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University of Huddersfield Repository Baldwin, Anne Progress and patterns in the election of women as councillors, 1918 – 1938 Original Citation Baldwin, Anne (2012) Progress and patterns in the election of women as councillors, 1918 – 1938. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/17514/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ Progress and patterns in the election of women as councillors, 1918 – 1938 Anne Baldwin 19 March 2012 Thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements of a PhD, History, awarded by the University of Huddersfield. i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trade marks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the “Intellectual Property Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. Abstract This work has three core aims; to quantify the extent to which women stood as council candidates and were elected between 1918 and 1938; to assess the influences on the backgrounds of women seeking election in that period; and to examine a sample of women elected to determine how far they retained separate spheres reflecting gendered interests or were able to join male colleagues in wider council roles. The findings show patchy progress with far slower growth on county councils than in London and only one or two women councillors present at any one time on some important councils. Council culture and political geography were causes of low representation. Women increasingly needed access to political parties to be candidates, but the presence of a political battleground and the nature of local social leadership were equally important. London women needed to be politically driven from the outset whereas some towns elected women recognised as community leaders rather than politicians. Women councillors had experience of suffrage activism, voluntary work, as Poor Law guardians and of committee co-option. They could remain in office for decades. Women were concentrated on committees of domestic interest, but their activities changed as state intervention increasingly influenced family life. By addressing topics such as birth control, the special interest of women councillors became a very public discussion of a previously private domestic matter. Women also took on public roles as committee chairman or mayors. This blurring between public and private spheres is of relevance to wider discussion about women’s activism as they gained in citizenship. Despite slow progress over 1,400 women contributed as councillors in this period with a very practical style and determined tenacity. This overview of their distribution, origins and activities shows an uneven spread of women councillors with divided political views, but unity in seeking improvement in family life. 1 2 Acknowledgements Compiling this work has involved travel to archives and local history collections throughout England and Wales. The list of local staff who contributed in various ways is therefore far too long to publish. I am grateful to the Royal Historical Society for funding the travel for investigating county councils which necessitated overnight stays. My husband also found his holiday hijacked as we visited a series of towns and cities in the West of England and in Wales. He has patiently lived with my growing band of women and piles of press cuttings for years. The British Library and Newspaper Library have been invaluable, and I was grateful to the Guildhall Library who found a complete set of the Municipal Yearbook when the British Library stock was packaged away for a move. London Metropolitan Archives proved a very welcoming and useful venue. The work would not have happened without the support, encouragement and challenge of my supervisors Keith Laybourn and Paul Ward at the University of Huddersfield and the introduction of a bursary scheme covering fees at that institution. Discovering the Women’s History Network added an essential dimension. Opportunities to share some of the findings through conference papers were invaluable and I am grateful to all those who create those openings. I am also grateful to Patricia Hollis and the little band of women councillors and former councillors who agreed to my suggestion to revive the Women’s Local Government Society back in 2007, starting me off on this path. Several of them are still working to encourage more women councillors in the future. They may learn a little from the past. 3 4 Table of contents Chapter one: Developing a research framework………………………..………9 Aims and objectives………………………….....…...........…………………11 Scoping the research………………..……………………………………….15 Sources and methods……………………………….……………………….19 Structure……………………………………….………………………………28 Chapter two: Women councillors and their place: the wider context ……... 33 Identifying women councillors...................................................................34 The evolution of twentieth century Local Government.............................42 Local Government and political change....................................................60 Women and a changing world...................................................................78 Chapter three: Making women count: quantifying women councillors ...... 103 Women and the politics of London government......................................105 Women and the London County Council.................................................117 County Women........................................................................................121 Women in towns and cities......................................................................134 Comparing council types..........................................................................140 Chapter four: Stalwarts, sisters, social workers: women’s routes to election .......................................................................................................... 145 Stalwarts...................................................................................................147 Conservative ladies of London.................................................................148 London Labour women.............................................................................155 Common themes in London candidates...................................................162 Provincial Labour Pioneers.......................................................................165 Town and gown........................................................................................171 Working together as women.....................................................................174 Women in the North-West.........................................................................180 The South coast........................................................................................190 5 County Boroughs: an overview................................................................193 The county elite........................................................................................194 The London fringe....................................................................................198 Northern county variety............................................................................204 County Council trends..............................................................................210 Elected women in Wales..........................................................................212 Common causes in the election of women..............................................217 Chapter five: Private lives and public policy: revisiting separate spheres .............................................................................................................. 227 Education.................................................................................................233
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