Leah Manning

Leah Manning

Dame Elizabeth Leah Manning (April 14, 1886 – September 15, 1977) was a British educationalist, social reformer, and Labour Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1930s and 1940s. She organised the evacuation of orphaned or at risk Basque children during the Spanish Civil War.

She was christened Elizabeth Leah Perrett. Her parents emigrated to Canada when she was 14, but decided that she (alone among her siblings) should remain in Britain, and she was looked after by her maternal grandparents. They were Primitive Methodists and strongly left-wing.

She was educated at St John's School in Bridgwater, and at Homerton Teacher Training College, Cambridge. She became a teacher in Cambridge where she had met fellow undergraduate Hugh Dalton and joined the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party.

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. She married William Manning, a scientist working for the University Solar Physics Laboratory, in 1914. He was a pacifist and a Liberal in politics.

Manning welcomed news of the October revolution in Russia and became a member of the 1917 club. After the end of the war she became an active speaker on behalf of Labour candidates in elections around the country. She was also 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. She became its President in 1930.

In 1931, Manning was elected as MP for Islington East in a by-election on 19th 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 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. At the 1936 Labour Party Conference, several party members, including Ellen Wilkinson, Stafford Cripps, Aneurin Bevan and Charles Trevelyan, argued that military help should be given to the Popular Front of Spain, which fought Francisco Franco and his right-wing Nationalist Army. Despite a passionate appeal from Isabel de Palencia, the Labour Party supported the Conservative 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. While there she witnessed the bombing of Gernika. In 1938 Manning returned to Spain where she wrote a report on the hospitals where British doctors and nurses were working.

Back in England, she continued to be involved with the Basque children, visiting them and highlighting their plight. She was remembered in 2002 by the naming of a Bilbao square "Plaza de Mrs Leah Manning". A commemorative plaque from the Basque Children of '37 Association was presented to the British House of Commons.

After the end of the civil war, Manning tried many times to return to Spain but was refused a visa and never visited the Basque Country again. Many of the refugee children too never returned as they were likely to be imprisoned, and emigrated instead to Latin America.

Manning was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Epping and won the seat in the 1945 general election. In Parliament, she was known for her commitment to education. Defeated in the 1950 general election, she unsuccessfully contested Epping in 1951 and 1955.

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, England.

External links

* [http://www.basquechildren.org Basque Children of '37 Association]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/england/southampton/index.shtml BBC history of the Basque Children]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Epping (UK Parliament constituency) — UK former constituency infobox Name = Epping Type = County Year = 1885 Abolition = 1974 members = oneEpping was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1974. It elected …   Wikipedia

  • Churdínaga — Datos País …   Wikipedia Español

  • Islington East by-election, 1931 — The Islington East by election, 1931 was a parliamentary by election held on 19th February 1931 for the British House of Commons constituency of Islington East in Islington, North London. The seat had become vacant when the constituency s Labour… …   Wikipedia

  • Winston Churchill — For other uses, see Winston Churchill (disambiguation). Churchill redirects here. For other uses, see Churchill (disambiguation). The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill …   Wikipedia

  • Islington East (UK Parliament constituency) — UK former constituency infobox Name = Islington East Type = Borough Year = 1885 Abolition = 1974 members = oneIslington East was a constituency which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United… …   Wikipedia

  • Chingford — Coordinates: 51°37′52″N 0°00′58″E / 51.631°N 0.016°E / 51.631; 0.016 …   Wikipedia

  • List of educators — This is a list of educators. See also: Education, List of education topics.: External link: [http://tools.wikimedia.de/ daniel/WikiSense/CategoryTree.php? wikilang=en wikifam=.wikipedia.org m=a art=on userlang=en cat=Educators Educators category… …   Wikipedia

  • Ethel Bentham — Dr. Ethel Bentham (5 January 1861 ndash; 19 January 1931) was a progressive doctor, a politician and a suffragette in the United Kingdom. She was born in Ireland, educated at Alexandra School and College in Dublin, the London School of Medicine… …   Wikipedia

  • United Kingdom by-election records — UK by election records is an annotated list of notable records from United Kingdom by elections. A by election occurs when a Member of Parliament resigns, dies, or is disqualified or expelled, and an election is held to fill the vacant seat. A… …   Wikipedia

  • Thelma Cazalet-Keir — CBE, née Cazalet, (28 May 1899 ndash; 13 January 1989) was a British feminist and Conservative Party politician.She was born in London, the third child and only daughter of William Marshall Cazalet (1865–1932), and Maud Lucia née Heron Maxwell… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”