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

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. ...

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Early life

Town planner dit source

New Towns

North Korea

Women's Organising

India

Publications

References

Further reading