Kathleen Mary 'Kay' Beauchamp (27 May 1899 – 25 January 1992) was a leading light in the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

in the 1920s. She helped found ''The Daily Worker'' (later '' The Morning Star'') and was a local councillor in

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn ...

Biography

She was born to a farming family at Welton Manor Farm, Midsomer Norton,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

on 27 May 1899. She was sister of Joan Beauchamp, later Joan Thompson, who became a prominent

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and associate of

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with t ...

. The family was part of the Beauchamp family that dominated the Somerset coalfield, her father being the cousin of Sir Frank Beauchamp and Louis Beauchamp who owned coalmines in the area. Her mother died in 1904 when Kay was only four. She completed a degree in history at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

in 1924. In that year she married bookseller and bibliographer

Graham Pollard Henry Graham Pollard (known as Graham Pollard) (7 March 1903 – 15 November 1976) was a British bookseller and bibliographer. Early life Pollard was the son of the historian Albert Pollard and was born in Putney, London on 7 March 1903. ...

, son of Professor

Albert Pollard Albert Frederick Pollard, FBA (16 December 1869 – 3 August 1948) was a British historian who specialized in the Tudor period. He was one of the founders of the Historical Association in 1906. Life and career Pollard was born in Ryde o ...

. She joined the Communist Party, for which she served as International Secretary. She was one of the eight Party members who produced the first ever edition of ''The Daily Worker'' (later '' The Morning Star''), which appeared on 1 January 1930. As its Managing Director she was jailed for contempt of court when the paper described the conviction of

Wal Hannington Walter "Wal" Hannington (1896–1966) was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and National Organiser of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement, from its formation in 1921 to its end in 1939, when he became National Organis ...

, an unemployed workers' leader, as a "frame-up". She worked as a teacher and was also involved with the Communist Party's Education Department. During the 1930s and 1940s, she worked closely with

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spent ...

, organising hunger marches, solidarity work for 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, lin ...

and the campaign for the Second Front in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, she was elected a local Councillor in

. She also served as International Secretary of the Communist Party. In this role she made several visits to Africa. She was involved in the

Movement for Colonial Freedom Liberation (founded as the Movement for Colonial Freedom) is a political civil rights advocacy group founded in the United Kingdom in 1954. It had the support of many MPs, including Harold Wilson, Barbara Castle and Tony Benn, and celebrities such ...

(MCF), founded in 1954, and worked with

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...

and other future leaders of emergent Africa. In 1972 her first marriage was dissolved and she married Tony Gilbert. She continued to be active in politics for the rest of her life. She died on 25 January 1992.

Publications written by Kay Beauchamp

* ''Leninism ~ a syllabus'' (1940) * ''Our Borough - an introductory discussion syllabus. On the government of the borough of Finsbury'' (1945) * ''Canvassing'' (1945) * ''Fascism and how to defeat it'' (1959) * ''We can get those deep shelters'' (1961) * ''Black citizens'' (1973) * ''Report of Liberation Conference to isolate and defeat racism'' (1977) * ''One race, the human race'' (1979) * ''Ethiopia: An African Giant Awakens'' ith Tony Gilbert(1985) * ''Racism: A Threat to World Peace'' –

ith Amanda Mensah The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

(1986) * ''Ring Around the Carnival'' ith Maggie Chetty(1986)

References

External links

Interview of Kay Beauchamp for oral history project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp, Kay 1899 births 1992 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain councillors People from Midsomer Norton British feminists English communists English pacifists British suffragists Left communists Members of Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Council English women writers Communist women writers English socialist feminists Women councillors in England