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Drawing on unique research based on the Parliamentary archives, government records and family history sources, Mari Takayanagi and Elizabeth Hallam Smith show how women touched just about every aspect of the life of Parliament, largely unacknowledged - until now. Along the way, we meet an array of impressive and life-affirming women: from the Rickman sisters eavesdropping on Parliamentary debates from the roof space above the Commons in the 1820s; to Jane, the doyenne of Bellamy's, purveyors of tea, chops, steaks, pies and wine to MPs in the 1840s; and to Jean Winder, the first female Hansard reporter, who fought for years after being appointed in 1944 to be paid the same as her male counterparts. As historians and Parliamentary insiders themselves, Takayanagi and Hallam Smith bring these unsung heroes to life, charting along the way the changing context for working women within and beyond the Palace of Westminster.
When suffragette Emily Wilding Davison hid overnight in the Houses of Parliament in 1911 to have her name recorded in the census there, she may not have known that there were sixty-seven other women also resident in Parliament that night: housekeepers, kitchen maids, domestic servants, and wives and daughters living in households. This book is their story. Women have touched just about every aspect of life in Parliament. From 'Jane', dispenser of beer, pies and chops in Bellamy's legendary refreshment rooms; to Eliza Arscot, who went from reigning as Principal Housemaid at the House of Lords to Hanwell Asylum; to May Ashworth, Official Typist to Parliament for thirty years through marriage, ...
The essays in this volume, taken together, span the era of British history from 1780 to the present that has engrossed the attention of Brian Harrison in a career of more than fifty years. In keeping with his diverse interests, they vary widely in subject matter. Yet each contributes, in some fashion, to an appreciation of the complexities of reform in modern Britain. Throughout his career Harrison has demonstrated an unwavering interest in social movements and pressure groups. He has analysed the organisation of reform movements and their bases of support; explored the aspirations and beliefs motivating individuals to start or join such movements; and examined the ideas and ideals shaping t...
History and Legacy of the Suffragette Fellowship provides a biographical account of the scope and depth of the memory work of the now-forgotten commemorative group the Suffragette Fellowship, active from the 1920s to the 1970s. The Suffragette Fellowship comprised members from the militant suffrage groups known as the Women’s Social and Political Union, the Women’s Freedom League, and the Actress Franchise League. This research provides a comprehensive analysis of the Fellowship’s attempts to form and sustain a collective Suffragette identity across four decades of activity. It considers the legacy of contested histories attached to militant campaigning that pressured Fellowship leader...
This book examines the political lives and contributions of Margaret Bondfield, Ellen Wilkinson, Barbara Castle, Judith Hart and Shirley Williams, the only five women to achieve Cabinet rank in a Labour Government from the party’s creation until Blair became Prime Minister. Paula Bartley brings together newly discovered archival material and published work to provide a survey of these women, all of whom managed to make a mark out of all proportion to their numbers. Charting their ideas, characters, and formative influences, Bartley provides an account of their rise to power, analysing their contribution to policy making, and assessing their significance and reputation. She shows that these women were not a homogeneous group, but came from diverse family backgrounds, entered politics in their own discrete way, and rose to power at different times. Some were more successful than others, but despite their diversity these women shared one thing in common: they all functioned in a male world.
Through interdisciplinary research, this book explores the continued cause of the significant gender pay gap that still exists in many countries today. This gap persists despite a wide range of measures having been introduced to protect women at work. Internationally varied approaches which have been attempted include prohibiting discrimination, maternity leave, maternity pay, health and safety protections for pregnant workers, tax breaks, childcare vouchers, shared parental leave, and gender pay gap reporting. This volume makes a significant and original contribution by tackling the topic through fresh historical and activist approaches, specific consideration of certain professions, and to...
'Beautifully told, this book brings a fascinating and compelling story to a wider public. A "must read" for those interested in women's lives in the past.' June Purvis, Professor (Emerita) of Women's and Gender History, University of Portsmouth, UK 'This important and absorbing book presents a unique history of Kitty Marshall. This is first-class history and a first-rate thriller.' Professor Clive Bloom, author of A History of Britain's Fight for a Republic Katherine 'Kitty' Marshall was destined to break with convention. Brought up in a socially active family, her inherent rebellious streak came into play in 1901, when she daringly divorced her husband and joined the newly founded Women's S...
Tensor network is a fundamental mathematical tool with a huge range of applications in physics, such as condensed matter physics, statistic physics, high energy physics, and quantum information sciences. This open access book aims to explain the tensor network contraction approaches in a systematic way, from the basic definitions to the important applications. This book is also useful to those who apply tensor networks in areas beyond physics, such as machine learning and the big-data analysis. Tensor network originates from the numerical renormalization group approach proposed by K. G. Wilson in 1975. Through a rapid development in the last two decades, tensor network has become a powerful ...
WHITEHALL - the name of a street now synonymous with the civil service - has been the centre of British religious and political power for over 500 years. Whitehalltakes the reader behind closed doors to explore the fascinating history that lies behind the façade of the great departments of state and some of the greatest figures in British history, including Henry Vlll's playground, the execution of Charles I, Nelson's tortured love life, and Winston Churchill's plans for a last stand against the forces of Hitler's Nazi invaders. It explores the private house in Whitehall - ignored by tourists today - which became the most notorious address in London, when Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb conduc...
'Geeks triumph over the forces of darkness: nothing could have given me greater pleasure. Combining an exciting story with scrupulous research, Caroline Shenton has done her unlikely heroes proud' - Lucy Worsley As Hitler prepared to invade Poland during the sweltering summer of 1939, men and women from across London's museums, galleries and archives formulated ingenious plans to send the nation's highest prized objects to safety. Using stately homes, tube tunnels, slate mines, castles, prisons, stone quarries and even their own homes, a dedicated bunch of unlikely misfits packed up the nation's greatest treasures and, in a race against time, dispatched them throughout the country on a series of top-secret wartime adventures. National Treasures highlights a moment from our history when an unlikely coalition of mild-mannered civil servants, social oddballs and metropolitan aesthetes became the front line in the heritage war against Hitler. Caroline Shenton shares the interwoven lives of ordinary people who kept calm and carried on in the most extraordinary of circumstances in their efforts to save the Nation's historic identity.