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Home , Anne Chamberlain, Appeasement

‘Guilty Women,’ Foreign Policy, and in Inter- Britain Also by Julie V. Gottlieb FEMININE Women in Britain’s Fascist Movement, 1923–1945 THE CULTURE OF FASCISM Visions of the Far Right in Britain (edited with Thomas P. Linehan) MAKING REPUTATIONS Power, Persuasion and the Individual in Modern British Politics (edited with Richard Toye) THE AFTERMATH OF SUFFRAGE Women, Gender and Politics in Britain, 1918–1945 (edited with Richard Toye) ‘Guilty Women,’ Foreign Policy, and Appeasement in Inter- War Britain

Julie V. Gottlieb Senior Lecturer in Modern History, University of Sheffield, UK © Julie V. Gottlieb 2015 Corrected Printing 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6– 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identifi ed as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-30430-7 ISBN 978-1-137-31660-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-31660-8 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. Contents

List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgements viii List of Abbreviations xi

Introduction— Guilty Women? Gendering Appeasement 1 1 British Women and the Three Encounters: International, European, and Fascist 13 2 Women’s War on Fascism 38 3 ‘Guilty Women:’ Conspiracy and Collusion 61 4 ‘Guilty Women:’ Powers behind Thrones 82 5 ‘To Speak a Few Words of Comfort to Them:’ Conservative Women’s Support for Chamberlain and Appeasement 101 6 ‘Women Are the Best Friends of Mr Chamberlain’s Policy:’ Gendered Representations of 152 7 ‘Anyway Let’s Have :’ Women’s Expressions of Opinion on Appeasement 185 8 ‘Don’t Believe in Foreigners:’ The Female Franchise Factor and the By- elections 212 9 The Women Churchillians and the Politics of Shame 235

Notes 266 Bibliography 313 Index 329

v List of Illustrations

1 Peace delegates on their way to the International Congress of Women at The Hague in 1915 to campaign for a resolution to the international conflict 131 2 Women MPs elected in 1931 131 3 Targeting the ‘Woman Voter’: 1935 National Conservative General Election poster emphasizing what were presumed to be women’s priorities of peace and security. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Conservative Party Archive: Shelfmark Poster 1935–14 132 4 Feminist pacifist and internationalist Vera Brittain became a leading member of the PPU and was committed to an anti- war position throughout World War II 132 5 ‘Red’ , Labour MP, Popular Front supporter, feminist anti- fascist, whom Richard Baxter regarded as one of the very few women who was not guilty 133 6 Lady Nancy Astor, first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons in 1919, and by 1937 hostess of the so- called 134 7 Cliveden House, seat of the Astor family and centre of the activities of the so- called Cliveden Set 134 8 , “Where Our Foreign Policy Comes From,” Evening Standard, 23 March, 1938 135 9 Virginia Woolf, whose feminist pacifist Three Guineas had been published in June, experienced the Munich Crisis as an emotional cycle, concluding that 30 September, 1938, was “a very fine day” 136 10 , feminist, anti- fascist, and anti- appeasement ‘Glamour Girl’ 136 11 The was described as ‘poisonous as Snow White’s apple,’ referencing the block- buster Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) that was still playing at cinemas during the Munich Crisis 137 12 David Low, “The Dashing Young Man and the Flying Trapeze,” Evening Standard, 2 March, 1938 137 13 Poster- father of Peace: “The Man of To- day” poster with on the steps of an aeroplane prior to his departure for his second meeting with Hitler, 22 September, 1938 138

vi List of Illustrations vii

14 David Low, “,” Evening Standard, 24 September, 1938 139 15 Neville Chamberlain declaring “” upon his return from the Four Powers Conference in Munich 140 16 The Adulation of the Women of Britain: in front of 10 after the signing of the Munich Agreement, 30 September, 1938 141 17 The world’s gratitude: postcard of Neville Chamberlain [September, 1938] 142 18 Public Support for the Munich Agreement: Car procession and cheering crowds in London, 30 September, 1938 142 19 The Roaring Crowd: Neville Chamberlain arriving back at in the evening after seeing the King at , greeted by large crowds 143 20 The Vox Populi on Appeasement: Anne Chamberlain greeted by large crowds on Downing Street before her walk in St. James’s Park after the signing of the Munich Agreement, 30 September, 1938 143 21 Neville Chamberlain helping Anne Chamberlain out of car on his return to Downing Street (Central Press Photos Ltd) 144 22 For the Mothers and the Children: Before leaving for , Neville and Anne Chamberlain talking to a girl outside 10 Downing Street, 1 October, 1938 145 23 Neville and Anne Chamberlain, Lord Halifax, Edouard Daladier and others on an official visit to France, November, 1938 146 24 Ever popular with the French people, Anne Chamberlain presented with flowers on a visit to France in November, 1938 146 25 Mother and child wearing gas masks (1939). Populations were preparing themselves for, as Viscount Halifax put it when he addressed the on 2 October, 1938, a European war in which “men, women and children would have to take part in the dance of death” 147 26 Neville and Anne Chamberlain outside 10 Downing Street buying a flag from Lady Malcolm on Trafalgar Day, 21 October, 1938 148 27 David Low, “Low’s Christmas Dream,” Evening Standard, 24 December, 1938 149 28 David Low, “All Behind You,” Evening Standard, 14 May, 1940 150 29 Poster for Mrs Miniver (1942), the film based on Jan Struther’s columns in 151 Acknowledgements

As befits a book with such a judicial- sounding title, I begin with a small confession. The first thing I read when I open a book are the acknowledg- ments. This must have something to do with the fact that the writing of the dedications is as close as most academic writers will ever get to performing an Oscar acceptance speech. For my part, what draws me to the front piece first is that it offers a potted, albeit ramekin- sized, autobiography of the author, and a bildungsroman of the book. So here it goes, a short account of my ‘guilty women years.’ First, I would like to thank the following for making my journeys through archives and libraries straightforward and rewarding, and for permission to quote from collections: Keelan Carr for permission to quote from, and Jeremy McIlwaine for guiding me through, the Conservative Party Archive; Guy Baxter and Caroline Benson at the Nancy Astor Collection, University of Reading, with special thanks for permission to reproduce images; Susan Worall, Director, Neville Chamberlain Papers, Cadbury Archive Centre, University of Birmingham, for permission to reproduce images, and for the help of the special collections team who were always most courteous and informative; the University of Kent Cartoon archive and Solo Syndication for permission to publish cartoons by David Low; and the staff at the Special Collections, University of Liverpool, for the use of a photo portrait and for access to this rich archive. Extracts from the works of Sir are reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown, London, on behalf of the Estate of Winston S. Churchill. Extracts from the Mass- Observation Archive are reproduced with permission of the Curtis Brown Group Ltd, and on behalf of the Trustees of the Mass- Observation Archive. I am also grateful to librarians and archivists at the Labour History Research Centre, Manchester; the Women’s Library, London; Jacky Hodgson at the Special Collections, and Clare Scott, University of Sheffield Library; the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, and the Manchester Central Library; the British Library; the National Archive, Kew; the Churchill Archive Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge; the Vera Brittain Collection, McMasters University; and the Catherine Marshall Collection, Cumbria Record Office. Further, I thank the Department of History and the University of Sheffield for kindly subsidizing research travel and conference attendance, contributing towards copyright fees, and for providing me with periods of study leave; the British Academy for a small research grant; and the University of Paris- Diderot for inviting me on two separate occasions as a visiting professor— in fact, the last edits were completed in Paris in the springtime, when it unseasonably drizzled. viii Acknowledgements ix

I am fortunate to be surrounded by some wonderful people who have taken a close interest in the book as it has developed. Richard Toye– who, as it happens, brought Baxter’s Guilty Women (1941) to my attention in the first place– has always most generously taken time out from his own hyper- productive writing schedule to read the manuscript in its entirety. I am very grateful to those who have read draft chapters and shared their insights. Adrian Bingham, Clarisse Berthezène, Susan Grayzel, Matthew Hendley, David Hudson, Martin Pugh, June Purvis, and Matthew Stibbe, thank you all for putting me through my paces. The two anonymous readers of the proposal and the manuscript commissioned by Palgrave provided invaluable constructive criticism that has made this, I hope, a better book. In various vibrant research networks, at conferences, seminars, and in more informal opportunities for the exchange of ideas, many others have posed searching questions that have helped me sharpen my arguments, while no one but myself, of course, bears responsibility for any errors herein of fact, form, or judgement. The longer it takes for a monograph to be written, the lengthier such a list of names will inevitably be, and here is mine: Stuart Ball, Peter Clarke, Nigel Copsey, Krista Cowman, Ian Kershaw, Peter Marsh, Helen McCarthy, Susan Pedersen, Paul Readman, Ingrid Sharpe, Dan Stone, Pat Thane, Philippe Vervaecke, Mary Vincent, and Philip Williamson. Then there are those with whom I have been able to share the trials and travails of the writing process, friends and confidants Julia Hillner, Natalie Zacek, Julia and Nick Mansfield, Glyn Redworth, Akos Farkas and Maria Palla, Maiken Umbach, Karen Harvey, Judith Szapor, Florence Binard, Michel Prum, and Peter Gottlieb (it helps to have a brother who is both a writer and a best friend). It is a privilege too to be a member of an intellectually energizing and ambitious Department of History, and I have appreciated my colleagues’ and my students’ interest in my research and their incisive comments. The editorial team at Palgrave, especially Jenny McCall, Clare Mence, Angharad Bishop, and Emily Russell, have been highly efficient and supportive throughout. This book was written during a period in my life where I experienced the greatest joy, the birth of my two amazing children, but also the deepest sad- ness, the passing of my brilliant parents. Writing about crisis, both political and emotional, coincided for me with the process of bereavement, with the added resonance that the turbulent times of which I write are precisely those when my parents were born. Their leave- no- stone- unturned work ethic and the high value they always placed on creative and intellectual striving is their most generous legacy, and I can only hope that this book honours their memory. My late mother inspires me every day, on a very personal level but also in my scholarly choices, and I believe she would have approved of my cultural approach to political history. At an earlier stage of this project my father, a great wordsmith, suggested that I use ‘the appeasettes’ as the book’s title, and although I have not followed this paternal guidance to the letter, x Acknowledgements

I am channelling his voice each time I permit myself some stylistic whimsy or include a pun. And many people have helped alleviate my own guilty feelings that unavoidably arise as part of the struggle to achieve the work/life balance. It really does take a village, and I want to express my gratitude to those ‘super- women’ who have nurtured and cared for our children (and for me), starting with my unfailingly giving and accommodating mother- in- law Janette, my small but tight- knit family in Canada, and Karen, Christina, Fannie, Reka, and Sophie, as well as a circle of treasured friends. The greatest support and most heart- felt encouragement has come, unstintingly, from Julian, and it is with love and affection that I dedicate this book to him, and to Benjamin and Elizabeth. List of Abbreviations

ARP Air Raid Precautions BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BIPO British Institute of Public Opinion BU British Union of Fascists and National Socialists (from 1936) BUF British Union of Fascists CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain CSL Citizens Service League CWA Conservative Women’s Association ERI Equal Rights International FIR Feminist GIR Gender and International Relations IAW International Alliance of Women ICW International Council of Women ILP Independent Labour Party IPC International Peace Campaign IWSA International Women’s Suffrage Alliance LCC London County Council LNU Union LSI Labour and Socialist International M- O Mass- Observation NCW National Council of Women NMDL National Men’s Defence League NUSEC National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship NUWSS National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies ODC Open Door Council ODI Open Door International PPU SPG Six Point Group VAD Volunteer Aid Detachment WATS Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service

xi xii List of Abbreviations

WGE Women’s Guild of Empire WI Women’s Institutes WIL Women’s International League (British Section) WILPF Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom WNLF Women’s National Liberal Federation WPC Women’s Peace Crusade WSPU Women’s Social and Political Union WUO Women’s Unionist Organisation WVS Women’s Voluntary Service WWCAWF Women’s World Committee against War and Fascism