THE DEVELOPMENT OF NURSERY SCHOOLS AND CHILD WELFARE POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN BRADFORD FROM THE 1890s TO THE 1950s WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE WORK OF MIRIAM LORD RUTH MURRAY S SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION JUNE 1993 The candidate contrrms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others ABSTRACT This thesis analyses the life and work of Miriam Lord in Bradford, West Yorkshire between 1885 and the 1950s. The main investigative research for the thesis was carried out at the Bradford Archives where the voluminous collection of private papers, documents and other records which she bequeathed to the Margaret McMillan Memorial College on her death in 1968 are now domiciled and which have been ordered and collated by the archivist there. Throughout her working life Miriam Lord campaigned for nursery education: from her position as a nursery school Superintendent, through her involvement with the N ursery School Association and the Bradford branch of the Froebel Society, and not least, via the publication of written articles and the delivery of numerous public lectures. She also gained an international reputation by both working and travelling abroad, and by receiving many visiting foreign education experts at her Bradford nursery school. Principally due to parental influence Miriam Lord was a disciple of Margaret McMillan from an early age. She utilised much of Margaret McMillan's methodology in her nursery school work and imitated many of her innovations in child care. Like Margaret McMillan she was a socialist, but not a paid-up party member. She did, \ ,.•.. :.. ~~ :' >: . , : :'.-; however, have close connections witft the Independent Labour Party, a legacy handed , down by her father, Hird Lord. She also inherited from him the stamina and determination to work tffelessly for the poor and deprived of Bradford's slums, advocating the expansion of nursery education and introducing the concept of community centres as an antidote to the social and physical deprivation caused by those slums. Her final project was the establishment in Bradford of a college for the training of nursery school teachers - this was dedicated to the memory of her mentor, Margaret McMillan. Proceeding on a chronological basis and examining the background to these many activities, this thesis analyses the interaction between Miriam Lord and the developments, both in Bradford and at a national level, ·in the fields of nursery education and child welfare during the latter years of the nineteenth century and during the first half of the twentieth century. CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: Her Formative Years - Birth to 1906 5 CHAPTER TWO: Early Professional Development 1901-1914 22 CHAPTER THREE: Further Development and Training 1914-1921 48 CHAPTER FOUR: Early Years at Lilycroft 1921-1925 78 CHAPTER FIVE: International Recognition 101 CHAPTER SIX: Return to Lilycroft 115 CHAPTER SEVEN: The Fall from Grace 147 CHAPTER EIGHT: The Immediate Aftermath 164 CHAPTER NINE: Humiliation 185 CHAPTER TEN: The 1930s - A Change of Direction 202 CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Bradford Community Centre 220 CHAPTER TWELVE: The War Years 239 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Margaret McMillan Memorial College 258 CONCLUSION 282 BIBLIOGRAPHY 301 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to express my thanks to the following people:- Dr Paul Sharp and Mrs Angela Anning for their supervision and helpful guidance throughout the period during which this study was undertaken. The staff of the Brotherton and Parkinson Libraries at the University of Leeds. Miss E Wilmott and the staff of the Bradford Reference Library. Mr Ian Mason and the staff of the Bradford Archives. Mrs June Wood, Secretary, Lilycroft First School, Bradford. The staff of the Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. Mrs Jane Read, Archivist, Froebel Institute College, London. Mr Graham Williamson, Lecturer, Bradford and Illdey Community College, Bradford. Mrs Jacky Atkinson, Librarian, Margaret McMillan Library, Bradford and Ilkley Community College, Bradford. Miss Christine Royle, General Inspector, Department of Education, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside. Mrs Christine Backhouse for typing this thesis. Finally, I want to thank Sue Bailey for all the help and support, especially on the I word processor, that sh6 gave me during this study. 1 INTRODUCTION This study is concerned with the development of nursery schools and child welfare policies and practices in Bradford from the late nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century, focusing on the work of Miriam Lord in particular. Therefore, central to the study is Miriam Lord herself. Consequently, it will frrstly be necessary to analyse the formation of her character from her earliest years, and to consider the extent and nature of her professional training prior to her appointment as the first Superintendent of a purpose­ built nursery school in 1921. In this section of the thesis, which will have a chronological structure, those people who played a dominant role in her early life will be identified and their importance assessed. They will commence with her father, Hird Lord, who as well as being a successful businessman was a founding member of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893, and will go on to include Margaret McMillan, whose work in Deptford was pivotal in the development of nursery education in this country and who was a colleague of Hird Lord in the early days of the Independent Labour Party. Later, among the influences on Miriam during this period, the roles of her headmistress at Belle Vue Higher Grade School, Sarah Beszant, and the headmistress under whom she worked for eight years at Whetley Lane Infants' School, Alice Lister, will be examined. Likewise, the scope and content of the training provided by Saffron Walden College between 1906 and 1908 and by Manchester University in 1918/1919 will also come under scrutiny. 2 Having identified and considered the personal contacts and relationships which were crucial in the development of her character, it will then be possible to place Miriam in her social and political context. Indeed, throughout the study, the interaction between her and, in particular, the political framework, both nationally and locally in Bradford, within which she had to operate will be of ongoing interest and importance. The economic, social and political factors at work in Bradford in the late Victorian and the Edwardian period which made the city pre-eminent among other provincial industrial centres in terms of social and educational reform will be highlighted, as will the social welfare changes taking place at national level. Although by the beginning of the twentieth century Victorian reformers had achieved a great deal in terms of improving the condition of the average citizen - every male householder had been enfranchised; elementary education was available for all children; wages had increased even though working hours were. tewe.r and working conditions better; advances had been made in medicine and in public health - much still remained to be done, especially in alleviating poverty caused by ill-health, old age or unemployment. The election of a Liberal government with a large majority in 1906 ushered in a period of social reform leading up to the First Wodd War. Old age pensions and labour exchanges were introduced and insurance schemes covering sickness and unemployment for some workers were provided under the National Insurance Act of 1911. Especially relevant to this thesis was the high priority taken by the welfare of children - legislation was passed to facilitate school meals, school medical inspections 3 and infant welfare clinics. De~'Pite opposition from the Conservative Party which led directly to a reduction in the power of the House of Lords under the terms of the Parliament Act of 1911, a climate was established in which a continuing expansion of public spending on the welfare of the working classes was possible. This then was the backdrop to the time when Miriam Lord, a native of a city which was already renowned for its progressive attitude in matters of public welfare, began her professional training for a teaching career. By the time that she embarked on a second period of training in 1918 the need for ongoing improvement in state-provided social welfare services had been more firmly established. This made possible the provision of nursery education in the 1918 Education Act, albeit on a permissive, discretionary basis. The momentum which led to the provision of a Welfare State after the Second World War had been created, but was consistently hindered by fmancial constraints throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The role which these constraints played in the evolution of social welfare policies during those years and the impact which they had, both on Bradford and on Miriam Lord herself, will be the theme of the major part of this study. It will begin with Miriam Lord's appointment as Superintendent of Lilycroft Open Air Nursery School and will end with the onset of World War Two by which time she had marginalised herself from mainstream education in favour of working in the voluntary sector in the wider field of social welfare. It will explore the issues which brought her into conflict with Bradford Education Committee and which transformed her from a rather naive paragon of virtue, held out 4 as an exemplary practitioner of nursery education to visiting dignitaries, into a pariah at the age of forty eight, worthy only of demotion and a probationary period of three months at a time when she had been teaching for over thirty years. Miriam Lord's own contribution to this outcome will be examined in detail, as will her subsequent reaction and resultant later career.