The National Peace Council (NPC), founded in 1908 and disbanded in 2000, acted as the co-ordinating body for almost 200 groups across Britain, with a membership ranging from small village peace groups to national trade unions and local authorities. The groups were all united in their interest in

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

and the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. The group originated in 1904 or 1905 as the National Council of Peace Societies, but it was permanently established as the National Peace Council after the 17th Universal Peace Conference took place in London in 1908.Swarthmore College Catalog
/ref>

Carl Heath Carl Heath (1869 – 1950) was a leader of the Quaker movement in Britain and a penal reformer. He was the Secretary of the National Peace Council during the First World War when he conceived the idea of Quaker embassies to establish an internationa ...

was appointed General Secretary and was succeeded in 1919 by

Francis E. Pollard Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places *Rural Mu ...

, who served until 1921, when

James Hindle Hudson James Hindle Hudson (27 September 1881 – 10 January 1962) was a British Labour Party (and later Labour Co-operative) politician, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 18 years in two periods between 1923 and 1955. A lifelong Quaker ...

assumed the position. Later secretaries included

Rennie Smith Rennie Smith (14 April 1888 – 25 May 1962) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1924 to 1931. At the 1924 general election he was elected as MP for Penistone in Yorkshire, defeat ...

, Sheila Oakes and

Gerald Bailey Vernon Gerald Bailey (1903 – 12 May 1975), was a prominent British peace campaigner and Liberal Party politician who was an early pioneer of a Popular Front later advocated by Sir Stafford Cripps. He was the son of Vernon Bailey of Clitheroe, Lan ...

. A major task in its early years was organizing the National Peace Congress, which also arranged conferences on specific issues.

Arthur Stanley Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lumin ...

served as Chair from 1941 to 1943.

Marian Cripps, Baroness Parmoor Marian Emily Cripps, Baroness Parmoor (née Ellis; 6 January 1878 – 6 July 1952) was a British anti-war activist. Early life and wartime activities Marian Ellis was born in Nottingham, one of twin daughters of Quaker and radical parents, th ...

, served as vice-president. During the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, the NPC organised the Gulf Crisis Working Group, a coalition of several groups that called for the withdrawal of Iraq from Kuwait, an end to hostilities in the region and a peace conference to resolve the issues that had caused the war. In 2001, another organisation,

Network for Peace Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

,Network for Peace website
/ref> was set up to continue the networking role of the National Peace Council.

References

{{Authority control Peace organisations based in the United Kingdom 1908 establishments in the United Kingdom 2000 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1908 Organizations disestablished in 2000

See also

Archives

References