Janet Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge,
PC LLD HonFRA (3 November 1904 – 16 November 1988), known as Jennie Lee, was a Scottish politician. She was a
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament from
a by-election in 1929 until
1931
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...
and then from
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat.
Events
Below, ...
to
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...
.
As Minister for the Arts in
Harold Wilson's government of 1964–1970, she played a leading role in the foundation of the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
working directly with Harold Wilson to establish the principle of open access: Enrolment as a student of the University should be open to everyone … irrespective of educational qualifications, and no formal entrance requirement should be imposed.
She was married to the Welsh Labour politician
Aneurin Bevan from 1934 until his death in 1960.
Early life
Born in
Lochgelly
Lochgelly ( ; gd, Loch Gheallaidh, IPA: ɫ̪ɔxˈʝaɫ̪ai is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located between Loch Ore, Lochs Ore and Gelly to the north-west and south-east respectively. It is separated from Cowdenbeath by the village of ...
, in
Fife, to Euphemia Greig and James Lee, a miner who held the post of fire and safety officer,
[Hollis, Patricia (2014). Jennie Lee: a life. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .] and later a hotelier.
She had a younger brother, Tommy.
She inherited her father's socialist inclinations, and like him joined the Scottish
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...
(ILP). Her grandfather Michael Lee, born in 1850 to Irish Catholic parents, was a friend of
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.
Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...
, a disputes secretary of the miners' union and founder of the
Fifeshire
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i.e ...
ILP federation. She later joined the
Labour Party, and served as an MP from 1929 to 1931 and from 1945 to 1970.
Education
Lee was educated at
Beath High School and was
dux
''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...
of the school in her final year.
The
Carnegie Trust
The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust is an independent, endowed charitable trust based in Scotland that operates throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Originally established with an endowment from Andrew Carnegie in his birthplace of Dunfermline, ...
, Fife County Council and the Fife Education Authority agreed to pay her university fees and she attended the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
as a student teacher.
She later won a bursary to study law.
At university she joined the Labour Club, the
Edinburgh University Women's Union
Edinburgh University Women's Union was a students' union for women at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. The union became the Chambers Street Union before accepting the admission of men to membership in 1971, ahead of merging i ...
and the editorial board of the student newspaper. One of her first campaigns was to elect
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
as
Rector of the University. After graduating initially in 1927 with a
MA, a
LLB
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
and a
teaching certificate
A certified teacher is an educator who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as the government, a higher education institution or a private body or source. This teacher qualification gives a teacher authorization to teach and ...
, she worked as a teacher in
Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...
.
First term as MP
Lee was adopted as the ILP candidate for the
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...
constituency, which she won at a
1929 by-election, becoming the youngest woman
member of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
. At the time of the by-election, women under the age of 30 were not yet able to vote.
She was re-elected at the subsequent
1929 general election.
In Westminster she immediately came into conflict with the
Labour Party's leadership in the commons. She insisted on being sponsored by
Robert Smillie
Robert Smillie (17 March 1857 – 16 February 1940) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a leader of the coal miners, and played a central role in moving support from the miners away from the Liberal Party to the L ...
and her old friend
James Maxton
James Maxton (22 June 1885 – 23 July 1946) was a British left-wing politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party. He was a pacifist who opposed both world wars. A prominent proponent of Home Rule for Scotland, he is remembered as on ...
to be introduced to the Commons, rather than by the leadership's preferred choice of sponsors. Lee also associated with
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her career, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, s ...
.
Lee's first speech was an attack on the budget proposals of
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
(accusing him "of 'cant, corruption, and incompetence', her gestures more fitting to the storming of platforms than the measured tones expected from a young MP in the house") that met even with his approval, with him offering his congratulations after their exchange in the Commons. Lee forged a parliamentary reputation as a left-winger, allying herself to Maxton and the other ILP members. She was totally opposed to
Ramsay MacDonald's decision to form a coalition
National Government, and in the
1931 general election lost her seat in parliament to
Unionist candidate
William Anstruther-Gray.
Out of the Commons
In her private life at the time she had formed a close relationship with fellow Labour MP
Edward Frank Wise
Edward Frank Wise CB (3 July 1885 – 5 November 1933) was a British economist, civil servant and Labour Party politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1929 to 1931.
As a civil servant at the National Insurance Commission, Wa ...
, a married man who considered divorcing his wife for Lee, but who did not do so in the end. Wise died in 1933 and the following year Lee married the left-wing Welsh Labour MP
Aneurin Bevan, with whom she remained until his death in 1960. Her biography suggests that she to some extent suppressed her own career after marriage, which 'was the more remarkable precisely because as a woman in politics she had always laid claim to a 'male' life, public, itinerant and unencumbered by family responsibilities'.
She had no history in the women's movement, did not align herself with the separate women's branches within the Labour Party and stated that she voted on policy not candidate gender,
believing that equality for women would follow from the introduction of true socialism; it was not a separate cause. Nonetheless she practised feminism 'of a sort' and was known to walk out of dinner parties if it was expected that women were to withdraw to another room when the port was circulated.
Despite being out of the Commons Lee remained active politically, trying to secure British support for the
Spanish Popular Front
The Popular Front ( es, Frente Popular) in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral alliance and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organizations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's el ...
government under threat from
Francisco Franco's
Nationalist faction in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. She also remained active inside the ILP and took their side in their split from the Labour Party, a decision that did not meet with her husband's approval. She attempted re-election in North Lanarkshire at the
1935 general election, coming second behind
Anstruther-Gray but ahead of the Labour Party's candidate. Attending the Labour Party Conference in Edinburgh in 1936, Lee met the Spanish Republican delegates who attended with a petition for support against the fascists, including meeting with
Isabel de Valencia, who had a Scottish mother. Lee went to Spain herself in 1937 to report as a war journalist. She travelled in Aragon and Barcelona with
George Orwell and the teenage grandson of her Commons sponsor,
Robert Smillie
Robert Smillie (17 March 1857 – 16 February 1940) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a leader of the coal miners, and played a central role in moving support from the miners away from the Liberal Party to the L ...
, MP, while reporting for ''New Leader'' and they were all caught up in some violent incidents. Young Bob died a year later in a Communist prison. Lee attended a torchlit parade of the British Battalion of the
International Brigades volunteers at
Modejar with
Clement Attlee and others in the Labour Party, during the war.
She was again unsuccessful in seeking re-election as an "Independent Labour" candidate in a
1943 by-election at
Bristol Central, being defeated by the Conservative
Lady Apsley and opposed by the ILP. She also worked as a journalist for the
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
.
Re-election
She later returned to the Labour Party from the ILP, and at the
1945 general election
The following elections occurred in the year 1945.
Africa
* 1945 South-West African legislative election
Asia
* 1945 Indian general election
Australia
* 1945 Fremantle by-election
Europe
* 1945 Albanian parliamentary election
* 1945 Bulgarian ...
she was once again elected to the Commons, this time to represent the
Cannock
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...
constituency in
Staffordshire. She remained a convinced left-winger, and this brought her sometimes into opposition with her husband, with whom she usually agreed politically. Lee was critical of Bevan for his support of the UK acquiring a
nuclear deterrent
Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons.
As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends. In addit ...
, something she did not support.
She was appointed as the first
Minister for the Arts in
Harold Wilson's
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
government of 1964, and played a key role in the formation of the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
, an act described by Wilson as the greatest of his time in government.
Role in the foundation of the Open University
The Open University was based on the idea of a 'University of the Air'. It was intended as a correspondence university reaching out to those who had been denied the opportunity to study. Lee produced a
White Paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...
in 1966 outlining university plans, which would deliver courses by correspondence and broadcasting as teaching media. Prime minister
Harold Wilson was an enthusiastic supporter because he envisioned The Open University as a major marker in the Labour Party's commitment to modernising British society. He believed that it would help build a more competitive economy while also promoting greater equality of opportunity and social mobility. The planned utilisation of television and radio to broadcast its courses was also supposed to link The Open University to the technological revolution underway, which Wilson saw as a major ally of his modernisation schemes. However, from the start Lee encountered widespread scepticism and even opposition from within and without the Labour Party, including senior officials in the DES; her departmental boss,
Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influential book '' The ...
; the Treasury; Ministerial colleagues, such as
Richard Crossman
Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...
; and commercial broadcasters. The Open University was realised due to Lee's unflagging determination and tenacity in 1965–67, the steadfast support from Wilson, and the fact that the anticipated costs, as reported to Lee and Wilson by Arnold Goodman, seemed very modest. By the time the actual, much higher costs became apparent, it was too late to scrap the fledgling Open University.
The university was granted its
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
by the
Privy Council on 23 April 1969.
Applications opened in 1970 and the first students began their studies in 1971.
In 1973, as she laid the foundation stone for the first Open University library, she described the University as 'a great independent university which does not insult any man or any women whatever their background by offering them the second best, nothing but the best is good enough.'
Role in the expansion of the Arts Council
Lee renewed the charter of the
Arts Council of Great Britain in 1967 which saw an expansion of its work in the regions as well of the creation of the new arts institutions at London's
South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
. She also introduced the only UK
White Paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...
for the Arts to be published for the next half-century and following the 1967 reshuffle was promoted to
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...
at the
Department of Education and Science
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
after two years as
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...
. Between 1964 and 1965 Lee had been
Parliamentary Secretary at the
Ministry of Public Building and Works
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian mi ...
.
Retirement and later life
Lee was defeated at the
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...
election in
Cannock
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...
by the Conservative candidate
Patrick Cormack
Patrick Thomas Cormack, Baron Cormack, (born 18 May 1939) is a British politician, historian, journalist and author. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010. Cormack is a member of the Conservative Party and i ...
. Political scientist
Richard Rose called Lee's loss of her seat, which had been held by Labour since
1935, on a well above average swing of 10.7% "the biggest upset" of the 1970 general election.
She retired from front-line politics when she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge, of the
City of Westminster on 5 November 1970.
She wrote four books: To-morrow Is a New Day, 1939; Our Ally, Russia, 1941; This Great Journey, 1963; My Life with Nye, 1980.
In 1974 she received an Honorary LLD from the University of Cambridge, and in 1981 an Honorary Fellowship of the
Royal Academy.
She died in 1988 from natural causes at the age of 84 and bequeathed her personal papers to the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
which now holds them as the Jennie Lee Collection.
Memorials
A community resource centre in
Wednesfield
Wednesfield is a town and historic village in the City of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, It is east-northeast of Wolverhampton city centre and about from Birmingham and is part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was historically wit ...
, which formed part of Lee's Cannock constituency, was named the "Jennie Lee Centre" in her honour. It opened in a former secondary school in 1989, the year after Lee's death, and closed in 2013.
In 2005, the Students' Association of the newly created
Adam Smith College
Adam Smith College was a Scotland, Scottish List of further and higher education colleges in Scotland, further and higher education college located over various campuses across the county of Fife.
On 1 August 2013 Adam Smith College and Carnegie ...
in
Kirkcaldy,
Fife refused to name themselves after
Adam Smith, and instead chose the name "Jennie Lee Students' Association". The Association claimed Adam Smith is synonymous with "exploitation and greed" and stated "Jennie Lee would be an excellent role model for the students because of the courage and conviction she showed in achieving the aims she believed passionately in".
The Jennie Lee building at the Open University Campus in Milton Keynes.
The Jennie Lee building in Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh home of the Open University offices in Scotland.
In Rugeley, Staffordshire (part of her Cannock constituency) there is a street named after her, Jennie Lee Way and one named after her husband, Aneurin Bevan Place.
A plaque in Buccleuch Place, near the University of Edinburgh which reads:'In honour of Baroness Jennie Lee, 1904–1988, An early woman MP, first Minister for the Arts, founder of the Open University, graduate of the University'
An English Heritage plaque in 23 Cliveden Place, Chelsea, London, celebrates Nye Bevan and Jennie Lee.
In her native Lochgelly, the community library was renamed the Jennie Lee Library in her honour following the 2009–2012 redevelopment of the Lochgelly Centre.
In the village of
Overtown, near
Wishaw
Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it form ...
, North Lanarkshire, a new housing development was built and a street was named after her, Jennie Lee Drive.
In Glasgow, the Albany Learning and Conference Centre has a Jennie Lee room.
Jennie Lee is the subject of a play by Matthew Knights, titled ''Jennie Lee: Tomorrow Is A New Day''
References
External links
Parliament & the Sixties – Jennie Lee - University of the Air – UK Parliament Living Heritage*
Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Jennie Lee, MP (1904-1988)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jennie
1904 births
1988 deaths
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
People from Lochgelly
Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Lee of Asheridge
Independent Labour Party MPs
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Scottish humanists
Scottish suffragists
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members
Scottish Labour MPs
Labour Party (UK) MPs
People associated with the Open University
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
UK MPs 1924–1929
UK MPs 1929–1931
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
UK MPs 1951–1955
UK MPs 1955–1959
UK MPs 1959–1964
UK MPs 1964–1966
UK MPs 1966–1970
UK MPs who were granted peerages
European democratic socialists
People educated at Beath High School
Chairs of the Labour Party (UK)
20th-century Scottish women politicians
20th-century Scottish politicians
British people of the Spanish Civil War
Women in the Spanish Civil War
Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970
20th-century Scottish women