Engendering city politics and educational thought: elite women and the London Labour Party, 1914–1965

Abstract

This article uses biographical approaches to recover the contribution of hitherto neglected figures in the history of education and the political history of the Left in London. Place and location are important since it is important to grasp the uniqueness of the London County Council within the framework of English local government and of the London Labour Party within the framework of the Labour Party. In the 1920s and 1930s, under Herbert Morrison’s leadership, the London Labour Party made a deliberate policy of encouraging able women to run for election to the London County Council, particularly those who had received a good education. By the 1950s Labour women were well represented in this public‐sector site and the Education Committee was dubbed “the Shrieking Sisterhood”. By this time, three women had been appointed to the chairmanship of the Education Committee (one Conservative and two Labour) and women formed the majority of its membership, although they later lost ground. When a biographical approach is adopted a more spacious idea of politics emerges to accommodate hitherto neglected figures. This article tells the stories of two Labour women whose participation in English educational policy‐making has been missed: Helen Bentwich (1893–1972) and Eveline Lowe (1869–1956). It is based largely on a new source of manuscript material, personal papers in the Women’s Library at London Metropolitan University and the archive of Homerton College, Cambridge, and is part of a larger project examining the role of Labour women in London government. It contributes to revisionist debates about the place of women in the history of education, by providing new interpretations of urban education evolution that begin to appreciate the significance of women’s political journeys and the impact of their involvement.

Keywords:

• city
• education
• politics
• women

Notes

¹ See J. Martin, “Margaret Cole 1893–1980: Following the Road of Educational and Social Progress,” in Women and Education, 1800–1980, ed. J. Martin and J. Goodman (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004), 141–68.

² B. Vernon, Margaret Cole 1893–1980: A Biography (London: Croom Helm, 1986), 76.

³ “Masculinism is the ideology that justifies and naturalizes male domination. As such, it is the ideology of patriarchy. Masculinism takes it for granted that there is a fundamental difference between men and women, it assumes that heterosexuality is normal, it accepts without question the sexual division of labour, and it sanctions the political and dominant role of men in the public and private spheres,” A. Brittan, Masculinity and Power (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989), 4.

⁴ P. Thane, “Women in the British Labour Party and the Construction of State Welfare, 1906–1939,” in Mothers of a New World: Maternalist Politics and the Origins of Welfare States, ed. S. Koven and S. Michel (London: Routledge, 1993), 343–4.

⁵ The two were Susan Lawrence in 1924 and the Duchess of Atholl between 1924 and 1929. See M. Pugh, Women and the Women’s Movement in Britain 1914–1959 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992), 203; R. Betts, “Parliamentary Women: Women Ministers of Education, 1924–1974,” in Women, Educational Policy‐Making and Administration in England, ed. J. Goodman and S. Harrop (London: Routledge, 2000), 175–92.

⁶ Thane, “Women in the British Labour Party,” 350.

⁷ The two women in between were Eleanor Nathan (1947–1948) and Molly Bolton (1953–1954).

⁸ K. Weiler, “Introduction,” in Feminist Engagements: Reading, Resisting, and Revisioning Male Theorists in Education and Cultural Studies ed. K. Weiler (London: Routledge, 2001), 1.

⁹ J. Martin, Women and the Politics of Schooling in Victorian and Edwardian England (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1999).

¹⁰ E. J. Hobsbawm, ed., Labour’s Turning Point, 1880–1900: Extracts from Contemporary Sources (London: Hassocks, 1974), 13.

¹² K. Young, “Political Party Organisation,” in The New Government of London the first Five Years ed. G. Rhodes (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972), 30.

¹¹ M. Clapson, “Localism, the London Labour Party and the LCC between the Wars,” in Politics and the People of London. The London County Council 1889–1965 ed. A. Saint (London: Hambledon Press, 1989), 128–9.

¹³ Helen Bentwich Papers, “Late Autobiography 1931 Onwards,” Women’s Library (London Metropolitan University) with grateful acknowledgement to Theresa Doherty for her assistance.

¹⁴ G. Clifton, “Members and Officers of the LCC, 1889–1965,” in Saint, Politics and the People of London, 9. This is particularly noteworthy since the Redcliffe–Maud Committee on Local Government in England and Wales reported in 1969 that 12% of council members were women.

¹⁵ Vernon, Margaret Cole, 32.

¹⁶ Economic capital refers to income, wealth, financial inheritances and monetary assets. Cultural capital, defined as high culture, can exist in three forms: embodied cultural capital, objectified cultural capital and institutional cultural capital. The last is the product of investment in formal education. Social capital is the product of sociability, which speaks of investment in culturally, economically or politically useful networks and connections. See, for instance, P. Bourdieu, Practical Reason (Cambridge: Polity, 2001).

¹⁷ B. Skeggs, Formations of Class and Gender (London: Sage, 2002), 8; B. Skeggs, Class, Self, Culture (London: Routledge, 2004), 15–19.

¹⁸ D. Reay, “‘It’s All Becoming a Habitus’: Beyond the Habitual use of Habitus in Educational Research,” British Journal of Sociology of Education 25 (2004), 431–44.

¹⁹ Cited in Reay, “‘It’s All Becoming a Habitus’,” 435.

²⁰ T.H. Simms, Homerton College 1695–1978 (Cambridge: Trustees of Homerton College, 1979), 41; with grateful acknowledgement to Dr Peter Warner for his assistance.

²¹ K. Woodward, Jipping Street (London: Virago, 1983), 109.

²² C. Dyhouse, No Distinction of Sex? Women in British Universities 1870–1939 (London: UCL Press, 1995), 223.

²³ F. Brockway, Bermondsey Story: The Life of Alfred Salter (London: Stephen Humphrey, 1995), 33.

²⁴ H. Bentwich, If I Forget Thee: Some Chapters of Autobiography (London: Paul Elek Books, 1973), 1.

²⁵ C. Bermant, The Cousinhood (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1971); B. Maddox, Rosalind Franklin (London: HarperCollins), 2003.

²⁶ Bentwich, If I Forget Thee, 2.

²⁷ Bentwich, If I Forget Thee, 4.

²⁸ Herbert Samuel (1870–1963) rose to become Postmaster General (1910), Home Secretary (1916) and later the first High Commissioner of Palestine (1920). For more information on Samuel see B. Wasserstein, Herbert Samuel: A Political Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

²⁹ Bentwich, If I Forget Thee, 3.

³⁰ Maddox, Rosalind Franklin, 28.

³¹ Hugh Franklin Papers, Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University.

³³ Helen Bentwich to Caroline Franklin, 29 August 1916, Helen Bentwich Papers.

³² Bentwich, If I Forget Thee, 41.

³⁴ After his release from prison Hugh fled to Europe where he remained until the outbreak of war and the amnesty on women’s suffrage offences in August 1914.

³⁵ H. Rubinstein, “Bentwich [nee Franklin], Helen Caroline” (1892–1972), in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: University Press, 2004).

³⁶ “Late Autobiography 1931 onwards, Chapter 2,” Helen Bentwich Papers.

³⁷ Ibid.

³⁸ Ibid.

³⁹ L. Blaxter and C. Hughes, “Revisiting Feminist Appropriations of Bourdieu: The Case of Social Capital,” (unpublished conference paper prepared for the Fourth International Conference of Gender and Education, University of Sheffield, April 2003).

⁴⁰ The Bermondsey Labour Magazine, the organ of Bermondsey ILP, was launched by Alfred Salter in April 1920 and ran until September 1940; it was revived in November 1946, but ceased publication in August 1951.

⁴¹ Bermondsey Labour Magazine, January 1926, 4.

⁴² Bermondsey Labour Magazine, February 1926, 8.

⁴³ See B. Simon, The Politics of Educational Reform 1920–1940 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1974), 65–108.

⁴⁴ Bermondsey Labour Magazine, December 1930, 9.

⁴⁵ Ibid.

⁴⁶ London County Council Education Committee, Minutes, 30 January 1935, Report of the General Purposes Sub‐Committee, 1–31.

⁴⁷ R.Barker, Education and Politics 1900–1951: A Study of the Labour Party (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 67.

⁴⁸ M. Richardson, “Education and Politics: The London Labour Party and Schooling between the Wars,” in Saint, Politics and the People of London, 147–65; S. Maclure, A History of Education in London 1870–1990 (London: Allen Lane, 1990), 127–39; B. Simon, The Politics of Educational Reform 1920–1940 (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1974), 192–5.

⁴⁹ S. Maclure, A History of Education in London 1870–1990 (London: Allen Lane, 1990), 130.

⁵⁰ “Late Autobiography 1931 onwards, Chapter 2,” Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁵¹ Bermondsey Labour Magazine, March 1936, 8–9.

⁵³ “‘Our’ Mrs Lowe Chairman of the London County Council,” Bermondsey Labour Magazine, April 1939, 9.

⁵² E. Lowe to E. Ritter, n.d., Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁵⁴ Ibid.

⁵⁵ Ibid., 10.

⁵⁶ Ibid., 9.

⁵⁷ “Proud to be Woman ‘Dictator’,” Daily Sketch, December 21, 1938; “When ‘Madam’ Is ‘Sir,’” Daily Sketch, March 15, 1939; “L.C.C. will ‘Sir’ First Woman Chairman,” News Chronicle, March 15, 1939.

⁵⁸ “Mrs Helen Bentwich, Prospective Labour Candidate for Dulwich,” The Vote, August 5, 1932, Press Cuttings, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁵⁹ Harrow Observer, August 23, 1935, Press Cuttings, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶⁰ Editorial, The Streatham News, February 14, 1936, Press Cuttings, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶² “Women in Politics: Mrs Helen Bentwich on Feminism,” Palestine Post, December 22, 1932, Press Cuttings, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶¹ Helen Bentwich to Caroline Franklin, 8 January 1925, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶³ “Late Autobiography 1931 Onwards, Chapter 1,” Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶⁴ Ibid.

⁶⁵ “Women in Politics: Mrs Helen Bentwich on Feminism,” Palestine Post, December 22, 1932, Press Cuttings, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶⁶ “Late Autobiography 1931 Onwards, Chapter 1,” Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁶⁷ Ibid.

⁶⁸ “Classes for Shelters,” Manchester Guardian, August 4, 1941; “Is Education Unpopular? It’s Like Measles Says Speaker,” Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald, January 29, 1943.

⁶⁹ M. Cole, What Is A Comprehensive School? The London School Plan in Practice (London: London Labour Party, n.d.).

⁷⁰ Helen Bentwich Papers, “Late Autobiography 1931 Onwards,” 19 June.

⁷¹ Ibid., 12 June.

⁷² Ibid., 7 May.

⁷³ Ibid., 21 June.

⁷⁴ The Star, 21 March 1939, London County Council Jubilee Section, 8.

⁷⁵ Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey, in Commemoration of the Life of Mrs Eveline Mary Lowe, July 24, 1956.

⁷⁶ M. Cole, Servant of the County (London: Dennis Dobson, 1956), 24, 14, 183.

⁷⁷ Cole, Servant of the County, 18.

⁷⁸ Notebook 1, 1956 Volume 1, 27 June, Helen Bentwich Papers.

⁸⁰ L. Berg, Risinghill: Death of a Comprehensive School (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), 195.

⁷⁹ “1st woman chairman of the LCC, 1939,” Women’s Bulletin, June 8, 1956,