programmes at the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He was also Consultant on Economic Affairs for Lloyds Bank Ltd, 1965-1970. His publications include: The Post-War Financial Problem and Other Essays (1950); Business Finance (1953); Studies in an Inflationary Economy (1962); Long-term and Short-term Interest Rates in the United Kingdom (1966); How the Economy Works and Other Essays (1970); The Rise and Fall of Incomes Policy (1969).
Crawfurd Price was a journalist who toured the Balkans between 1920 and 1922. The Balkans had been ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire from 1867 until its defeat at the close of World War I (1914-1918). The Versailles peace treaties defined a new pattern of state boundaries in the Balkans, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded in 1918.
Frederick Bernal, 1828-1903, was HM Consul in Madrid (1854-1858), Cartagena (1858-1861), Baltimore (1861-1866), and Le Havre (1866-1896).
The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF) or "The Fed" as it was sometimes known was founded in 1898. William Brac of the South Wales branch of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) became Vice-President, and the Lib-Lab MP for the Rhondda William Abraham (1842-1922), who was prominent within the Cambrian Miners' Association, became the President. Abraham was also Teasurer of the MFGB. He was often referred to as "Mabon" (Welsh for the bard) by miners. A few months after its founding the SWMF became affiliated with the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. In 1899 it had 100,000 members, and by 1914 it had 200,000, making it the largest group affiliated to the MFGB. It became the largest unit within British coalmining unionism. In 1912 the SWMF secured a minimum wage for coalminers by advocating the first Britain-wide coal strike. However, the failure of the 1926 General Strike saw a decline in the SWMF's membership from 136,000 to 60,000 by 1932. Relevant publications include: The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century (1980) by Hywel Francis and Dai Smith.
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).
The British National Party (BNP) was founded by John Tyndall in 1982 as an offshoot of the National Front. The BNP aims to ensure that the "British people retain their homeland and identity" through such measures as the halt to all further immigration, opposition to the single European Currency, and the selective exclusion of foreign-made goods from British markets and the reduction of foreign imports. The BNP is headed by its National Chairman Nick Griffin (1959 - ), who sits upon the Advisory Council with the Deputy Chairman, national officers of the party and organisers from the party's regions. The Council deals with the party's financial and agenda issues. Current BNP publications include: "Asylum seeker leaflet - say YES to putting our own people first!"; "Europe leaflet - say YES to restoring Britain's freedom!"; "Crime leaflet - say YES to clamping down on crime!".
The Committee on Scientific Research on Human Institutions was set up by the Division of the Social and International Relations of Science of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in order to consider how the results of scientific research on human institutions and human needs and their interrelations could be co-ordinated and brought to bear on the formation of public policy. The Association is a nation-wide organisation and holds an annual festival of science. It is also involved in running activities for young people and science communication projects. It has an open membership policy and currently has approximately 2,100 members. It produces a monthly newsletter "The Banter" which provides details of forthcoming events, and "Science & Public Affairs".
Arthur Cooke was a member of Working Men's College, Great Ormond St, and a trade union official for 30 years. He was an active member of the Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process Workers.
Born 1865; joined Fabian Society, 1889; received into the Roman Catholic Church, 1897; Editor, Surrey Mirror, 1892-1900; Editor, Review of the Week, 1900-1902; Acting Editor, The Connoisseur, 1902-[1906]; settled in Paris as a journalist and picture dealer, 1906, where he remained throughout the war; Paris correspondent, Manchester Guardian; expelled from France, 1918; Foreign correspondent for the Manchester Guardian and other newspapers in Geneva, 1920-1921, Berlin, 1922-1924, Paris, 1925-1932, and Geneva, 1932-1939; his writings were controversialist from a variously Catholic modernist, socialist, pacifist and anti-fascist perspective; died in New York, 1940.
Publications: Anglo-French relations: the policy of the Union of Democratic Control (Union of Democratic Control, London, 1920); Germany unmasked: on Germany under the National-Socialist regime (Martin Hopkinson, London, 1934); My second country, France (John Lane, London and New York, 1920); Socialism and personal liberty (Leonard Parsons, London, 1921); The Catholic Church and the social question (Catholic Press Co, London, 1899); translator of Disestablishment in France (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1906); The left bank of the Rhine (Union of Democratic Control, 1919); The Geneva racket, 1920-1939 (Robert Hale, London, 1921).
Ely Devons, 1913-1967, was educated at Hanley High School, Portsmouth Grammar School, and North Manchester Municipal High School. He went on to study at Manchester University, where he obtained a degree in Economics in 1934 and an MA in Economics in 1935. His career in statistics began when he was appointed economic assistant to the Joint Committee of Cotton Trades Organisations in Manchester, 1935-1939. He was subsequently a statistician for Cotton Control at the Ministry of Supply, 1939-1940, and for the Economic Section of the War Cabinet Offices, and Chief Statistician for the Central Statistics Office, 1940-1941. From 1941 to 1945 he was Chief Statistician, Director of Statistics, and Director General of Planning, Programmes and Statistics at the Ministry of Aircraft Production. After World War II, Devons returned to Manchester University, becoming Robert Ottley Reader in Applied Economics in 1945 and became Robert Ottley Professor of Applied Economics, 1948-1959. He then moved to the London School of Economics, where he held the post of Professor of Commerce, 1959-1965. He was a member of the council of the Royal Economic Society 1956-1964, and a member of the Local Government Commission 1959-1965.
Charles Vickery Drysdale, 1874 - 1961, was educated at Finsbury Technical College and Central Technical College, South Kensington. He became the Associate Head of the Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics Department at the Northampton Institute 1896 - 1910. After a brief period as a partner in the firm of H. Tinsley and Co from 1916 to 1919, he joined the Admiralty Experimental Station at Parkston Quay in 1918. From there he went on to become Scientific Director at the Admiralty Experimental Station, Shandon, 1919-1921, Superintendent at the Admiralty Research Laboratory, Teddington, 1921-1929 and Director of Scientific Research at the Admiralty 1929-1934. From 1934 onwards he was a member of the Safety in Mines Research Board. This collection focuses on Drysdale's interests in population and birth control. He was Honorary Secretary of the Malthusian League and Editor of 'The Malthusian', 1907-1916, and president of the Neo-Malthusian Conferences in London 1921 and New York 1925. He was the author of a number of works on population control and eugenics, and was also the first witness to be called before the National Birth-Rate Commission in 1913. He married Bessie Ingman Edwards in 1898.
Most of the letters in the collection were collected by Charlotte Erickson and the staff of the Survey of Sources for American Studies during their work in the 1950s, whilst others were donated or purchased.
Stephan R. Epstein, 1960-2007, was brought up in Switzerland and graduated cum laude from the University of Siena. He obtained his PhD in History from Cambridge University and continued there as a postdoctoral research fellow until 1992, when he was appointed to a lectureship on Economic History at the London School of Economics. By 1997 he had been promoted to a readership and he became Professor of Economic History in 2001. At the time of his death he was Head of the Department. Epstein's field of expertise was the economic history of medieval and early modern Europe. He established a formidable reputation in this area early in his career, and left an impressive publication record. He is the sole author of Alle origini della fattoria toscana. L'ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala di Siena e le sue terre, c.1250-c.1450 (Salimbeni, Florence, 1986); An island for itself. Economic development and social transformation in late medieval Sicily Past and Present (Publications Series: Cambridge, 1992); and Freedom and Growth, Markets and states in Europe, 1300-1750 (London: Routledge, 2000). He edited four volumes including Town and country in Europe, 1300-1800 (Cambridge, 2001). He is also the author of dozens of articles in journals and books.
Sir Thomas Henry Farrer, 1819-1899, was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He received his BA in 1840 and became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in 1844. He became Assistant-Secretary of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade in 1850, assistant secretary to the Board in 1854, and was Permanent Secretary from 1865 to 1886. In addition he was a member (and for several years Vice-Chairman) of the London County Council, 1889-1898, and published writings on economic subjects. He was created baronet in 1883 for his public service, and raised to the peerage in 1893.
Born 1926; educated at the City of London School; founder chairman, Mansfield Young Conservatives 1946-1947; national chairman, Young Conservatives 1954-1957; member, Executive Committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations 1953-1979; chairman of the Greater London Area Conservative Local Government Committee 1972-1975; vice-chairman of the Conservative Party Organisation 1975-1979 and 1983-1987; borough councillor, Hampstead Borough Council 1949-1964; borough councillor, Camden Borough Council 1964-1974 (leader, 1968-1970); deputy chairman, Association of Municipal Corporations 1969-1971, and vice-president 1971-74; parliamentary candidate (Conservative), Islington East 1955; Conservative MP, Hampstead 1970-1983; Conservative MP, Hampstead and Highgate 1983-1992; member, Executive Committee 1922 Committee 1974-1975; member, Parliamentary Select Committee on Expenditure 1970-1979; Opposition spokesman on Greater London 1974-1979; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Education 1979-1981; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security 1981-1983; member, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 1983-1992 (President 1991-1992); member, Western European Union 1983-1992 (leader, British delegation 1987-1992); deputy chairman, Commission for New Towns 1992-1996; Controller of Personnel and Chief Industrial Relations Adviser, Great Universal Stores 1968-1979; Deputy Chairman, South East Regional Board of the Trustees' Savings Bank 1986-1989; member, Council of the Confederation of British Industry 1968-1979; member, Post Office Users National Council 1970-1977; Joint National Honorary Secretary, Council of Christians and Jews; patron, Maccabi Association of Great Britain; trustee, Marie Curie Cancer Foundation; governor, University College School; JP, Inner London 1962-1996; MBE 1959; Knight 1984; life peer 1992.
Sir Raymond Firth was born in 1901 in New Zealand. He was educated at Auckland University College, where he specialised in economics and wrote his MA thesis on the local kauri gum industry. In 1924 he came to the London School of Economics to work for a higher degree in economics, but on arrival changed his subject to anthropology and completed a PhD on the primitive economics of the New Zealand Maori under the supervision of Malinowski. After obtaining his PhD, Firth returned to New Zealand and in 1928-1929 made his first and longest visit to the island of Tikopia. On his return he joined the staff of the department of anthropology at the University of Sydney, first as a lecturer and then as acting professor. In 1932 he returned to London to take up a post under Malinowski at the LSE. He was a lecturer in anthropology 1932-1935, and a reader 1935-1944. During the Second World War, Firth was posted to the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division, where he was responsible for compiling the geographical handbooks relating to the Pacific islands. Following Malinowski's death in 1942, Firth was appointed Professor of Anthropology of the University of London in 1944. He retired from this post in 1968, but remained professionally active right up until his death at the age of 100 in 2002. Firth had a wide range of research interests, but is best remembered for his work on Tikopia and Malaya. He wrote extensively about Tikopia society and culture throughout his career, and returned to do further fieldwork there in 1952, 1966, 1973 and 1978. He first visited Malaya in 1939-1940 to study the economics and social conditions of peasant communities in the coastal region of Kelantan, and visited again in 1947 and 1963 to continue his research. He also made a significant contribution to the field of kinship studies, leading several projects on kinship in London in the period 1947-1965.
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).
Born 1910; Open Exhibitioner, Magdalen College, Oxford University, 1928; Assistant Lecturer, University College London, 1934-1936; Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, Merton College, Oxford, 1936; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; 1st King's Dragoon Guards, 1939; Historical Section, War Cabinet Office, 1943; Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford, 1953-77; former Chairman, Naval Education Advisory Committee; former Member, International Council of the Institute for Strategic Studies; Member of the Council, Royal United Service Institution; Research Associate, Center for International Studies, Princeton, USA, 1965-66; Visiting Professor, University of New Brunswick, 1975-76, the US Military Academy, West Point, 1978-79, and the National University of Singapore, 1982-84; US Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, 1979; Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1977; died 1990.
Publications: The origins of Imperial defence (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1955); Makers of England (Oxford University Press, London, 1935); The British Cabinet system (Stevens & Sons, London, 1952); Grand strategy: rearmament policy (H.M.S.O, 1976).