Barbara Drake (3 October 1876 – 19 July 1963) was a member of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

and trade unionist. She was born in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the daughter of Daniel Meinertzhagen, a banker, and his wife, Georgina ''née'' Potter, sister of

Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...

. In 1900 she married the

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

Bernard Harpur Drake. They had no children. Active in the

Women's Industrial Council The Women's Industrial Council (WIC) was a British organisation active from 1894 to about 1917, promoting the interests of women at work. Federation The organisation originated as the Women's Trade Union Association, founded by Clementina Black i ...

, she conducted an enquiry into the position of the ''tea-shop girl''. Her 1920 book, ''Women in Trade Unions'' was an influential work produced by her under the auspices of the

Labour Research Department The Labour Research Department (LRD) is an independent trade union based research organisation, based in London, that provides information to support trade union activity and campaigns. About 2,000 trade union organisations, including 51 national ...

and the

Fabian Women's Group Fabian may refer to: People * Fabian (name), including a list of people with the given name or surname * Pope Fabian (died 250), Catholic saint * Fabian Forte (born 1943), 1950s American teen idol, singer and actor, known by the mononym Fabian * ...

. A co-opted member of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

Education Committee from 1925, she supported educational reforms including the introduction of comprehensive schools. When the Labour Party took control of the county council in 1934, she was made an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

, holding the seat until 1946.

Bibliography

The following is a non-exhaustive list of the

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

lets,

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

s and

tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

s produced by Barbara Drake. * 1917 ''Women in the Engineering Trades'' * 1920 '' Women in Trade Unions'' * 1922
Some problems of education
' * 1924 ''Staffing in Public Elementary Schools'' * 1933
Starvation in the Midst of Plenty
' * 1936 ''Technical Education'' * 1937 ''State Education; an Immediate Programme for a Socialist Government'' * 1942 ''Community Feeding in Wartime''

References

1876 births 1963 deaths People from Knightsbridge Members of London County Council Members of the Fabian Society Women councillors in England {{worker-activist-stub

See also

Bibliography

References