WESTFIELD WAR MEMORIAL VILLAGE: DISABILITY, PATERNALISM AND PHILANTHROPY, 1915-2015 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Martin Purdy BA, MA (UCLAN) University of Lancaster, June, 2017 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my two supervisors, Dr Corinna Peniston-Bird (Senior Lecturer, History Department, University of Lancaster) and Mrs Mandy Stretch (Secretary, Westfield War Memorial Village) for their great patience, unstinting support and enthusiasm and general wisdom. The trustees, residents and relatives and friends of residents of the Westfield War Memorial Village (past and present) have played a key role in this project, and while there are too many to mention in person I thank them all for their time, responsiveness and encouragement. I am similarly indebted to the staff at numerous archives, including those at the Lancashire County Archive in Preston, Cumbria County Record Office in Kendal, Lancaster Local Studies Library, Museum of the King’s Own Regiment in Lancaster, Lancaster and Morecambe Family History Society, Lancaster Guardian, Imperial War Museum and National Archives in London. I am also grateful to Rachel Hasted, of English Heritage, for providing excellent information about other settlements for disabled war veterans erected around the country in the twentieth century. Finally, I would like to thank the History Department of the University of Lancaster and the Arts and Humanities Research Council for agreeing to sponsor this project as part of the Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) programme – an initiative that not only provided an opportunity to work with a unique charity and group of individuals at the Westfield War Memorial Village in Lancaster, but also the provision of a small but vital degree of financial security throughout the course of my research. For such an opportunity I am truly grateful. Abstract Despite a growing amount of study into war-related disability, little research has been undertaken into the role played by the paternalistic philanthropists and volunteers who did so much to support the individuals directly affected. This thesis endeavours to go some way towards redressing the balance by using a bespoke community built for disabled veterans and their families after the First World War, The Westfield War Memorial Village in Lancaster, as a case study. Drawing largely on material held in Westfield’s privately held archive, as well as extensive contemporary interviews with tenants and trustees (past and present), their spouses, offspring, friends and relatives, the work explores the validity of the prevailing approach of many modern historians towards paternalistic processes: one that seeks to interlink it with adverse associations of social control, political manipulation and middle class do-goodism. In order to facilitate a more balanced and in-depth perspective, this thesis has embraced an ambitious timeline that has allowed for full consideration of the way different paternalistic themes have evolved over time at Westfield and ultimately contributed to the settlement’s longevity. Content Introduction………………………………………..pp.1-13 Chapter One: Need………………………………pp.14-49 Chapter Two: Motivation…………………….pp.50-90 Chapter Three: Implementation………….pp.91-123 Chapter Four: Memorialisation…………..pp.124-158 Chapter Five: Control………………………….pp.159-195 Chapter Six: Identity…………………………..pp.196-225 Conclusion………………………………………….pp.226-237 Bibliography……………………………………….pp.238-257 Appendices………………………………….…….pp.258-265 Appendices (i) An early drawing of the Westfield settlement from an early Westfield promotional booklet. It shows the village’s proximity to the Castle Railway Station, Lancaster Castle itself and the neighbouring town centre. (The War Memorial Village Lancaster, self- published promotional booklet 1919, p.6; copy held in Westfield Archive) (ii) A photographic view of Westfield’s main driveway that was featured in a promotional booklet for new Second World War housing. (The War Memorial Village Lancaster, self- published promotional booklet (1943), p.6; copy held in Westfield Archive) (iii) Image of a model Garden City settlement among T.H. Mawson & Sons Westfield collection that shows his inspiration for the community. (Architectural Files of Thomas H. Mawson & Sons of Lancaster: WDB86/A99/1-4; courtesy of Cumbria County Record Office, Kendal) (iv) A sketch by T.H. Mawson & Sons of the Arts and Crafts inspired housing planned for Westfield. This image was included in the first Westfield promotional booklet. (The War Memorial Village Lancaster, self-published promotional booklet (1919), p.12; copy held in Westfield Archive) (v) Photographs of the village founders Thomas H. Mawson and Herbert Lushington Storey. (Uncredited photographs held in the digital ‘historic photos’ file at Westfield Archive) (vi) Herbert Billington, who had lost an arm and a leg to a German shell, lived in the front parlour of a two-storey house as there were not enough bungalows. (Photo courtesy of the Billington family; copy held in the digital ‘historic photos’ file at Westfield Archive) (vii) The image of a limbless veteran by Raemaker which was used on most of the early Westfield advertising material. (The War Memorial Village Lancaster, self-published promotional booklet (1919), p.1; copy held in Westfield Archive) (viii) A contemporary picture of the figurative memorial commissioned and funded by Herbert Lushington Storey in the 1920s. (Uncredited photograph; copy held in the digital ‘historic photos’ file at Westfield Archive) Introduction On April 24, 1915, James Radcliffe Mawson, the youngest son of the acclaimed Lancashire landscape architect and designer Thomas H. Mawson, died of wounds while serving on the Western Front during the First World War. His death, and the contents of a final missive in which he had urged his family to do all they could for the wounded, inspired his father to make a concerted effort to create a co-ordinated nationwide movement of bespoke settlements for disabled ex-servicemen. ‘His last letter home now became a command,’ wrote the bereaved parent.1 The scheme that resulted, spearheaded by a book entitled An Imperial Obligation: Industrial Villages for Partially Disabled Soldiers and Sailors,2 gained vocal support from senior members of the British establishment, as well as financial and practical backing from a network of well-known and highly elite philanthropists, but the project floundered when faced with the State’s reluctance to fund it. In the end, only one of Mawson’s villages was constructed – the Westfield War Memorial Village in Lancaster, Lancashire.3 This settlement, which now consists of more than 100 properties, is situated on the edge of Lancaster city centre and is a short walk from the main train station and bustling commercial hub. However, few members of the wider public are aware of its existence and it maintains something of a private air with an imposing gated entrance and long tree-lined driveway. Within are neatly trimmed gardens and properties designed with clear reference to a somewhat bygone aesthetic tied to the Garden City and Arts and Crafts’ movements.4 Westfield has a number of unique stories to tell and, as we approach its centenary, many are tied to its longevity. Mawson’s vision had not been a singular one, with a number of communities for disabled veterans established as a result of the First World War, of which 1 T.H. Mawson, The Life And Work Of An English Landscape Architect: An Autobiography (London, 1927), p.247 2 T.H. Mawson, An Imperial Obligation: Industrial Settlements for Partially Disables Soldiers (London, 1917) 3 A second settlement linked to Mawson’s national committee was created at Preston Hall in Kent, but it appears that Mawson had very little to do with this particular project 4 See: Appendix i, Appendix ii, Appendix iii, Appendix iv 1 most were funded by wealthy philanthropists. More were constructed after the Second World War and some even modelled on Westfield. However, few of these settlements now survive, and even less in a form that is representative of the reason for their original construction. It is a situation that gives Westfield a very particular form of historic value, in addition to the practical lessons it can provide for contemporary charitable undertakings. It is estimated that around 1.7 million British men returned from military service in the First World War with some form of disability, ranging from loss of movement in a single digit to full amputations, blindness and paralysis.5 Catering for their needs was to place unprecedented pressure on the British government and, perhaps even more so, on the philanthropists and volunteers who had traditionally taken responsibility for the welfare of such vulnerable members of society.6 Despite the scale of the task in hand, and the kind of personal commitments involved, just who these people were, their motivations, the repercussions of their actions, as well as the tensions inherent in their involvement, have largely been ignored. While the historiography in relation to the experiences of disabled veterans of war has grown in quality and quantity in recent years, it has rarely focused on those who did so much to support them. Indeed, much of the material has tended to explore either the psychological, sociological and medical themes associated with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the injured,7 or the legislative and political changes that affected them.8 Only Deborah Cohen has investigated the complexities, nuances and controversies of 5 By June 1921 it was estimated by the International Labour Office that 1.7 million former British servicemen had suffered some form of disability as a result of the recent war. ‘Studies and Reports: The Compulsory Employment of Disabled Men’, Series E, no.2, International Labour Office (Geneva, 1921), p.2 6 For an overview of the philanthropic tradition prior to the First World War see, for example: D. Owen, English Philanthropy 1660-1960 (Oxford, 1965); F. Prochaska, The Voluntary Impulse: Philanthropy in Modern Britain (London, 1988); P. Grant, ‘Voluntarism and the Impact of the First World War’ in M.