Taught Chemistry at Queen Mary College from 1948 to 1981.
Richard Garnett, (b. Feb. 27, 1835, Lichfield, Staffordshire, Eng. d. April 13, 1906, London), English writer, librarian, and the head of the Garnett family, which exerted a formative influence on the development of modern British writing. From the age of 15 until his retirement in 1899 he was in the employ of the British Museum.
Robert Leslie was born Reading, educated Southampton; served in the Army 1939-1946, wounded in West Germany 1945, subsequently served with Scottish Command in connection with the repatriation of soldiers in Polish Army, and in 1946 demobilised; Completed History BA 1st class University College London 1946-1948 and PhD concerning relations of Russia and Poland, between 1948-1951; Joined Queen Mary College as a part-time lecturer in 1950, becoming an Assistant Lecturer in 1951; 1953 Lecturer; 1964 Professor of Modern History by conferment of title and in 1965 by appointment; 1967-1970 Dean of the Faculty of Arts; Governor 1970-1973; 1970-1982 Head of History Department; Retired 1982. Unable to complete History of Queen Mary College in 1986, due to ill health.
Publications: Polish politics and the Revolution of November 1830 (University of London, Athlone Press, 1956); Reform and insurrection in Russian Poland, 1856-1865 (University of London, Athlone Press, 1963); The Polish question; Poland's place in modern history (Historical Association, 1964); The age of transformation, 1789-1871 (Blandford Press, 1964).
Born in Mainz, 1873; confined to an orphanage in Mainz, 1883; transferred to a reformatory; bookbinder's apprentice; joined the Fachverein für Buchbinder and was inducted into the local German Social Democratic Party (SPD), 1890; became a member of the young left-wing oppositionists, the Jungen, and with them, was expelled from the SPD, 1891; joined the underground movement led by the German anarchist Johann Most; German police discovered that Rocker had been smuggling illegal propaganda into Germany and he escaped into France, 1892; increased anti-anarchist police operations in Paris forced Rocker to return to London, 1895; librarian of the first section of the Communist Workers Educational Union; led East End Jews against sweatshops in the London clothing trade; editor of the Yiddish political journal, the new Arbeter Fraint, 1898-1915; helped set up the Jubilee Street Club, 1906; interned as an 'enemy alien', 1914-1918; after a short stay in Holland, settled in Berlin; activist and writer involved in a marginalised syndicalist group; contributed many articles to the Syndikalist, 1920s; fled the Nazis and emigrated to New York, 1933; embarked on a final career both as a writer and coast-to-coast lecturer across the USA and Canada, addressing vast audiences on the dangers of racialism and especially of political authoritarianism; died, 1958.
Publications: Nationalism and Culture (1937).
Born, Shropshire, 1892; suffered poor health and as a child travelled to Switzerland and the West Indies; worked briefly with the suffragette movement, 1914; during the war involved in social work for eighteen months in Hoxton, London, later on the land; went to California, 1918; sailed for England via the Far East, 1920; married James Carew Gorman Anderson of the Chinese customs service, 1921; based in Hong Kong after her marriage and campaigned against licensed prostitution; published novels, short stories and articles, 1915-1931, including Tobit Transplanted (1931) awarded Femina Vie Heureuse Prize, 1932; died, 1933.
Publications: include: I Pose (Macmillan and Co, London, 1915); This is the End (Macmillan and Co, London, 1917); Twenty [Poems] (Macmillan and Co, London, 1918); Living Alone (Macmillan and Co, London, 1919); The Poor Man (Macmillan and Co, London, 1922); The Awakening. A fantasy (Printed by Edwin and Robert Grabhorn for the Lantern Press, San Francisco, 1925); The Little World (Macmillan and Co, London, 1925); Goodbye, Stranger (Macmillan and Co, London, 1926); The Man who Missed the 'Bus (Mathews and Marrot, London, 1928); Worlds within Worlds [Sketches of travel] (Macmillan and Co, London, 1928); The Far-away Bride [With an appendix containing the Book of Tobit, from the Apocrypha] (Harper and Bros, New York and London, 1930); Tobit Transplanted (Macmillan and Co, London, 1931); Christmas Formula, and other stories (William Jackson [Joiner and Steele], London, 1932); Collected Short Stories (Macmillan and Co, London, 1936.
Born, Newington, London, 1805; educated at home and Merchant Taylors' School; took art lessons and exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution, 1819; met John Linnell, his future father-in-law, who gave him advice and instruction in art; became a close acquaintance of William Blake, 1824; moved to Shoreham, Kent, [1826-1833], painted in oil and made water-colour sketches; sketching tour in North Wales, 1832; exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Museum, 1832-1834; married Hannah, the eldest daughter of John Linnell, 1837; lived in Italy, 1837-1839; associate of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1843; exhibited many Italian drawings, later mostly English pastorals, illustrations of the Pilgrim's Progress' and Spenser, drawing from Milton, 1855; gave drawing lessons, and continued sketching tours, visiting North Wales, 1843, Margate, 1845, Cornwall, 1857, Devon, 1858, 1860; produced illustrations for Dickens'sPictures from Italy', 1846; began etching, [1850]; member of the Etching Society in 1853; member of the Water-colour Society, 1854; produced illustrations to Adams's Sacred Allegories', 1856; moved from London to Reigate, 1861, Redhill, 1862-1881; illustratedL'Allegro' and `Il Penseroso,' two poems of Milton; continued to exhibit at the Water-colour Society and produce etchings until his death; translated and illustrated Virgil's Eclogues, completed by his son, Alfred Herbert Palmer; died, 1881.
Publications: Shorter Poems of John Milton, with illustrations by Samuel Palmer and preface by A H Palmer; An English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil By Samuel Palmer, with illustrations by the author. Edited by A H Palmer (Seeley & Co, London, 1883).
Alfred Herbert Palmer (fl 1860-1926) was the painter's son. He published his biography of his father The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer in 1892. He destroyed many of his father's original papers, and emigrated to Canada.
Martin Hardie (1875-1952) was Keeper of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He was also an etcher, water-colourist and writer, publishing works on Frederick Goulding and Samuel Palmer in 1928.
Geoffrey Grigson (1905-1985) was an author. His papers in this collection probably comprise working papers for his book Samuel Palmer: The Visionary Years, published in 1947.
S.T. Bindoff was born 8 April 1908 in Hove, Sussex, to Thomas Henry and Mary Bindoff. He was educated at Brighton Grammar School and University College London, where he achieved a BA (History Hons) in 1929 and an MA with a mark of distinction in 1933.
After graduation he worked as a research assistant, a professional indexer and a history tutor. He worked at University College London from 1935-45, as an Assistant Lecturer and then a Lecturer in History. During World War Two he served in the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty from 1942-1945. He then worked as a Reader in Modern History at University College London from 1945-1951. In 1951 he became the first Professor of History at Queen Mary College, University of London, where his impact was great. During his time at Queen Mary College he served as Head of the History Department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and as a representative of the Academic Board on the Governing Body. He also became involved in the complex affairs of the University of London; he performed roles including Chairman of the Board of Studies in History, and Representative of the University on the Essex Records Committee, and on the Governing Bodies of several educational institutions. Bindoff also worked as a Visiting Professor in History at U.S. universities including Claremont Graduate School, California, in 1966, and Harvard University, in 1968. In addition, Bindoff acted as an External Examiner for the Universities of Oxford, Reading, and Nottingham. Bindoff remained at Queen Mary College until his retirement in 1975.
Bindoff wrote one book, Tudor England (Pelican History of England series, 1950), which was highly successful. He had twenty nine items published, not including several reviews. These items included The Scheldt Question to 1839 (1945), and Ket's Rebellion (a Historical Association pamphlet, 1949). He also jointly edited Elizabethan Government and Society (1961). Bindoff devoted much of his later years to the History of Parliament, a gazetteer of the members and constituencies of The House of Commons. Bindoff was the editor of the section covering the parliaments of 1509-58, published in 1982.
In addition, Bindoff served on committees and councils of various organisations, including the Royal Historical Society, which he became Vice-President of in 1967, the Historical Association, and the Advisory Council on Public Records.
Bindoff married Marjorie Blatcher (1906/7-1979), in 1938. She was A.F. Pollard's research assistant, an authority on the technicalities of legal history. They had a daughter, Helen, and a son, Tom. He died 23 December 1980 in Surbiton, Surrey, after falling ill with bronchopneumonia.
Thomas Seccombe was reportedly the first lecturer in History at East London Technical College.
Westfield College was established in Hampstead, North London, through the efforts of Ann Dudin Brown and Constance Louisa Maynard. Ann Dudin Brown provided a benefaction of £10,000 to establish the College. Following a meeting held on 11 Feb 1882 it was agreed that a residential women's college based on religious principals should be founded in London.
A pioneer of women's education, the college was the first specifically aimed at preparing women for University of London degrees and, taking the Oxbridge women's colleges as its example, it was also the first London women's college to make residence a requirement. The College opened on 2 Oct 1882 with just 5 students and 2 members of staff, including Constance Maynard as Mistress. It was situated in two houses at Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead. The name of the College was undecided and during the its early years it was referred to as the College for Ladies and the Ladies College at Westfield. Westfield probably derives from the name of the area or the houses in Maresfield Gardens. Several names for the College were proposed including St Hilda's but none were adopted. It was only following the move to permanent buildings that the name Westfield College was formally adopted, as the name had been informally used for a number of years.
The first graduands of Westfield College were presented for University degrees in 1887, one of whom was Anne Wakefield Richardson who joined the academic staff in April 1887 as Resident Lecturer in Classics. By 1889 the 'five original' staff members were in post who, in addition to Constance Maynard and Anne Richardson, included Frances Gray, Josephine Willoughby, and Mabel Beloe. Lilian Whitby was appointed to the Resident Staff in 1896 following the departure of Miss Willoughby and Miss Gray, and Caroline Skeel joined in 1899 along with Miss Sturdwick.
On Lady Day (25 March) 1891, the College moved to its permanent location on Kidderpore Avenue, Hampstead. The College buildings consisted of Kidderpore Hall, which later became known as Old House, and the New Wing, later renamed Maynard Wing. It gradually extended to include the Skeel Building (1903) housing the Library, and the Dudin Brown Wing (1905).
In 1902 Westfield College became a School of the University of London in the Faculty of Arts. Although science in the form of Mathematics and Biology was taught, the facilities were insufficient and therefore though attached to Westfield, students were External students and took the advanced part of the course at other colleges. However, in 1906, Ellen Delf was appointed to teach Botany and developed the College's facilities enough for the University of London to approve the Laboratory for work up to the final BSc examination in Botany in 1910. In Oct 1915 the University recognised the Botanical Laboratory for Honours work, which meant it was now possible for Westfield students to sit for Honours BSc as Internal students.
Constance Maynard continued to be Mistress of the College until 1913. She was succeeded by Agnes de Selincourt who adopted the title Principal. Miss de Selincourt died four years later from a tetanus injection following a bicycling accident. Anne Richardson became Acting Principal until the appointment of Bertha Phillpotts in 1919.
During the 1920s the policy of restricting the intake of students for the Bachelor of Arts to those who were prepared to read for Honours, was introduced, although the different structure for the Bachelor of Science meant that Pass students were still accepted. However, by this time General Students, those who did not intend to take any examination, were no longer accepted although exceptions were sometimes made for overseas students.
In 1933 Westfield was granted its Royal Charter of Incorporation, marking the College's Jubilee. By this time the College had extended considerably now occupying buildings along both sides of Kidderpore Avenue. During the war years, 1939-1945, the College was evacuated to St Peter's Hall, Oxford, where it had its very first male students; six Jesuit students who were evacuated to Oxford where Westfield was the only College at which they could continue their London arts degrees. The College buildings in Hampstead were let by Tavistock Clinic, the Young Women's Christian Association, and were also requisitioned by the Admiralty for training the Women's Royal Naval Service.
In 1947 Ellen Delf Smith retired and the College gradually ceased to admit students for a natural science degree. By 1950 the teaching of Botany ceased. However over the next decade the developing of a Science Faculty was at the fore-front. In 1959 demolition began for a new Science Building. In 1960 the University formally acknowledged Westfield College as a School in the Faculty of Science as well as a School in the Faculty of Arts. The new building was completed by Oct 1961 at which point Westfield began to offer degrees in Botany, Zoology, Physics, and Chemistry. Queen Elizabeth II formally opened the Science Building in May 1962, after which point it was renamed the Queen's Building.
The 1960s marked a decade of change and development. Not only had a comprehensive range of Science degrees been introduced, but it was decided to alter the Royal Charter in order to allow the admission of men undergraduate students. Men students were formally admitted to the College from 1964. In 1966 Westfield College appointed its first male Principal, Bryan Thwaites, who continued to be Principal until 1984. The College also embarked upon an expansionist policy to double its student numbers from 600 to 1200 and pursued a comprehensive development plan for which Sir Hugh Casson's firm of architects was commissioned. In 1963 the new Refectory building was completed. In 1965 Orchard II, a residential wing with further laboratories, was opened, and by 1967 the Queen's Building had been extended to include a Zoology wing. The 1960s also saw the purchase of several houses along Finchley Road.
A purpose built library was completed in 1971 and named the Caroline Skeel Library. During the same year students were admitted for the first time to study Computer Science. A further hall of residence was opened and named Kidderpore Hall, which comprised four houses for both male and female students. A Supplemental Charter was granted in 1976 which, among other provisions, removed the religious constraints of the original Charter.
However, by the 1980s the organisation, governance, and structure of the University of London began to be questioned. The Committee on Academic Organisation, better known as the Swinnerton-Dyer Committee, was established in 1980 to consider the situation of the University over the next 15 years and to make recommendations that would enable large financial savings. The Chairman of the Committee was Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer. As a result of the Committee and previous reports, including the Flowers Report and the Murray Report, the University Court concluded that teaching in the sciences should be concentrated in 5 institutional groups; Imperial College, University College, Kings College/Queen Elizabeth College, Queen Mary College, and Bedford College/Royal Holloway College. Smaller colleges, including Westfield, were encouraged to collaborate and/or merge with the larger institutions. Consequently, it became apparent that Westfield College would be unable to continue in its current form. Negotiations for collaboration and/or mergers took place with several institutions including King's College and Queen Mary College.
In 1982 the decision was made to transfer the Science Faculty to Queen Mary College. The transfer was completed by 1984. Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Biochemistry, and Zoology, and 68 members of staff were transferred to Queen Mary College in Mile End, some Physicists were transferred to Royal Holloway, and Computer Science was transferred to King's College. The financial situation of Westfield College did not improve and in 1987 the College Council agreed to a full merger with Queen Mary College. As part of the agreement it was decided that the name of Westfield would be retained and although the new college would be located in Mile End, new residences would be created in Mile End to maintain the Westfield ethos as a residential college. The Westfield Trust was established in 1988 to preserve something of the original intentions of the founders of Westfield College. On 1 Aug 1989 Queen Mary and Westfield College was inaugurated. All departments were transferred with the exception of the Department of the History of Art, which transferred to University College London. Part of the Hampstead campus was sold to King's College. The Hampstead campus continued to be used by Queen Mary and Westfield College, better known today as Queen Mary, University of London, until 1992, when all activities were relocated to Mile End.
Principals of Westfield College: Constance Louisa Maynard, 1882-1913 Agnes de Selincourt, 1913-1917
Anne Wakefield Richardson, Acting Principal, 1917-1919 Bertha Phillpotts, 1919-1921 Eleanor Lodge, 1921-1929 Dorothy Chapman, 1929-1939 Mary Stocks, 1939-1951 Kathleen Chesney, 1951-1962 Pamela Matthews, 1962-1965 Bryan Thwaites, 1965-1984 John E Varey, 1984-1989
The Print collection was acquired by Westfield College Library during the early 1970s, as teaching resources primarily for the History of Art Department. Part of the collection was catalogued by a group of postgraduates under the supervision of the Deputy Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. A number of the Westfield Prints were compared with the same print in the British Museum to verify its authenticity and state or edition.
The Westfield College Association was founded in 1900 to provide a means for Westfield College alumni to maintain contact with the College and each other as well as to raise the profile of and assist the College. The Association held regular meetings and also maintained a Benevolent Fund for its members. In 1952 the Association agreed to take the major part of the responsibility for the publication of Hermes, the College Newsletter for current and former students of Westfield College. The final meeting of the Association took place on 14 Sep 1991, after which the Association merged with Queen Mary College to form the Queen Mary and Westfield College Association.
Presidents of the Westfield College Association: 1900-1920 Lady Chapman 1921-1927 Anne Richardson 1928-1931 Frances Gray 1931-1933 Lady Chapman 1934-1936 Eleanor Lodge 1937-1941 Constance Parker 1942-1945 Dorothy Chapman 1946-1949 Lilian James (also Hon. Secretary 1900-1939) 1950-1955 Ellen Delf-Smith 1956-1958 Helen Ralph 1959-1964 Gertrude Stanley 1964-1970 Kathleen Walpole 1971-1974 Kathleen Chesney 1974-1977 Eleanor Carus Wilson 1977-1991 Rosalind Hill
The Westfield Trust was established on 1 Nov 1988 for charitable purposes connected with Westfield College and Queen Mary and Westfield College. The creation of the Trust resulted from an agreement made in Mar 1987 to fully merge Westfield College and Queen Mary College with the gradual transfer of all activities to the Mile End site. In order to preserve something of the original intentions of the founders of Westfield College, both Colleges agreed to form the Westfield Trust.
Prior to the establishment of the Westfield Trust, another charitable trust had existed; the Westfield College Development Trust. The Development Trust was established in 1979 to raise funds for the College and support projects. This included the Centenary Appeal which funded a new hall of residence. With the announcement of a merger between Westfield College and Queen Mary College, no further fund raising was undertaken. With the creation of the Westfield Trust in 1988, it was decided in Jul 1989 to dissolve the Development Trust, with all of its assets being transferred to the Westfield Trust.
The Westfield Trust had representation on the new College Council and provided financial support for capital and smaller projects within the College. Projects supported by the Trust include the College Nursery, academic visitor accommodation, restoration of the Octagon, refurbishment of the Great Hall in the People's Palace, and the Westfield Student Village, as well as the provision of research studentships and bursaries.
In 2008 the decision was taken that the Trust had met its objectives and should be wound down. On 31 Jul 2009 all Trust assets and liabilities were formally transferred to the College. The final meeting of the Trust took place on 30 Nov 2009.
Chairman of the Westfield Trust:
Lord Jenkin of Roding, 1989-1999; Francis Vernon McClure, 1999-2009
Secretary to the Westfield Trust:
Michael Sumner, 1989-1995; Brian Murphy, 1995-2009
W.A.Galbraith, BA Honours, English, Class I, Westfield College 1917, where she met Pae Swen Tseng; Women's Army Auxiliary Corp 1917; Worlds YWCA; Trained in teaching in Canada; Taught at I Fang School in China c 1920s-1930s including during the communist uprisings; Later taught English in West Africa.Publications include: The Dragon Sheds His Skin (London 1928), The Chinese, (Penguin 1943), Willow Pattern - A picture of China Today (London 1933), In China Now (New York 1941), Men Against Sky (1940).
Wolfgang Held (1933-2016) was a writer, translator, artist and musician, and a key figure in Anglo-German literary relations.
Born in Frieburg, Germany, in 1933. Educated in Karlsruhe, Heidelberg and Freiburg. Completed a PhD on the Austrian poet, Georg Trakl, and subsequently spent four years at the University of Madras. Taught at the University of Ljubljana, in the former Yugoslavia, in the 1960s. Moved to Edinburgh (by 1971) and then to Greenwich University. Retired in 1985, to focus on his own writing.
His translation work includes German translations of Wyndham Lewis, T.S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Michael Holroyd's biography on George Bernhard Shaw and the poetry of John Donne and Emily Brontë.
His novels include Die im Glashaus (Those in Glass Houses, 1965), Ein Brief des Jüngeren Plinius (A Letter from Pliny the Younger, 1979), Rabenkind (Raven Child, 1985), Geschichte der Abgeschnittenen Hand (Tale of the Severed Hand, 1994), Traum vom Hungerturm (Dream of the Hunger Tower, 2007) and Schattenfabel (Shadow Tale, 2014). He also wrote a play, Hoffmanns Verbrennung (Hoffmann’s Burning, 1986).
As a pianist Held gave concerts and made recordings and commentaries for German radio. He also published a biography of Robert and Clara Schumann, Manches Geht in Nacht Verloren (Things Go Astray in the Night, 1998), republished as Geliebte Clara (Beloved Clara, 2008).
Held was also a collagist and hosted the Raven Studio in his London home from 1989-1992, exhibiting works by other contemporary artists.
His first wife was Eva (nee Hellmansberger). The pair later divorced. Married his second wife Madeline in 1971, with whom he had a daughter, Natasha.
Born, Exeter, 1881, son of Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury; educated, Rugby, Balliol College, Oxford; fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy, Queen's College Oxford, 1904-1910; President Oxford Union, 1904; travelled in Europe and studied at the Universities of Jena and Berlin, 1905-1906; Deacon, 1908; Priest, 1909; Chaplain to Archbishop of Canterbury, 1910-1921; Headmaster, Repton School, 1910-1914; Rector of St James, Piccadilly, 1914-1918; Honorary Chaplain to the King, 1915-1921; Editor of The Challenge, 1915-1918; Chairman of Westfield College, 1916-1921; Canon of Westminster, 1919-1921; Bishop of Manchester, 1921-1929; Archbishop of York, 1929-1942; President of the Workers Educational Association, 1908-1924; editor of The Pilgrim, 1920-1927; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942-1944; died, 1944.
Publications: include: Thoughts on the Divine Love (Christian Knowledge Society, London, 1910); The Faith and Modern Thought: six lectures (Macmillan & Co, London, 1910); A Challenge to the Church: being an account of the national mission; 1916, and of thoughts suggested by it (SPCK, London, 1917); Issues of Faith: a course of lectures (Macmillan & Co, London, 1917); Christus Veritas. An essay (Macmillan & Co, London, 1924); Christ in his Church. A charge delivered (Macmillan & Co, London, 1925); Christianity and the State (Macmillan & Co, London, 1928); Christian faith and life with Roger L Roberts (Student Christian Movement Press, London, 1931); Christ and the Way to Peace (Student Christian Movement Press, London, 1935); Faith & Freedom (London, 1935); Basic Convictions (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1937); Readings in St. John's Gospel (Macmillan & Co, London, 1939); The Christian Hope of Eternal Life (SPCK, London, [1941]); Christianity and Social Order (Harmondsworth, New York, 1942).
John Leofric Stocks (1882-1937), was a friend of William Temple at Rugby and later while at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Stocks was a fellow and tutor of St John's College from 1906 to 1924. He became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester in 1924, stood as an unsuccessful Labour candidate in 1935, and was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool in 1936.
An anti-sexist magazine that was produced by a working collective of socialist men and launched to coincide with the London Men's Conference in 1978.
No further information at present.
Established in November 1991, the ARA is the first Black-led, broad-based coalition campaigning to stem the rising tide of racism, anti-Semitism and support for the extreme right. The ARA is supported by over 800 organisations including many national Black and Jewish organisations. It also has the support of more than 90 MPs and MEPs from across the political spectrum, as well as thousands of individuals. The ARA organises campaigns locally and nationally against racist murders, attacks and harassment.
The Advice Services Alliance, established in 1982, is the umbrella body for independent advice services in the UK. Its members are national networks of not-for-profit organisations providing advice and help on the law, access to services and related issues.
The Amalgamated Society of Engineers was formed in 1851 through proposals drawn up by three unions, the Old Mechanics, the Steam Engine Makers' Society and the General Smiths. However, because some branches of the unions involved failed to ratify the amalgamation the union formed with only 5000 members (less than the membership of the Old Mechanics). Over the following year many of the societies gradually decided on formal amalgamation including the New Society of Millwrights; the Old Society of Engineers and Machinists of London; the London Smiths; the Steam Engine Makers' Society; the United Machine Workers' Asssociation; the United Kingdom Society of Amalgamated Smiths and Strikers; the Associated Brassfounders', Turners', Fitters' and Finishers' Society; the North of England Brassfounders' Society; the Amalgamated Instrument Makers' Society and the Amalgamated Society of General Toolmakers, Engineers and Machinists. By the end of 1851 the number of members had increased to 10481 and the birth of one of the most influential unions in the United Kingdom was complete. However, almost immediately the union was nearly bankrupted through the engineering lock-out of 1852 where employers demanded that workers sign a declaration stating they would not join a trade union movement. After three months the union relented and the men returned to work but from this setback the union recovered quickly (so much so that by 1861 it consisted of 236 branches). The union continued to grow in the following years until 1920 when the Amalgamated Society of Engineers along with seventeen other Unions joined together to form the Amalgamated Engineering Union.
The Advisory Service for Squatters is a non-profit collective of volunteer workers who provide practical advice and legal support for squatters and homeless people. Established in 1975, the organisation grew out of an earlier group called the Family Squatters Advisory Service (founded in the late 1960s).
Since 1976 ASS has published The Squatters Handbook, the 13th edition of which was published in 2009. Over 150,000 copies have been sold since 1976. The Handbook offers advice on how to find property to squat in, what to do in confrontations with the police, how to maintain the property and set up temporary plumbing, and generally how to survive while squatting. According to the Advisory Service website, the Squatters' Handbook is in high demand, which speaks to the rising number of squatters in this current [2014 at the time of writing] period of global recession.
ASS also has links with squatters' rights organisations worldwide.
After having a base at 2 St Paul's Road in Islington for many years, ASS moved to premises at Angel Alley (84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX), in the same building as Freedom Press.
no further information available
Born, 1922, educated at the Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow; grew up in the East End of London, descended from a long line of blacksmiths, although his father was a horse fodder dealer; served with the Royal Air Force, World War Two; for many years a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. He has had various careers and has been a professional boxer, a labourer, a strip cartoonist, a schoolteacher and a sign-painter. Barltrop has also published widely and his books include: The Monument: Story of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (1975), Jack London: The Man, the Writer, the Rebel (1977), Muvver Tongue with Jim Wolveridge (1980) and A funny age (Growing up in North East London between the Wars) (1985).
Michael Barnes was born in September 1932, the son of Major C.H.R. Barnes OBE and Katherine Louise (nee Kennedy). After studying at Malvern and Corpus Christi, Oxford, he entered National Service, becoming a Second Lieutenant in the Wiltshire Regiment and serving in Hong Kong, 1952-1953. After unsuccessfully standing in Wycombe in 1964, Barnes was elected as Labour MP for Brentford and Chiswick in 1966. He served as Opposition spokesman on food and food prices (1970-1971), Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party Social Security Group (1969-1970), served on the ASTMS Parliamentary Committee (1970-1971) and was also a long serving member of the Public Accounts Committee (1967-1974). After losing the seat of Brentford and Isleworth in 1974, Barnes helped later in establishing the SDP, although rejoined the Labour Party between 1983 and 2001. Aside from politics, he was Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales (1991-1997), Director of the United Kingdon Immigrants Advisory Service (UKIAS) (1984-1990), member of the Council of Management of War on Want (1972-1977), Vice Chairman of the Bangabandhu Society (1980-1990) and has served in a variety of other official positions.
Born in Birmingham, 1845; no formal education; worked as a newspaper boy at Euston Station then took a job as a porter and collector for a wholesale publishing company; moved to Sunderland and apprenticed to Dawson Brothers, ship owners; served time in the East India trade, visiting Persia, Arabia, Ceylon, India and Abyssinia by sea and earned himself a 'Chief Mate's' certificate.
Bedford left shortly after and established the first teetotal public house in London which was a commercial success; toured the country lecturing on temperance and the business of teetotal public house keeping and published several essays on the subject. Bedford also became a tailor, teaching himself cutting and other skills and established tailor's shops in Bethnal Green Road and Hackney Road. Bedford was also heavily involved with trade-unionism, serving as President of both the General Railway Workers Union and the Society of Firewood Choppers. Died 1904.
Born Georgetown, Guyana, February 1944, educated at St Joseph's RC, Sacred Heart and Ituni Government Schools, and at St Stanislaus College; analyst in the Demerara Bauxite Company, Guyana; moved to Britain in 1963; employed as a railway clerk, then enrolled at Tottenham Technical College, 1965-67, studied Mining Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 1967-1969; international telephonist, including work for the Union of Post Office Workers, 1969-1978; full time Area Officer for NUPE, responsible for its local authority and health workers, 1978-1981; helped establish the Black Trades Unionists Solidarity Movement (BTUSM), and worked for it, 1981-1984; joined the Tottenham Labour Party, 1973; elected a councillor, 1978; Leader of Haringey Council, London, 1985, and in this position achieved national recognition during the disturbances on Broadwater Farm Estate in 1985; elected to Parliament in 1987 as one of the first Black MP's in modern times; founded the Parliamentary Black Caucus, and took up a leading role in establishing contacts with black people and politicians throughout the world; accompanied the Reverend Jesse Jackson to South Africa, greeting Nelson Mandela on the day of his release in 1990; Chairman of the All Party Group on Race and Community, and of the British Caribbean Group; member of the Select Committee on International Development, 1997, and the Home Secretary's Race Relations Forum, 1998; founded the Standing Conference on Racism in Europe in 1990; established the Africa Reparations Movement in Britain; founded the Global Trade Centre, 1995; died, 2000.
The British Humanist Association has its origins in the ethical movement established by Felix Adler in America in 1876. The aim of the ethical movement was to 'disentangle moral ideals from religious doctrines, metaphysical systems and ethical theories'. Ten years later, the movement was brought to Britain by Doctor Stanton Coit who became a minister of the South Place Ethical Society and later established the West London Ethical Society. In 1896 the Union of Ethical Societies was formed creating a central body to which local societies could affiliate and send representatives to the annual Congress. From 1920 the organisation was known as the Ethical Union. The Ethical Union was involved with moral education, repeal of the blasphemy laws, penal reform and neighbourhood community work. They also assisted the women's movement and drew attention to racial, colonial and international problems by initiating and supporting effective action. Searching for alternatives to religious worship also led to the formation of the Ethical Church by the Stanton Coit in Bayswater, operating from c.1909 to c.1954. The immediate origins of the British Humanist Association stem from the 1962 annual conference of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. British representatives concluded that there was a need to establish a national Humanist body to incorporate the growing number of local and university Humanist groups. At this point the central point of contact and unity between the local societies remained the Ethical Union. A Humanist Council had been established in the 1950s to promote greater collaboration between secularist groups at a national level (representatives from the Ethical Union, Rationalist Press Association and National Secular Society were invited to sit on the Council) but it was disbanded by the mid-1960s. Further attempts were made to move towards greater collaboration in 1957 when the Rationalist Press Association and the Ethical Union formed the Humanist Association. The name ‘British Humanist Association’ was registered in 1961 and co-operation between the Ethical Union and Rationalist Press Association was formalised in 1963 with the inaugural dinner of the British Humanist Association at the House of Commons in May. Following the creation of the British Humanist Association there was an immediate rise in membership and local group activity. University humanist groups also became more active instituting the Humanist Student Federation. Harold Blackham, an influential figure in the ethical movement and a former assistant to Stanton Coit, was appointed Executive Director of the British Humanist Associations serving from 1963 to 1968. Despite the joint commitment to the British Humanist Association in 1963, both the Ethical Union and the Rationalist Press Association retained their individual identities: the Ethical Union in West London was concerned with public relations, and the Rational Press Association, in Drury Lane, with publishing. By 1965 collaboration between the Ethical Union and Rationalist Press Association was to become more difficult following amendments to the charity laws. The Ethical Union was removed from the charity register on a technical point. This necessitated the Rationalist Press Association, because of its own charitable status, to pull out of the joint running of the British Humanist Association. The issues surrounding charitable status led to the creation of the Humanist Trust in 1967 and the incorporation of the Ethical Union into the British Humanist Association. The Humanist Trust became a charitable organisation focused on funding educational activities, whilst the British Humanist Association (now solely operated by the former Ethical Union) was able to pursue political lobbying and campaigning. The battle for charitable status for the British Humanist Association continued and was eventually won in 1983. From its origins the British Humanist Association's activities have been wide and varied. These have included the publication of pamphlets, books and periodicals, arranging conferences, promoting campaigns and organising local groups. The Association also calls for and promotes new thinking, research and experimentation in moral and religious education, along with helping Humanist parents and teachers. It also seeks a fuller and fairer representation of Humanist views in broadcasting , the press and government. The British Humanist Association is linked internationally with the International Humanist and Ethical Union and has been affiliated to the United Nations Association and supported Freedom from Hunger and similar campaigns. It was also involved in establishing the Humanist Housing Association, the Agnostics Adoption Society, the Social Morality Council (now transmuted into the Norham Foundation), and a Humanist counselling service. Education continues to be a priority and many books, newsletters and literature are produced. The British Humanist Association members receive the official newsletter of the Association, Humanist News, and since 2001, The New Humanist, (published by the Rational Press Association). Presidents of the British Humanist Association: - Sir Julian Huxley, (1963-1965) - Professor AJ Ayer, (1965-1970) - Edmund Leach, (1970-1972) - George Melly, (1972-1974) - Harold Blackham, (1974-1977) - James Hemming, (1977-1980) - Hermann Bondi, (1981-1999) - Claire Rayner, (1999-2004) - Linda Smith, (2004-2006) - Polly Toynbee, (2007-2013) - Jim Al-Khalili, (2013- )
The Bishopsgate Institute is an independent centre providing educational and cultural activities for adults. It was founded in the late 19th century by the Reverend William Rogers, Rector of St Botolph's Church in the City of London. Rogers was a noted educational reformer and the Institute was established to provide free libraries, a large concert and lecture hall and meeting rooms for the benefit of the public. The Institute was financed by the parish's charitable endowments and its building was designed in the Art Nouveau style by Charles Harrison Townsend, architect of the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Bishopsgate Institute opened its doors to the public on New Year's Day 1895; the Grade II* listed building is one of the few in the area to survive intact from the 19th century.
Founded in 1790, the Bishopsgate Ward Club was initially a forum for the merchants, tailors and other interested parties of the Ward to express their views to the Alderman and the Common Councilmen, linking them to the governance of the City of London. In modern times, the Ward Club has become a charitable and social organisation, promoting community service, good fellowship, and an interest in the traditions and institutions of the City of London. One of the City's 22 Ward Clubs, the Bishopsgate Ward Club arranges a varied programme each year including receptions, luncheons and insider tours.
Born Hoxton, London, September 1833, the son of a solicitor's clerk; aged 12 employed as an office boy in his father's company; during his early years, Bradlaugh increasingly became influenced by the ideas of Richard Carlile who was sent to prison for blasphemy and seditious libel in 1819, and he began to question Christian ideals. Due to religious disputes with his family, Bradlaugh left home in 1849 and shortly after joined the Seventh Dragoon Guards, although he was to obtain a discharge in 1853, finding work in a law office. Now a committed republican and freethinker, he joined Joseph Barker, a Sheffield Chartist, to form The National Reformer in 1860.
During the 1860s, Bradlaugh published a series of pamphlets on politics and religion becoming one of Britain's leading freethinkers. He helped in the establishment of the National Secular Society in 1866. Shortly after, Bradlaugh met Annie Besant, who he employed on The National Reformer. In 1877, Bradlaugh and Besant published Charles Knowlton's book The Fruits of Knowledge concerning birth control and, as a result, both were charged and sentenced to six months in prison, although at the Court of Appeal, the sentence was quashed.
In 1880, after several previous attempts, Bradlaugh was elected Member of Parliament for Northampton and, due to his beliefs, sought permission to affirm rather than to take the oath of office; request was refused and he was expelled from the House of Commons; campaigned to allow atheists to sit in the Commons, attracting support from Non-Conformists and some important figures, such as William Gladstone, although it angered many in the clergy and members of the Conservative Party. Attempts to take his seat in June 1880 and April 1881, met with resistance, including a spell imprisoned in the Tower of London. After being refused access in August, a petition was presented to Parliament and, in May 1883, an Affirmation Bill, headed by Gladstone, was defeated in the Commons. Bradlaugh was re-elected in 1884 and again tried to affirm and take his seat, including voting three times for which he was later fined. A further attempt to affirm in January 1886 was accepted by the Speaker, Sir Arthur Wellesley Peel, and he was allowed to sit remaining a fervent republican and critic of British foreign policy, most notably in South Africa, Sudan, Afghanistan and Egypt. Bradlaugh died in January 1891.
Noreen Branson was born Noreen Browne, a granddaughter of the 8th Marquess of Sligo. Her mother died of tuberculosis in August 1918. Her father, Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Alfred Browne, was killed in action just 11 days later, so she was left an orphan at the age of eight. Thereafter she and her siblings were brought up by her maternal grandmother at her house in Berkeley Square, London. At 18 she was presented at court. She was passionate about music and insisted on being allowed to study in London. She joined the Bach Choir, through which in 1931 she met her husband, Clive Branson. The son of an Indian Army officer, he was in a similar revolt against privilege. They met at a charity concert in the East End of London and were married in June 1931.
The young couple left the West End and set up home in Battersea. There they were able to use their private incomes to throw themselves into alleviating the wants of the poor of that area. Noreen Branson joining the Independent Labour Party and campaigned for Poor Law reform.
Meeting the veteran socialist leader Harry Pollitt, general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, she spent a number of years in the 1930s taking messages between the British party and other communist parties overseas. During her husband's absence overseas with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War she also began working for the Labour Research Department. Soon she was publishing articles on social issues in its magazine Labour Research, to which she continued to contribute for the next 60 years.
When the Second World War came, her husband joined the Army and was posted to the Far East. She continued writing for Labour Research, concentrating especially on the problems of the children of workers. Clive Branson was killed in action in Arakan in 1944, and she later published his letters under the title Letters of a British Soldier in India. In 1945 she became editor of Labour Research, continuing to write prolifically for almost every issue, covering the wide range of problems thrown up by the working of the welfare state in those early years of its existence. Her first book, Room at the Bottom, published in 1960 under the nom de plume Katherine Hood, was an analysis of its shortcomings as she perceived them. Britain in the Nineteen Thirties, written with Margot Heinemann and published in 1971 as part of E.J.Hobsbawm's History of British Society series, was a bleak analysis of, as the authors saw it, the failure of the Left to halt the slide to war in that decade.
Branson retired from the editorship of Labour Research in 1972, but continued writing for it and published further works on social history. Britain in the Nineteen Twenties (1976) was another volume in the History of British Society series. Poplarism, 1919-1925 (1979) was an account of the rates rebellion in the poverty-stricken East London borough of Poplar, led by its Labour Mayor, George Lansbury. Branson also contributed to the History of the Communist Party of Great Britain (1985), writing volume three, which covered 1927-1941 and Volume four (1997), covering 1941-1951. She continued as a reviewer until her death in 2003.
Tony Brierley founded the Oxford University Humanist Group in 1958. Often with more than 1,000 members, the OUHG held meetings with eminent speakers, organised weekly discussion meetings, publicised Humanism and opposed Christian missions to the University. It had its own small printing press and produced its own posters and termly cards as well as taking in business for other clubs. The OUHG folded in the early 1970s.
The Brookfield Manor Girls’ Club was founded in 1942 and consisted mainly of girlfriends and sisters of members of the Eton Manor Boys’ Club in Hackney Wick. It initially met in the Eton Manor clubhouse, before moving to other venues in Hackney Wick and Leyton. In the early years, Netball matches were often played on the Eton Manor playing fields known as “the Wilderness” on Hackney Marshes. As with the Eton Manor club, to which it retained links until Eton Manor’s closure, many of the Brookfield Manor members kept close associations to the club and their fellow-members. Brookfield Manor closed in 1991 due to a declining membership.
No further information at present.
No further information at present.
The Cambridge and Bethnal Green Boys' Club started in 1924 as the Jewish Boys Club. It was founded by a group of Cambridge University graduates with the aim of helping underprivileged youngsters. The group was initially led by Joe and Harry Wolfe, Justin Richardson and Stuart Esinger. In 1938 the club became inter denominational and in 1955 changed its name to the New Cambridge Boy's Club, it continued to run until 1989. The club organised various athletic and cultural activities for the boys including football, swimming, dramatics and camping. Max Lea was a member and manager of the Club for 48 years, as well as serving as Club Registrar and Club Treasurer. He continues to be the Secretary and Treasurer of the Cambridge Reunion Committee and was awarded an MBE in 2000 for his services to youth work and amateur football.
The UK Committee for Freedom in Mozambique was formed in 1968 at the request of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), which had launched an armed national liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial rule in 1964. It expanded a year later to cover Angola and Guine-Bissau, where armed struggle was also under way, renaming itself as the Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guine (CFMAG).
CFMAG operated as a campaigning pressure group, aiming to build broad based political support for FRELIMO, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the African Independence Party of Guine-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). It worked with all political parties, the labour and student movements, churches, NGOs and many others. It had close relations with the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and encouraged a regional perspective for the future of Southern Africa. It organised visits by liberation movement representatives and various specific political and material aid campaigns, culminating in the End the Alliance Campaign of 1972/3.
Following the 25 April coup in Portugal in 1974 and the subsequent negotiations between the new Portuguese government and the liberation movements, the right of the colonies to full and immediate independence was acknowledged. CFMAG organised a victory party at St Pancras Town Hall on 25 June 1975, Mozambique's Independence Day, and closed down, its objectives achieved.
During the following phase the Mozambique, Angola and Guine Information Centre (MAGIC) was established with support from the independent governments to carry out educational and information work. Political solidarity work continued through first the Angola Solidarity Committeee and then the Mozambique-Angola Committee, with particular emphasis on supporting MPLA during its second war of liberation against the South African army.
Raymond "Ray" Challinor was a distinguished Marxist historian of the British labour movement, particularly in the North East of England. Initially a member of the Independent Labour Party, he was an early member of the Revolutionary Communist Party and then the Socialist Review group and was also a member of the group which succeeded it, the International Socialists. For a period in the 1960s he was a councillor in Newcastle-under-Lyme on the Labour Party ticket in which party IS was then resident, later writing an article in International Socialism on how the experience was politically dispiriting. Born in Stoke-on-Trent, and a conscientious objector, working on the land, after the Second World War, Challinor was educated at Keele and Lancaster Universities and became principal lecturer in history at Newcastle Polytechnic. While a member of the Socialist Workers Party, he wrote his best known work, a classic history of the Socialist Labour Party, The Origins of British Bolshevism (1977). He served as chairman of the Society for the Study of Labour History and president of the North East Labour History Society.
The first Co-operative in Chelmsford - a coal club - was formed in 1847. Then, in 1867, Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society was established by a small number of employees of the London Road Iron Works: it was their intention to become "the Star of the County". The first shop was opened in Tindal Street and despite the economic problems of the 1870s the Society prospered to such an extent that its members soon decided to build a new store in Moulsham Street on the site of the present day Quadrant. Opened in 1881 by the author of Tom Brown's School Days, Thomas Hughes.
The Countess of Warwick, a leading advocate for the Co-operative movement, opened an extension to the building in 1902. Year by year, the range of products increased. More shops were opened in other parts of Chelmsford and in the surrounding villages. The Society also acted as an agency for the Co-operative Building Society and the Insurance Society.
A Co-operative Women's Guild was established by the Society's membership in 1906 and an Education Committee, funded and elected by members was formed in 1925. The promotion of Co-operative principles was a key element of the Education Committee's work and, with the establishment of International Co-operative Day in 1923, it pursued its task vigorously. International Co-operative Day held on the first Saturday in July, was a grand affair and until the Second World War up to a thousand children participated in the celebrations. During the First World War, with food shortages a serious problem, the Guild played its part in ensuring that food was shared fairly. Then, when unemployment became a social catastrophe during the 1930s, Chelmsford Star helped to alleviate some of the harshest cases of poverty by providing families with boots, clothing and food parcels. Later, when the Hunger Marchers passed through Chelmsford on their way to London it was Chelmsford Star that provided them with a meal and repaired their boots. By the Second World War, Chelmsford Star had a shop in virtually every locality within the town and surrounding countryside. It had established its own abattoir, mobile shops, travel department, clothing store, funeral service and much more. It had also established a Co-operative Party Council in 1943 and the Education Committee had formed Youth and Children's Clubs.
Since its formation, Chelmsford Star has supported the community; as early as 1883 when donations were needed for the Chelmsford Infirmary, the membership regularly agreed to allocate part of their surplus to the hospital. Throughout its entire history the Society has sponsored many local organisations. That tradition has continued. In the 1970s the Society organised a series of annual 'It's a Knockout' competitions; a new phase of community activity commenced in the 1980s when it held its hugely successful 'Fun Days'. These attracted leading stars of stage and screen, many thousands of people enjoying the entertainment. Of no less importance, through its Education Committee, Women's Guild, membership, staff and supporters, huge sums were donated each year to local charities.
The Society's award winning Community Card now fulfils the same objectives, and the basic Co-operative principles that were established in the middle of the 19th century, are still an essential feature of the Society's present day trading strategy.
The Society continues to support many local causes and activities, including the Essex Adversity Awards and Newpalm Productions, who produce Chelmsford's annual pantomime at the Civic Theatre.
Finally, the Society became a founder member of Co-operative Action, established in 2002. It was set up to promote the development of Co-operative, mutual and social enterprise solutions, throughout the country and provides financial assistance via grants or loans.
The City Music Society was formed in 1943, influenced by lunchtime concerts organised by Hilda Bor at the Royal Exchange and by Myra Hess at the National Gallery. The driving force in the Society's foundation was Ivan Sutton, with help and encouragement by Bor, who became its Vice-President, and from Edric Cundell, Principal of the Guildhall School of Music, who served as its first President. The first event, a lecture by Cundell, took place in December 1943 at the Guildhall School, shortly followed by the first concert, a performance by the Morley College Choir, in January 1944. After subsequent Society concerts at the Chartered Insurance Institute and the Royal Exchange, Sutton succeeded in convincing the Goldsmith's Company to allow the use of its hall for a series of three evening concerts in the autumn of 1946. In the autumn of 1947 the lunchtime concerts moved from the Guildhall School to the Bishopsgate Institute where the opening concert by Louis Kentner attracted a capacity audience. Since then evening concerts at Goldsmith's Hall and Tuesday lunchtime concerts at Bishopsgate Institute have provided the regular framework within which the work of the Society has evolved.
The Society, at present, stages around 26 concerts per year and has over 2000 lunchtime and early evening concerts to its credit. It completed its 60th-anniversary season in April 2004. As well as featuring well-established musicians, the Society's policy has always attempted to invite outstanding young professional artists who are at the beginning of their careers to perform at its concerts, many of whom have since attained international status. Furthermore, over the years the Society has commissioned many new works - on average one every three years - from a wide and diverse range of British composers, including Roger Smalley, Nicholas Maw, Diana Burrell, Richard Rodney Bennett, Elizabeth Maconchy, Phyllis Tate, Robin Holloway, John McCabe, Geoffrey Burgon, Peter-Paul Nash, Kevin Volans and Michael Berkeley.
Anna Coote is a leading analyst, writer and advocate in the field of social policy. She was Deputy Editor of the New Statesman from 1978-1982, Editor and Producer of current affairs television for Diverse Productions from 1982-1986 and Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of ippr (Institute for Public Policy Research) from 1989-1998. From 1998-2004 she was Director of Health Policy at the King's Fund and led the Healthcare Commission's work on engaging patients and the public in 2005-2008. Most recently she has carried out work on health and sustainable development as Commissioner for Health with the UK Sustainable Development Commission from 2000-2009.
Anna has written widely on social policy, sustainable development, public health policy, public involvement and democratic dialogue, gender and equality.
Born 1916; academic, member of the Economic Research Council; founding member of the Christian Socialist Movement in 1960; died 1996.
John Dore was born in Hammersmith, London on 7 August 1930, the only child of Frederick James Dore, a master plasterer and Mary Ross (nee Spark). He grew up in Richmond, Surrey and was educated at Richmond and East Sheen County Grammar School for Boys. He obtained a Surrey County scholarship to Imperial College of Science and Technology (London University) where, in 1951, he obtained a BSc in Botany with Zoology subsidiary. He then obtained a research award to attend Southampton University, 1951-1954, where he obtained a PhD in Botany, researching the regeneration of horseradish.
He joined the Labour Party in 1949 and was an active member of the Richmond and Barnes Labour League of Youth, Cromwell ward Labour Party and delegate to the General Management Committee. He met his future wife Christine Perfect, who always shared his political interests, at a meeting of the Labour League of Youth in 1949. She had been Chairman and Secretary of the Richmond and Barnes Branch and, at the time of their marriage on 7 March 1953, he was Chairman of the Southampton Branch.
Between 1954-1959 he worked for H M Overseas Civil Service as an Agricultural Research Officer (Botanist), researching into the growth of rice. He was based in Kula Lumpur, Malaya. He joined the Fabian Society in 1954 and while in Malaya he and his wife produced several articles for the Fabian Society publication Venture, about Malayan agriculture and the political situation there at the time. He also developed the agricultural policy of the Malayan Labour party.
On returning to the UK, he moved to Watford with his young family and he and his wife re-established the Watford and District Fabian Society that met regularly, for many years, at their home. After a short spell as a teacher for Middlesex County Council, he took up the post of Lecturer in Plant Physiology at Brunel University (originally Brunel College of Technology). He wrote several scientific papers and also contributed to Chambers Encyclopaedia. Later he lectured in Biology and Biochemistry including aspects of environmental pollution and pest control.
During the early 1960s he stood as unsuccessful Labour candidate for several local elections in Watford Borough and Hertfordshire as well as the parliamentary candidate in Heston and Isleworth in the 1964 general election. He also stood as a Labour candidate at the first European Elections. In 1967 he was elected to Hertfordshire County Council and remained a County Councillor until his retirement in 1986. He was an active trade union member joining in 1950 and representing his union (ASTMS, then MSF now Amicus) at the Trade Union Congress in the 1970s. He was Hon. Secretary of the local (Brunel) branch and was also a member of the AUT union. He was a long-term member of the co-operative movement and was, for a time, member of the Education Committee of Watford Co-op before it amalgamated with London Cooperative Society.
In 1986 he retired from his post of Senior Lecturer in Biology at Brunel University and relinquished his County Council seat. He then moved, with his wife who was also a County Councillor at that time, to Somerset. Over the next few years he stood as Labour and Co-operative party candidate in several West Somerset local and Somerset county elections. He was elected as a local Parish Councillor. He founded the West Somerset Branch of the Co-operative Party and held the posts of Chairman and Secretary and was the representative at the Constituency Labour party. He was also chair of the West Somerset District Labour Party.
The Evening Standard Outside Chapel represents the interests of distribution workers on the London newspaper, the Evening Standard, dealing with management on issues of newspaper distribution, employment, wages and working conditions. Its original headquarters were based at 47 Shoe Lane, EC4, the Chapel now resides at the print and distribution centre of Associated Newspapers Ltd in Harmsworth Quays, SE16. Originally part of the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers, the Chapel became affiliated to the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) when the NUPBPW joined with the National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (Natsopa) in 1966. (Natsopa). The National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers became the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades Division A and Natsopa became the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades Division 1. The aim was to achieve a complete merger over time, but differences led to in-fighting and in 1972 the two divisions split, Division A retaining the name Society of Graphical and Allied Trades and Division 1 becoming the National Society of Operative Printers, Graphical and Media Personnel (but retaining the Natsopa acronym). In 1975, SOGAT officially became the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades 1975 (SOGAT '75) after amalgamation with the Scottish Graphical Association. In 1982, SOGAT '75 and Natsopa finally amalgamated to become the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades 1982 (SOGAT '82). In 1992, SOGAT '82 merged with the National Graphical Association to form the Graphical, Paper and Media Union, which subsequently merged with Amicus in 2005 to become that union's Graphical, Paper and Media industrial sector.
Eton Manor Boys' Club was founded in 1909 and its magnificent clubhouse in Riseholme Street, Hackney Wick was opened in 1913, on the site of the Manor Dairy Farm. The Club was funded and run by four Old Etonians (Arthur Villiers, Gerald Wellesley, Alfred Wagg and Sir Edward Cadogan) until it closed in 1967.
The clubhouse, together with its nearby sports ground (The Wilderness), provided first-class sports and social facilities for boys aged 14-18, and who subsequently became members of the Old Boys' Club. Eton Manor Boys' Club boasts many former members who became international sportsmen, including European Welterweight Boxing Champion Nicky Gargano and Olympic gold medallist Harry Mallin. The boys received coaching from many leading sportsmen over the years, including Sir Alf Ramsey and England cricket captain Douglas Jardine.
The running track used at Wembley for the 1948 Olympics was purchased by Arthur Villiers and re-laid at the Eton Manor sports ground for the boys to use. A neat historical coincidence is that the former Eton Manor Boys' Club site will form part of the 2012 Olympic site.
Membership of the Boys' Club was a key formative experience for its members, who benefited not only from the sports training, but also from meeting prominent visitors brought to the Club by the four philanthropists who founded it - including military leaders, statesmen, city bankers and aristocrats.
Papers relating to the Fathers 4 Justice campaign.
William J Fishman is a historian and author of several books on topics ranging from revolutionary advocacy in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the history of the East End of London. The son of an immigrant tailor, he spent his formative years in the East End of London. At 15, he was an eyewitness to the Battle of Cable Street. He was educated at the Central Foundation Grammar School for Boys, Wandsworth Teachers Training College and the London School of Economics. He served in the British Army in the Second World War, completing his service in the Far East. After the war, he worked as a teacher and was appointed principal of Tower Hamlets College of Further Education. In 1965 he was elected to a studentship at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1967 he was Visiting Professor of History at Columbia University, New York.
He was visiting professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from 1969-1970 and was awarded an Acton Society Fellowship. In 1972 he was appointed Barnet Shine Senior Research Fellow in Labour Studies with special reference to Jews at Queen Mary, University of London. He was made an honorary fellow of Queen Mary in 1999. He is currently Visiting Professor to the Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary.
Papers of Freedom Press, an anarchist periodical started in 1886 by a group of friends around Peter Kropotkin after their separation from the English Anarchist Circle and The Anarchist edited by Henry Seymour; in addition to Freedom, the group eventually set up the Freedom Press, the main publisher of anarchist literature in England; first editors of Freedom were Charlotte M. Wilson 1886-1895, Alfred Marsh 1895-1912 and Thomas H. Keell 1912-1932; among the contributors to the periodical were George Bernard Shaw, Max Nettlau and Kropotkin; a rival Freedom was published by opponents of Th. Keell, including John Turner and Oscar Swede 1930-1936; ceased publication in favour of Spain and the World 1936-1938, edited by Vernon Richards, and changed its name to Revolt in 1939; this was continued as War Commentary, renamed Freedom in 1945, the publication of which continues still today.
Jim Fyrth (1918-2010) taught for many years at Birkbeck College, University of London, in its Department for Extra Mural Studies. During the Second World War he served in the Army, when he was jailed for six months after being caught reading "banned literature", namely Communist Party pamphlets and the Daily Worker. For a good part of the war, he was stationed in India. This resulted, years later, in a wartime autobiography, An Indian Landscape, which was published by the Socialist History Society. This contains his account of the meeting with Gandhi, which made a great impression on him. In the post-war period, he was active in the Communist Party in West London and in Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. For a period, his role as a teacher and historian was directed towards courses for trades unionists. He was involved in the Communist Party Historians' Group and, in more recent years, the Socialist History Society. Fryth's book The Signal Was Spain: The Spanish Aid Movement in Britain, 1936-39, was published in 1986.
Founded in 1979 in the aftermath of the Gay News blasphemy trial, GALHA is the only autonomous national organisation worldwide for gay and lesbian Humanists. It has members in many parts of the UK and in other countries. GALHA is affiliated to the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the International Lesbian and Gay Association. GALHA is also affiliated to Amnesty International, whose UK section has its own active Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network.
GALHA provides a fellowship and voice for the many non-religious in the lesbian and gay community. It aims to promote an awareness and understanding of the Humanist outlook in that community, as well as bringing gay and lesbian rights to the attention of its kindred Humanist organisations.
GALHA plays a part in the campaign to combat prejudice and discrimination against lesbians and gay men and to achieve their complete legal equality with heterosexuals. It also takes up issues of concern to Humanists. It lobbies MPs, the media and others. It makes submissions to government committees and responds to government consultative documents concerning lesbian/gay and Humanist rights. It takes part in demonstrations and rallies concerning these rights.
GALHA is an integral part of the British Humanist movement and has close links with other organisations in it. These include the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society, which have each consistently backed homosexual law reform and supported making the age of sexual consent for gay men equal to that for heterosexuals. GALHA is represented on the Humanist Forum (a liaison committee) and it co-sponsors Humanist functions.