Leah Manning
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Dame Elizabeth Leah Manning DBE (''née'' Perrett; 14 April 1886 – 15 September 1977) was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
alist,
social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...
er, and Labour
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) in the 1930s and 1940s. She organised the evacuation of orphaned or at risk
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
children during 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 ...
.


Early life

Manning was born in
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,
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, the first of twelve children - only six of which reached maturity. Her parents were Charles William Perrett, a captain in the Salvation Army, and Harriet Margaret (nee Tappin), a teacher from Bethnal Green. Her parents emigrated to the United States when she was 14, but decided that she (alone among her siblings) should remain in
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, and she was looked after by her maternal grandparents, who were Methodists.Leah Manning, ''A Life for Education: An Autobiography'', London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1970; , pp. 20, 43 Leah was influenced by her grandfather's
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
, radical politics.


Early career

She was educated at St John's School in Bridgwater, and at
Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...
, then a teacher training college. She became a teacher in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
where she had met fellow undergraduate Hugh Dalton and joined the
Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...
and the
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 ...
. Her school was in a poor area of the city and she pressed the city authorities to improve the health by providing free milk, using her position on Cambridge Trades Council to raise the issue.


Marriage

She married William Henry Manning (1883–1952), an astronomer working for the University Solar Physics Laboratory, in 1914. They set up home together in a house on the Cambridge Observatory site.Ron Bill and Stan Newens ''Leah Manning'' Leah Manning Trust in association with Square One Books Limited, 1991; , pp. 21, 24, 45 He was a pacifist and a
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
in politics.


Politics

Manning welcomed news of the October revolution in Russia, and became a member of the 1917 Club. In peacetime, she became an active speaker on behalf of Labour candidates in elections around the country. She was appointed headmistress of a new experimental Open Air School for undernourished children which Cambridge education authority had established on a farm site, and found this work exceptionally rewarding. In 1929, she served as organising secretary of the
National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with ...
, becoming its president in 1930. In 1931, she was elected as MP for Islington East in a by-election on 19 February. She did not support Ramsay MacDonald's National Government and stayed in the Labour Party, losing her seat a few months later at the 1931 general election in October. She served on the Labour Party
National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...
from 1931 to 1932, and in the 1935 general election unsuccessfully contested Sunderland. She was meanwhile moving away from her previous strict pacifism towards a more active anti-fascism. Her book, "What I Saw in Spain" ictor Gollancz, London, 1935 followed her visit to the country in the wake of the Asturias uprising late the prior year. Manning visited the Model Prison in Madrid and interviewed opponents of the Lerroux Government that had admitted three fascists to Cabinet, the said spark of the uprising. At the 1936
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when th ...
, several party members, including
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 ...
, Stafford Cripps, Aneurin Bevan and Charles Trevelyan, argued that military help should be given to the
Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...
of
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, which fought Francisco Franco and his fascist
Nationalist Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...
. Despite a passionate appeal from Isabel de Palencia, the Labour Party supported the
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 ...
Government's policy of non-intervention. Manning disagreed with the official line and became Secretary of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. In the spring of 1937, she helped to arrange the evacuation of almost 4,000 Basque children to Britain as well as around 200 adults, accompanying the children on the SS Habana.Leah Manning, "The Cave by the River" and "Basque Children For England" in Jim Fyrth and Sally Alexander, ''Women's Voices from the Spanish Civil War''. London : Lawrence & Wishart, 1991. (pp. 104-5, 222-4) While there she witnessed the bombing of Guernica. In 1938, Manning returned to Spain, where she wrote a report on the hospitals where British doctors and nurses were working. Back in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, she continued to be involved with the Basque children, visiting them and highlighting their plight. Manning was selected as Labour candidate for
Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...
and won the seat in 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 ...
. On entering the House of Commons, she would hang her coat on the 'men's' hooks as part of her campaign against discrimination in the House that she began when she first entered in 1930. On 9th March 1946, International Women's Day, Manning chaired an international conference at Beaver Hall in London. In Parliament, she was known for her commitment to education and urging housing provision. She edited a Labour Party pamphlet, ''Growing up - Labour's Plan for Women and Children'' detailing plans and party policies for women and children. She also spoke up for a Family Planning Service as part of the newly-created
NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
. Defeated in the 1950 general election, she unsuccessfully contested Epping again in
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...
and 1955.


Harlow New Town

A key highlight in Manning's political career was her involvement in Harlow New Town as it interested her and her constituents in nearby
Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...
. Manning served on the Commons Committee considering the 1946 New Towns Bill which proposed a designating
New Towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
around London to re-house Londoners, one of which was Harlow. Manning favoured the designation of New Towns, particularly Harlow. On 5th July 1946 Manning addressed the House of Commons, explaining that the 1946 New Towns Bill, "will place in the hands of simple, honest, decent, kindly folk a key, opening to them a design of gracious living...I have a special interest in this Bill, because in the constituency which I represent, I hope - indeed, I almost pray - we shall have at one end a new town. At the other end we have a beautiful forest, one of the lungs of the most ugly and depressed parts of London." Indeed, the cottage in which Manning lived would be swallowed up by the development of Harlow.


Last years

Manning was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. She remained active in educational work (opposing comprehensive schools) and her autobiography (called ''A Life for Education'') was published in 1970. Her last years, before her death at age 91, were spent in the NUT Home for Retired Teachers at
Elstree Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.


Legacy

She was remembered in 2002 by the renaming of a
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
square as Plaza de Mrs Leah Manning; a commemorative plaque from the Basque Children of '37 Association was presented to the British House of Commons. A room is named in her honour at
Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...
. A blue plaque was erected to Leah Manning in 2020 on the site of the former ragged school in New Street, Cambridge which is now owned by Anglia Ruskin University and is used as their Institute of Music Therapy. Her work on behalf of the new community Harlow New Town has been commemorated in the name of a day care centre for elderly people in Harlow Town Park. ibberd, F., Harvey, B. and White, L. (1980) Harlow: The Story of a New Town. Stevenage: Publications for Companies, p.275./ref>


References


External links

*
Documents on Manning's role in the Spanish Civil War from "Trabajadores: The Spanish Civil War through the eyes of organised labour"
a digitised collection of more than 13,000 pages of documents from the archives of the British
Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...
held in the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. {{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Leah 1886 births 1977 deaths Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge Basque history English Methodists English trade unionists Schoolteachers from Cambridgeshire English anti-fascists Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1945–1950 Place of birth missing Place of death missing Presidents of the National Union of Teachers People from Droitwich Spa 20th-century British women politicians English women trade unionists