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Monica Felton (1906 – March 1970) was a British writer, town planner,
feminist and social activist, a member of the Labour Party.
Early life
Monica Glory Page (later Felton) was born in 1906, the eldest of four siblings, Una Hilary (b. 1908) who became a teacher and worked in Africa in the 1930s, Basil (b. 1910) and Gwythian Lloyd (1914-2006) who became a consulting engineer. She was brought up in a staunch
Primitive Methodists household. Her mother Una Page (née Bone) (1879-1926) wrote
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
hymns, and her father Rev. Thomas Lloyd Page was a Primitive Methodist minister.
She attended
Wycombe High School
Wycombe High School is a girls' grammar school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire taking girls from the age of 11 to 18. The school became an academy in 2011, and in 2020 had 1,308 pupils.
History
The school was the first state grammar school for ...
then studied at the
University of Southampton
, mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour
, type = Public research university
, established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...
and was later awarded a PhD at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
; she was later appointed to its board of governors.
Felton had been living in Majorca when the Spanish Civil War started and, on her return to the UK, gave talks about what she saw in Spain at that time.
In 1937 Felton was elected to 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 ...
as a
Labour Party councillor representing
St Pancras South West, holding the seat until 1946. She demonstrated a detailed understanding of the role of women in wartime society and munitions production, in her novel 'To All the Living
From 1949 to 1951, she served as the first Chairman of the Corporation for the construction of the new town of
Stevenage.
Town planner dit source
During the late 1930s, Felton became a leading urban planner. She was elected to 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 ...
in 1937 and continued as an elected representative until the start of the Second World War. However, she also took an interest in rural planning, foreseeing the coming war and food problems:
“Do we want to make farming profitable if it means destroying the countryside, or if it means running risks of losing people off the land, or if it means running risks of not having sufficient supplies of food in war time?”
During the war she worked for the British Ministry of Supply and was recommended by
Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin
Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin CH (14 November 1889 – 11 May 1972), was a British Labour Party politician.
Career
Lewis Silkin was born on 14 November 1889 to Abraham and Fanny Silkin, who were Litvak Jews from what was then the Lithuanian ...
for a role in a secretarial capacity on the
Select Committee on National Expenditure for the house of Commons.
During the war and afterwards, Felton lectured on urban planning and housing for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Home Service and
BBC World Service.
New Towns
After the war hundreds of thousands of new homes were being built. Felton was closely involved in the planning and implementation involved. In the years 1945–1946 she was part of the major New Towns Committee, led by
John Reith. Of 15 members of the committee, Felton was the only woman. She worked for the London County Council and
Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. After the 2021 election, it consists of 78 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, ...
. Her connections with Silkin then led to her appointment as Vice-Chairman of the Stevenage Development Corporation in 1947.
In 1948, shortly after her election to the Stevenage Development Corporation, Felton became the chairman of the Peterlee Development corporation, working closely with
Berthold Lubetkin
Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Georgian-British architect who pioneered modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint housing complex, the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Fins ...
. Whilst in Peterlee, Felton pioneered social research led by women. She commissioned
Mark Abrahms to carry out a 'social and economic' survey for the New Town. Working with ‘trained housewives’, he produced ''New Town for Old: The Peterlee Social Survey'' before the end of 1948.
Her Peterlee chairmanship ended in 1949 and she returned to Stevenage as the chairman of the
Stevenage Development Corporation in the county of Hertfordshire.
Stevenage was the first of the post-war new towns that were built by the Labour government on the basis of the
New Towns Act of 1946. she held the post for just two years (see below).
North Korea
In 1951, Felton visited North Korea as part of the
Women's International Democratic Federation
Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...
commission and outlined her impressions in the book ''That's Why I Went'' (1954), adhering to an anti-war position. During her visit, she was urged to take the full-scale North Korean view of the origins of the conflict, and briefly met the leader,
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
. After her visit to Korea she was fired from her job as Chairman of the Stevenage Development Corporation, expelled from the Labour Party and threatened with prosecution for treason. Her visit to North Korea included viewing the aftermath of
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
atrocities, which she was told by locals were committed by United States, British and
Syngman Rhee forces. A recorded talk she made about this was broadcast from Moscow and her visit and the talk were discussed in the House of Commons.
In 1953, Felton published a seven page pamphlet entitled 'Korea! How to Bring the Boys Hom
and became a member of the
World Peace Council
The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass ...
. She was awarded the International
Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to:
* The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...
"for peace between peoples" (1951).
Women's Organising
In 1952, Felton chaired the inaugural meeting of the
National Assembly of Women
The National Assembly of Women (NAW) is a British women's rights organisation founded on 8 March 1952, at a meeting of almost 1,500 women from all across Great Britain. It campaigns for equal status for women and men in all aspects of life and als ...
at St. Pancras Town Hall in London. Issues vocalised in this meeting included condemnation of the Korean War and support for disarmament.
[Tebbs, Betty. ''A Short History of the National Assembly of Women.'' Manchester, UK: National Assembly of Women, 1993.]
India
In 1956, Felton moved to India. Whilst attending a forum in India, Felton met with
Rajaji
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...
, an Indian lawyer, independence activist, politician, writer and statesman, and also the last
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
. She later wrote his biography, ''I Meet Rajaji'' (1962).
Publications
''To All the Living'', (1945)
''British War Production and the Consumer'' (Ministry of Information), (1945)
''That’s Why I Went'', (1953)
''I Meet Rajaji'', (1962)
''A Child Widow’s Story'', (1966)
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felton, Monica
Alumni of the London School of Economics
1906 births
1970 deaths
Alumni of the University of Southampton
Members of London County Council
Stalin Peace Prize recipients
Women councillors in England