Hannah Margaret Stanton (30 November 1913 – 9 December 1993) was a British social worker and

anti-apartheid activist The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid, apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by ...

. She was arrested in South Africa and was returned home as a "prohibited immigrant" in 1960 where she became a spokesperson for the anti-apartheid movement.

Life

Stanton was born in Teddington in 1913. Her mother was Martha Grace (born Child) (1878–1953) and her father,

Thomas Ernest Stanton Sir Thomas Ernest Stanton (12 December 1865 - 30 August 1931) was a British mechanical engineer and a specialist in fluid dynamics and tribology. He was the first to construct a supersonic wind tunnel in 1921. The eponymous Stanton number is based ...

, worked for the National Physics Laboratory becoming a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

when she was a baby. Her first work was a hospital almoner after graduating in 1936 after studying English at University College, London. She was employed at the

David Lewis Northern Hospital The David Lewis Northern Hospital was located in Great Howard Street, Liverpool. It was first established in 1834 and closed in 1978. History The hospital had its origins in a facility which was established in Leeds Street to deal with victims of ...

and she stayed there until the end of the war. From 1945 to 1948 she was in Austria working with the Friends' Relief Service who were helping people displaced by the war. She returned to university to study theology at Somerville College in Oxford. She had two brothers and one of them, Thomas, was a missionary in South Africa. She went to visit on holiday and decided to become a warden at a women's mission at

Lady Selborne, Pretoria Lady Selborne is a settlement located near Pretoria. It is in Gauteng province. It was established in 1905 as an area where anyone could buy and own land. As apartheid took hold the authorities eventually found a rationale for removing the resi ...

. She was employed to teach theology to the students but where she became involved in politics. She protested with and on behalf of the Black South Africans. Lady Selbourne was a suburb of Pretoria and since 1905 it had been an area where the native people were allowed to legally own land. The suburb was useful as it supplied cheap labour to Pretoria's white residents. However the area was too popular for the liking of the authorities, but they struggled to find a legal basis for seizing the land as the residents had freehold properties. Stanton was arrested on 30 March 1960 and after a period of solitary confinement she found a new friend when she shared a cell with anti-apartheid activist

Helen Joseph Helen Beatrice Joseph (''née'' Fennell) (8 April 1905 – 25 December 1992) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Born in Sussex, England, Helen graduated with a degree in English from the University of London in 1927 and then departed ...

. Joseph was involved in an unsuccessful four-year trial accusing her of high treason. Stanton's arrest was politically embarrassing and she was returned home as an "prohibited immigrant" in May 1960 where she became a spokesperson for the anti-apartheid movement. In 1961 her book Go Well, Stay Well; South Africa, August 1956 to May 1960 was published to some acclaim documenting her time in South Africa. Stanton died in 1993 in Esher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanton, Hannah 1913 births 1993 deaths People from Teddington British social workers Anti-apartheid activists Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford