Person

1872-1946 British Born: 12 May 1872 Educated: Somerville College, Oxford, 1893 Professional Work: Served as an independent member of Liverpool County Council, 1909-1934; became President of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (the renamed NUWSS); entered parliament as an independent MP, 1929 Died: 02 Jan 1946 GB466 Information from: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRrathboneE.htm (24/07/2006), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Rathbone (24/07/2006), http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/timeline/eleanor_rathbone.shtml (24/07/2006). 25/07/2006 Znnlibyy 01/09/2006 Znnlibyy Rathbone; Eleanor (1872-1946) Rathbone Eleanor Female Father, William Rathbone who served in the House of Commons for the Liberal Party from 1869-1895. Born in London into a Quaker and Unitarian family, Eleanor Rathbone was educated at Kensington High School. As the daughter of the Social Reformer William Rathbone IV, and his second wife Emily Lyle, Rathbone was interested in social issues from a young age. Later, in 1893 she took up a place at Somerville College, Oxford, where she read Philosophy. Following her graduation the young Eleanor worked with her father investigating social and industrial conditions in Liverpool. After his death in 1902 Eleanor published their joint report entitled 'Report on the results of a Special Inquiry into the conditions of Labour at the Liverpool Docks'. In the same year that she was elected as an independent member of Liverpool County Council, namely 1909, Eleanor Rathbone published her first book 'How the Casual Labourer Lives' and her written credentials were further enhanced by a series of articles to a suffragist magazine 'The Common Cause'. As a member of the County Council she was able to argue for improved housing in the city. In 1913 Rathbone founded the Liverpool Women Citizen's Association which aimed to encourage women to become interested in political affairs. By 1918 she was vehemently arguing for a system of family allowances paid directly to mothers and consequently played a central role in negotiating the terms of women's inclusion in the 1918 Representation of the People Act. In 1919, following the retirement of Millicent Fawcett, Rathbone took over the presidency of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (the renamed NUWSS). During this time she also campaigned about various women's issues in Africa and Asia. Ten years later her political career flourished as she became an independent MP for the Combined English Universities. Rathbone grew increasingly alarmed about the threat of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and joined the British Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi Council to support human rights. She was in total opposition to the British government policy of appeasement and instead appealed for an alliance with the Soviet Union, views which are made clear in her book of 1937 'War Can Be Averted'. On September 30, 1938, Rathbone denounced just-publicized Munich Accords. She pressured the parliament to aid the Czechs and grant entry for dissident Germans, Austrians and Jews and a year later set up a Parliamentary Committee for Refugees. During the Second World War she continued to campaign for family allowances publishing the 'The Case For Family Allowances' in 1940. A year before her death Rathbone saw the Family Allowance Act pass into law under a Labour government. However, she was furious to discover that the allwance was to be paid to the father and not the mother. She had threatened to vote against the Bill but sadly died of a heart attack in 1946. 'Report on the results of a Special Inquiry into the conditions of Labour at the Liverpool Docks', William and Eleanor Rathbone, 1903 'How the Casual Labourer Lives', Eleanor Rathbone, 1909 'War Can Be Averted', Eleanor Rathbone, 1937 'The Case For Family Allowances', Eleanor Rathbone, 1940 International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes f3116d58-4314-4f60-ae4d-dd8f41f5ce6a