Ellen Wilkinson

Ellen Wilkinson (1891-1947), British Labour politician and crusader for the unemployed during the Depression, was part of the World War II coalition government and Labour minister of education from 1945 to 1947. She was a lifelong socialist, feminist, and politician.

Born in 1891 in working-class Manchester, England, Ellen Wilkinson's devout Methodist father was a cotton operative, but became an insurance clerk while Ellen was growing up. As a teenager she supported women's suffrage, participated in socialist activities, and joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP). A successful scholarship student, Wilkinson first planned to be an elementary school teacher, but in 1909 she won a national scholarship to attend university.

A history student at Manchester University, Wilkinson joined the University Debating Society and the Fabian Society. After graduating in 1913 Wilkinson was an organizer for the nonmilitant National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. In 1915 she became the national woman organizer to the Amalgamated Union of Cooperative Employees, a union with a large female membership, particularly in wartime. A 1921 merger made the union part of the National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers (NUDAW).

During the 1910s and early 1920s Wilkinson was exposed to various radical groups such as the Guild Socialists, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the emergent Communist Party, which she belonged to between 1920 and 1924. She also kept up her membership in the Fabian Society, the ILP, and the Labour Party.

Elected to the Manchester City Council in 1923, she moved on quickly: in 1924 she entered Parliament, representing Middlesbrough East, Yorkshire. Only 33 years old, Wilkinson was one of four female members of Parliament (MP). In Parliament Wilkinson fought to extend the 1918 act giving women over 30 the vote to include women above the age of 21 (finally passed in 1928) and for other measures to grant women equality and protection; she supported MPs who were critical of the short-lived Labour government of 1924; and in 1926 she supported the general strike and subsequent miners' strike.

She was a critic of Ramsay Macdonald's second Labour administration, elected in 1929. With other radical Labourites and even many moderates, Wilkinson urged the government to take more resolute action against unemployment, which was reaching peak levels with the Depression. Her parliamentary experience was enhanced by working as secretary to Susan Lawrence, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health.

Macdonald dissolved the Labour government in 1931, and with that year's Labour defeat, Wilkinson lost her seat. Between 1931 and 1935 she worked for NUDAW, lectured, and wrote. Already a published author - she had written a thinly veiled autobiographical novel, Clash (1929), and a thriller, The Division Bell Mystery (1932) - Wilkinson also contributed to newspapers and magazines. In 1934 she coauthored, with Edward Conze, a work entitled Why Fascism tracing the rise of fascism in Europe.

Returning to Parliament in 1935 as representative for Jarrow, a Tyneside shipbuilding town devastated by the Depression, Wilkinson achieved national fame for leading the 1936 Jarrow Crusade, one of the most publicized Depression hunger marches. Becoming more influential in the left wing of the Labour Party, she also began a slow drift to the right. For instance, she agreed to separate the Jarrow march from other marches organized with the help of Communists. Yet the Jarrow march made a strong statement, which was reinforced by Wilkinson's The Town That Was Murdered, a history of Jarrow's economic exploitation published by the Left Book Club in 1939.

In the mid-and late 1930s Wilkinson joined other left wing Labourites in groups such as the Socialist League and the journal Tribune to support the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and to fight against fascism. In Parliament she initiated important consumer legislation for a more equitable system of installment purchasing.

By the late 1930s Wilkinson was on the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour Party. Her personal relationship with Herbert Morrison, a more conservative and influential Labourite, involved Wilkinson in internal party struggles. She played a balancing act between trying to push the party leftward and staying in its good graces. For instance, in 1939, when Stafford Cripps was expelled from the Labour Party by the NEC for urging unity between Labour, socialists, and Communists in order to fight fascism, Wilkinson voted against the expulsion, but did not oppose it once it was passed; thereafter she did not appear on platforms urging such a unity.

In Winston Churchill's wartime coalition government Wilkinson was briefly parliamentary secretary to the ministry of pensions and then a parliamentary secretary for Herbert Morrison, the wartime home secretary and minister of home security; Wilkinson was in charge of air raid shelters. Energetic at this job, she constantly visited sites, urged the conscription of women for home defense, and generally strengthened Britain's civil defense.

By 1945 Wilkinson was a key Labour leader. As chair of that year's annual party conference she called for the development of socialist policies. After Labour's landslide victory Wilkinson became minister of education, only the second woman to achieve Cabinet rank in Britain. (The first was Margaret Bondfield, 1929.)

The Labour government had to implement the 1944 Education Act, which called for raising the school leaving age to 15 and providing access to secondary education for all. Labour's left urged the development of "comprehensive" schools which would enroll all classes of students, as an alternative to middle-class academic "grammar" schools and technical and "secondary modern" schools meant for working-class youth.

Wilkinson's record as minister of education is disputed. Plagued by ill-health for years, she served less than two years before she died. Committed to raising the school leaving age (accomplished in 1947) and to recruiting more teachers, she did not get far in developing comprehensive schools. Whether this was due to her lack of experience in education, her inability to motivate career civil servants, or a belief that reforming the existing system - which, after all, had served her well enough - would be sufficient is hard to say. What is clear is that just as the Labour government was building the welfare state, a crucial issue in education was not attended to.

During this post-war period Wilkinson was also active in the founding of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Wilkinson's legacy lies in the pattern of her political development. She was a feminist; a pioneer politician who never forgot her working-class origins; a fighter against poverty, unemployment, and fascism; a person who never abandoned her socialism yet found that, once in power, she had to compromise some of her more radical beliefs.

Further Reading

A useful biography of Wilkinson is Betty D. Vernon's Ellen Wilkinson 1891-1947 (1982). For women in Parliament see Elizabeth Vallance, Women in the House: A Study of Women Members of Parliament (1979). An important general work on the period is Ralph Miliband, Parliamentary Socialism (1972).

Additional Sources

Vernon, Betty, Ellen Wilkinson, 1891-1947, London: Croom Helm, 1982.

Wilkinson, Ellen (1891-1947). One of Britain's best known and most successful female politicians. After completing a history degree at Manchester University, she became an organizer for the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and then, in 1915, for the National Women's Organization of the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees. She became Labour MP for Middlesbrough (1924-31) and for Jarrow from 1935. It was in the 1930s that ‘Red Ellen’ made her reputation as a crusader for the unemployed with extensive involvement in the Unity campaign, the famous Jarrow march, and in the campaign against fascism in Germany and Spain. As minister for education 1945-7 she achieved much: the implementation of the 1944 Education Act, the raising of the school-leaving age to 15, despite Treasury opposition, the building of new schools, and the introduction of ‘school milk’.

The Right Honourable  Ellen Wilkinson
Minister of Education
In office 1945 – 1947
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Richard Law
Succeeded by	George Tomlinson
Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough East
In office 30 May 1929 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Penry Williams
Succeeded by	Earnest James Young
Member of Parliament for Jarrow
In office 14 November 1935 – 1947
Preceded by	William George Pearson
Succeeded by	Ernest Fernyhough
Born	8 October 1891(1891-10-08) Ardwick, Manchester, UK
Died	6 February 1947 (aged 55) St Mary's Hospital, London
Political party	Labour

Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first female MPs in Britain.

Contents 1 History 2 Political career 2.1 Middlesbrough East 2.2 Jarrow 2.3 Parliamentary Secretary 2.4 Minister for Education 3 Personal life 4 Death 5 Legacy 6 Fictional role 7 Books by Ellen Wilkinson 8 References 9 External links

History

Wilkinson was born in Ardwick, Manchester, the daughter of Richard Wilkinson and Ellen Wood, both Methodists. Richard Wilkinson was employed as a Manchester textile worker then became an insurance clerk. Ellen won several scholarships and was thus able to progress her education, mainly at the Ardwick School. In 1910 she became a student at the University of Manchester, where she studied history. She was a very small woman, under five feet in height,^[1] with a shock of red hair, pale skin and arresting blue eyes.

Political career

Wilkinson developed an interest in socialism after reading Merrie England by Robert Blatchford. At the age of sixteen she joined the Independent Labour Party after hearing a speech made by Kathleen Glasier.

At University she became active in various organisations including the University Socialist Federation, the Fabian Society and the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, for which she became an organiser in 1913.

In 1915 she was employed by the National Union of Distributive & Allied Workers to organise the Co-operative Employees, the first woman organiser of that trade union.

She was a founder member of the Communist Party in 1920 and in 1921 attended the founding conference of the Red International of Labour Unions in Moscow but left the CP in early 1924. She was also active in local politics and in 1923 was elected to Manchester City Council.

Middlesbrough East

In the 1924 General Election, Wilkinson was elected to represent the depressed north-eastern iron- and steel-making constituency of Middlesbrough East. In the House of Commons she was given the nickname of 'Red Ellen' both for her hair colour and her left-wing politics. A 'class warrior',^[2] she had a reputation for being tough and charismatic. She hung a portrait of Lenin over her bed, saying, 'I look at it and get cracking.'^[1]

Wilkinson was active in the 1926 General Strike. Following the 1929 General Election, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald appointed Wilkinson as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health. Wilkinson opposed the National Government formed by MacDonald and lost her seat in the 1931 General Election, along with many of her Labour colleagues. She then devoted herself to writing - including a novel, The Division Bell Mystery - and campaigning.

Jarrow

In the 1935 General Election, Wilkinson re-entered Parliament as MP for Jarrow, 'the town that was murdered',^[2] having one of the worst unemployment records in Britain with nearly 80% of the insured population out of work. In 1936, 'in the grandest tradition of British dissent'.^[2] she organised the historic Jarrow March of 200 unemployed workers from Jarrow to London where she presented a petition for jobs to Parliament.

Wilkinson was associated with the left of the Parliamentary Labour Party, helping to found Tribune magazine and supporting the International Brigades fighting fascism in the Spanish Civil War. She travelled to Spain with Clement Attlee where they documented the German bombing of Valencia and Madrid.

In 1938 Wilkinson succeeded in making her 1938 Hire Purchase Act law. The act protected those who bought high-cost goods on credit, requiring shopkeepers to display on the goods the actual cash price plus the sum added for interest, and protecting hirers who had paid at least one third of the price, who might otherwise lose their payments if the goods were seized due to arrears.

Parliamentary Secretary

In Churchill's wartime coalition government, Wilkinson was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Pensions. Later she joined Herbert Morrison at the Home Office. She was responsible for air raid shelters and was instrumental in the introduction of Morrison Shelters in 1941.

Minister for Education

Following Labour's victory at the 1945 General Election, Wilkinson urged Morrison to call for a meeting of the newly enlarged parliamentary party to elect a new leader, opening the way for him to become Prime Minister instead of Clement Attlee.^[3] However, the leadership bid was scuppered by Ernest Bevin, who advised Attlee to pre-empt the challenge: 'You get down to the Palace quick, Clem.'^[3]

On being confirmed as Prime Minister, Attlee appointed Wilkinson as Minister of Education, the first woman to hold the post in Britain, and only the second woman ever to have held a position in the cabinet in British history, after Margaret Bondfield.

As minister, Wilkinson oversaw the implementation of the 1944 Education Act. Admirers say she began to impose herself in cabinet and won some notable victories,^[2] leading Morrison to complain, 'sometimes she is a bit of a nuisance to us',^[4] although critics contend that she missed a unique opportunity for a radical egalitarian reform of the education system.^[1] Even her plan to increase the school-leaving age to sixteen was abandoned when the government decided that the measure would be too expensive. However, she did persuade Parliament to pass the 1946 School Milk Act that gave free milk to all British schoolchildren.

Personal life

Wilkinson was linked romantically in turn to Labour MPs John Jagger and Herbert Morrison, who was estranged from his wife.^[1] It is unlikely that either she or Morrison would have received cabinet appointments had their long affair become public knowledge.^[5] Neither of Wilkinson's relationships led to marriage, leaving her disappointed in her emotional life.^[1]

Death

Wilkinson was exhausted by overwork and became depressed, allegedly because of her failure to see through all the reforms she had hoped for, as well as disappointment in her private life. She took an overdose of barbiturates and died at St Mary's Hospital, London on 6 February 1947 aged 55.

The official cause of death was recorded as being a heart attack brought on by an accidental overdose of barbiturates, though this account was privately disputed by Labour insider J. F. Horrabin, who spread a rumour that Wilkinson had committed suicide over Morrison.^[6]

Morrison was anxious to keep his affair with Wilkinson quiet and did not attend her funeral.^[5]

Signage for the Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls in Acton, London - one of several named in honour of the MP and her activities. (September 2006)

Legacy

The Times nostalgically describes Wilkinson as 'a passionate, intelligent old-school socialist' ^[7] She is remembered as 'one of the leaders of the Jarrow March and among the best known pioneer women MPs'.^[8] On her death the Times Educational Supplement said: 'Ellen Wilkinson illustrated not unfairly in her political career, which was her life, the broad evolution of Labour views and attitudes over the past quarter century.'^[1]

According to The Independent: 'She was not the only significant Labour woman MP at that time – Edith Summerskill, the scourge of the boxing fraternity, Bessie Braddock, that larger-than-life Liverpudlian, such compassionate personalities as Peggy Herbison and Alice Bacon – but no one else quite spelt out the grievances of her people with Red Ellen's power and charisma.'^[2] Her feminism and concern for social justice inspired others to similar political activity.

Two schools in England still bear her name but the Ellen Wilkinson High School in Ardwick, Manchester was merged with Spurley Hey to form Cedar Mount in 2000. A Humanities building at the University of Manchester has been re-named in her honour. A block of flats in Bethnal Green, East London is named Ellen Wilkinson House, built in 1949.

Ellen Wilkinson Primary School, London

Fictional role

H.G. Wells in "The Shape of Things to Come", published in 1934, predicted a Second World War in which Britain would not participate but would vainly try to effect a peaceful compromise. In this vision, Ellen Wilkinson was mentioned as one of several prominent Britons delivering "brillant pacific speeches" which "echo throughout Europe" but fail to end the war [1](the other would-be peacemakers, in Wells' vision, included Duff Cooper, Hore Belisha and Randolph Churchill)

Books by Ellen Wilkinson

• The Workers History of the Great Strike (1927), with Frank Horrabin and Raymond Postgate
• Clash (1929), a thinly veiled personal history in novel form of her activities in the 1926 General Strike.
• Peeps at Politicians (1931)
• The Terror in Germany (1933)
• The Division Bell Mystery (1932), a novel. It was reprinted in 1976 by Garland in the USA in their series Fifty Classics of Crime Fiction. Ellen Wilkinson's thriller is considered good enough to be included in a list with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and Raymond Chandler.
• Why War? (1934) - with Edward Conze
• Why Fascism? (1934) - with Edward Conze
• The Town That Was Murdered (1939), account of the Jarrow March

References

• Brian Harrison, ‘Wilkinson, Ellen Cicely (1891–1947)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 15 Feb 2008
• Betty D. Vernon, Ellen Wilkinson, 1891-1947 (London: Croom Helm, 1982).

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Rex Winsbury: 'Books: Woman pioneer - Ellen Wilkinson by Betty D. Vernon', Financial Times (13 March 1982), p. 19.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} 'Politics - Jennie and the awkward squad', The Independent (London, 8 November 1997)
3. ^ ^{a b} Alan Watkins, 'You can't blame him for being a bit touchy', Independent On Sunday (4 July 2004), p. 25.
4. ^ '100 North East Heroes - Ellen Wilkinson', The Sunday Sun (29 October 2006), p. 21.
5. ^ ^{a b} Francis Beckett, 'Secrets and lies', New Statesman, (16 January 2006), p. 12.
6. ^ Chris Wrigley, A.J.P. Taylor: Radical Historian of Europe (2006), p. 116.
7. ^ 'Six working-class heroes', The Times (5 May 2007), p. 4.
8. ^ Mike Amos, 'John North: The first ladies', Northern Echo (7 June 2004).

External links

• Ellen Wilkinson Archive Marxists Internet Archive

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Penry Williams	Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough East 1929–1931	Succeeded by Ernest James Young
Preceded by William George Pearson	Member of Parliament for Jarrow 1935–1947	Succeeded by Ernest Fernyhough
Political offices
Preceded by George Ridley	Chair of the Labour Party 1944–1945	Succeeded by Harold Laski
Preceded by Richard Law	Minister of Education 1945–1947	Succeeded by George Tomlinson

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)