Jesse Collings (2 December 1831 – 20 November 1920) was Mayor of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, England, a
Liberal (later
Liberal Unionist
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a politic ...
) member of Parliament, but was best known nationally in the UK as an advocate of educational reform and
land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultura ...
.
[Ashby, A. W. (2004) 'Jesse Collings', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', revised by Matthew, H. C. G. , pp. 668–9, Vol. 12, Oxford: Oxford University Press]
Background
Collings was the youngest son of Thomas Collings,
Littleham-cum-Exmouth, Devon, and Annie Palmer.
[ His father was a bricklayer, who later established a small building firm. He was educated at a Dame School and for a time at Church House School, Stoke, Plymouth.][ He started work as a shop assistant aged 15 years, later becoming a clerk and a traveller for an ironmongery firm. In 1850, he started working for Booth and Company, a firm of ironmongers in ]Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
; in 1864 he became a partner in the renamed business, ''Collings and Wallis''. In 1879, he retired from the partnership.[ He came under the influence of ]George Dawson George Dawson may refer to:
Politicians
* George Dawson (Northern Ireland politician) (1961–2007), Northern Ireland politician
* George Walker Wesley Dawson (1858–1936), Canadian politician
* George Oscar Dawson (1825–1865), Georgia polit ...
, worshipped, along with other prominent families, in Dawson's Church of the Saviour, and became an adherent of Dawson's doctrine of the "Civic Gospel
The Civic Gospel was a philosophy of municipal activism and improvement that emerged in Birmingham, England, in the mid-19th century. Tracing its origins to the teaching of independent nonconformist preacher George Dawson, who declared that "a t ...
".[Marsh, P. (1994) ''Joseph Chamberlain: Entrepreneur in Politics'', New Haven, Mass: Yale University Press]
In 1858 he married Emily Oxenbould, the daughter of a master at King Edward's Grammar School, Birmingham. They had one daughter.[
]
Birmingham Town Council
He was a close friend of Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...
[ and supported the radical group around Chamberlain in developing local improvement schemes in Birmingham, parks, and what at the time was called "gas-and-water socialism". He took over practical management of the education committee][Fraser, P. (1966) ''Joseph Chamberlain'', London: Cassell] and served as Mayor of Birmingham in 1878–79. He was responsible for free public libraries in Birmingham and was the original proponent of the Birmingham Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, l ...
funded from the profits of the gas company.
Free education
Early on, Collings had shown an interest in education by helping to found the ''Devon and Exeter Boys Industrial School'' in 1862.[ He visited America to study its education system and published ''An Outline of the American School System'' in 1868.][ This pamphlet recommended that a similar free and non-sectarian (non-denominational) form of school education to that of the United States should be set up in England and Wales. Collings' pamphlet led directly to the formation of the ]National Education League
The National Education League was a political movement in England and Wales which promoted elementary education for all children, free from religious control.
The National Education League, founded 1869, developed from the Birmingham Education Lea ...
by Birmingham Liberals in 1869, with George Dixon as President and Jesse Collings as Secretary.[ The League became a major campaigning organisation, but Forster's Education Act retained the dominance of Church Schools in providing education for the young in England, Wales and Ireland. Collings called for Local Authorities to be obliged to set up sufficient schools to enable all children to attend; these schools should be inspected by the state and managed by local government; they should be free; and attendance should be compulsory. Collings also advocated the education of women, signing a petition seeking to award degrees to female students at the ]University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in 1880.
Land reform
Collings' background in Devon gave him an appreciation of the problems of the agricultural worker and small-scale farmer rare in a major industrial city like Birmingham.[ He was a friend of Joseph Arch, the founder of the ]National Agricultural Labourers Union
The National Agricultural Labourers Union (NALU) was a trade union representing farm workers in Great Britain.
Foundation
The union's origins lay in a meeting at Wellesbourne in Warwickshire, held in February 1872. Joseph Arch, a well-kno ...
, who lived in Barford, Warwickshire
Barford is a village and civil parish in the Warwick district of Warwickshire, England, about three miles south of Warwick. As at the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,171, that increased to 1,336 at the 2011 census. The Joint pari ...
, near Birmingham. Collings believed that education was essential to improving the conditions of agricultural workers and that it needed to be free.[ The National Agricultural Workers Union joined the ]National Education League
The National Education League was a political movement in England and Wales which promoted elementary education for all children, free from religious control.
The National Education League, founded 1869, developed from the Birmingham Education Lea ...
. Collings ensured that Chamberlain, Mayor of Birmingham and a millionaire industrialist, chaired the meeting in Birmingham to support the Agricultural Workers' first strike.[ When Chamberlain became ]President of the Board of Trade
The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th century, that evolved gradually into a government ...
, Collings acted as his unofficial advisor on agricultural matters affecting peasants in Britain and Ireland.[
Collings advocated land reform through providing allotments and small holdings for the rural poor, landless peasants, and even the industrial poor. He cited the Chartist settlement at Great Dodford as a successful example of what could be achieved. The slogan for Collings' 1885 land-reform campaign Three Acres and a Cow became the battle cry of land reform and the fight against ]rural poverty
Rural poverty refers to poverty in rural areas, including factors of rural society, rural economy, and political systems that give rise to the poverty found there.Janvry, A. de, E. Sadoulet, and R. Murgai. 2002“Rural Development and Rural Pol ...
.[ Three acres and a cow was seen as being sufficient for a family to live on, particularly when compared to the rural poverty common at that time. To some, however, this slogan was backward looking and the source of amusement amongst many Conservatives and farmers.
]Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...
adapted the Three Acres and a Cow slogan for his own ''Radical Programme'': he urged the purchase by local authorities of land to provide garden and field allotments for all labourers who might desire them, to be let at fair rents in plots of up to of arable and three to of pasture.
[Hardy, D. (2000) ''Utopian England: Community Experiments 1900–1945'', London: E&F N Spon]
Collings founded the Allotments Extension Association in 1883 to promote the formation of allotments and smallholdings. he also collaborated closely with the Highland Land Reform Association.
The ''1882 Allotments Extension Act'' was put through Parliament by Collings. By 1886 there were 394,517 allotments of under and 272,000 garden allotments (Haywood, 1991).
In 1886, Collings' work defeated Lord Salisbury's Government, which lost the vote on the Queen's speech
A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or a representative thereof, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a session is opened, outlining t ...
, when Collings moved his 'Small Holdings Amendment Act'. A Liberal Government under William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...
took its place.
Collings' work also led to 1908 Small Holdings and Allotments Act (which led to 30,000 families being resettled on the land) and the 1919 Land Settlement Act.[ However, the programme of land reform via allotments and small holdings never made a considerable impact upon the countryside, either in Collings' time or in the interwar period.][Hayward, H. (1991) ''Attitudes to the Ownership and Distribution of Land in Britain 1500–1930'', Cambridge: Jubilee Centre Research Paper]
Member of Parliament
He was Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
from 1880
Events
January–March
* January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia.
* January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy.
* February � ...
until he was unseated on petition in April 1886, and then for Birmingham Bordesley from 1886 until 1918 (until 1912 as a Liberal Unionist
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a politic ...
, when the party was wound up, thereafter as a Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
).
On Chamberlain's recommendation, Collings served in Gladstone's administration as Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
in 1886, although at a reduced salary.[Powell, J.E. (1977) ''Joseph Chamberlain'', London: Thames and Hudson] Collings joined the Liberal Unionist group set up by Chamberlain in 1886 as a result of the split with the Gladstonian Liberals over Ireland. Collings served in Salisbury's government as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1895–1902.
Although he served in Parliament from 1880 (with a small interruption) and was a junior minister in two Governments, he was most influential outside Parliament – his ministerial posts were not connected to his lifelong advocacy of free education and land reform. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...
in 1892.
As a Liberal Unionist
The concern of Liberal Unionists was that what they perceived as the need for important reforms was being subordinated to a preoccupation with Ireland.[ The land reform movement was split. Joseph Arch remained a Gladstonian Liberal and ensured that Collings was deposed from the Allotments Extension Association. Collings later set up the Rural Labourers' League, which supported land reform and advocated tariffs on imported food to support the rural economy.][ Collings proposed a system of vocational education through free schools in rural areas. Erroneously or not, Collings along with Chamberlain and others believed that land reform in Ireland would give the peasants a stake in the country and reduce poverty, but convinced neither the Liberals nor the ]Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
to attempt it.
He was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Birmingham in 1911.
Collings published ''Land Reform'' in 1906 and in 1914 ''The Colonization of Rural Britain''. He also published ''The Great War: Its Lessons and Warnings'' in 1915.
Collings continued to be active in promoting land reform until 1918, when he retired from Parliament[ on the abolition of his seat when he was then aged 87 and oldest member of the House. He died in November 1920 aged 88.
]
Portrait
A portrait of Collings, painted circa 1885, by Jonathan Pratt (1835–1911), hangs in Birmingham Council House
Birmingham City Council House in Birmingham, England, is the home of Birmingham City Council, and thus the seat of local government for the city. It provides office accommodation for both employed council officers, including the Chief Executive ...
. It is not in a public area but may be viewed by prior application.
Sources
*Collings, J. and Green, J. L. (1920) ''The life of Jesse Collings'' (2 vols).
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collings, Jesse
1831 births
1920 deaths
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Urban agriculture
Politics of Birmingham, West Midlands
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Liberal Unionist Party MPs for English constituencies
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1886–1892
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
UK MPs 1900–1906
UK MPs 1906–1910
UK MPs 1910
UK MPs 1910–1918
Mayors of Birmingham, West Midlands
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Ipswich