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Out of Adversity

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100 Years of NCVO and Voluntary Action

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Abstract

In this chapter Davis Smith examines the work of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) in supporting communities affected by the depression of the inter-war years. With funding from central government, it established a network of occupational centres to provide unemployed men and women with leisure and recreational activities. The work put the Council on the map but was hugely controversial. Critics accused it of deflecting attention from the failure of government to tackle the problem of mass unemployment and of trading independence for funding and influence. It was a debate that ran throughout its history.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a pessimistic view of the period, see Overy, 2009.

  2. 2.

    For the revisionist view, see Stevenson and Cook, 1977; Pugh, 2008.

  3. 3.

    Wilkinson, 1939; Pugh, 2008.

  4. 4.

    NCSS Annual Report 1932–33, p. 11.

  5. 5.

    NCSS Annual Report 1928–29.

  6. 6.

    Harris, 1995, p. 530.

  7. 7.

    Mess, 1947, p. 42.

  8. 8.

    On the myriad of support during the inter-war period from a range of voluntary traditions, see Harris, 1995, pp. 545–7.

  9. 9.

    NCSS Annual Report 1928–29.

  10. 10.

    Harris, 1995, p. 549.

  11. 11.

    Brasnett, 1969, p. 68.

  12. 12.

    NCSS Annual Report 1928–29.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., p. 10.

  14. 14.

    Pilgrim Trust, 1938. See also Bakke, 1940.

  15. 15.

    NCSS Annual Report 1935–36, p. 17.

  16. 16.

    NCSS Annual Report 1928–29.

  17. 17.

    NCSS, 1932a, p. 8.

  18. 18.

    The Manchester Guardian, 28 January 1932, p. 3.

  19. 19.

    The Times 29 January 1932, p. 12.

  20. 20.

    Prochaska, 1995.

  21. 21.

    Quoted in Ziegler, 1990, p. 216.

  22. 22.

    Letter from Ellis to Sir Godfrey Bart, Buckingham Palace, 12 October 1936. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA); Acc 2720/A01/17/01-05.

  23. 23.

    Ward, 2013, p. 223.

  24. 24.

    Ziegler, 1990, p. 216.

  25. 25.

    Grimley, 2004, p. 6.

  26. 26.

    Scott, 1971, p. 150.

  27. 27.

    Lindsay, 1933, p. 82.

  28. 28.

    Grimley, 2004, p. 175.

  29. 29.

    Scott, 1971. For a tribute to Lindsay from George Haynes, see Haynes, 1952.

  30. 30.

    Flanagan, 1991, p. 185.

  31. 31.

    House of Commons Debates, Series 5, Vol. 273, cols. 776–8, 19 December 1932.

  32. 32.

    See The National Archives (TNA) Cab 27/490 Memorandum by the Minister of Health (UC [32] 2), 29 September 1932; also TNA Cab 24/233 CP 307 Unemployment Committee Interim Report 24, October 1932.

  33. 33.

    Minutes of Executive Committee, 20 October 1932; LMA/4016/IS/A/01/029.

  34. 34.

    Memorandum entitled Grant-aid for the social service club movement: Bid to government for further central funding, 26 June 1946; uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/03/07.

  35. 35.

    On the Maes-yr-Haf Educational Settlement, see Stead, 1979, pp. 100–101. On the Lincoln People’s Service Club, see Jones, 1986, p. 125.

  36. 36.

    Olechnowicz, 2005, p. 32.

  37. 37.

    NCSS Unemployed drama notes, 2 March 1938; uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/02/01-04.

  38. 38.

    Ibid.

  39. 39.

    NCSS Annual Report 1934–35.

  40. 40.

    Paper on progress on unemployment work from Ellis, 24 April 1933. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A08/01/33.

  41. 41.

    Mess, 1947, p. 49.

  42. 42.

    Note on King’s Standing demonstration centre, 1933–39. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/04/01–04.

  43. 43.

    Mess, 1947, pp. 43–44. See also Hayburn, 1971, p. 162.

  44. 44.

    NCSS Annual Report 1935–36.

  45. 45.

    Mess, 1947, p. 45.

  46. 46.

    Memorandum on The work of the National Council of Social Service in relation to unemployed people and their dependants, undated. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A08/01/32.

  47. 47.

    Mess, 1947, p. 50.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 51.

  49. 49.

    Ibid., p. 50.

  50. 50.

    The Special Areas were designated by the Special Areas (Development and Improvement) Act, 1934.

  51. 51.

    NCSS Annual Report 1937–38.

  52. 52.

    Mess, 1947, p. 51.

  53. 53.

    The Times 27 June 1939, p. 25.

  54. 54.

    NCSS Annual Report 1937–38, p. 53.

  55. 55.

    NCSS Annual Report 1938–39, p. 53; The Times, 27 June 1939, p. 25.

  56. 56.

    Field, 2013, p. 197.

  57. 57.

    On compulsory training schemes in the 1930s, see Field, 2013, pp. 128–142.

  58. 58.

    Croucher, 1997, p. 163.

  59. 59.

    Letter from Ellis to Sir Henry Betterton, 22 November 1933. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/05/02.

  60. 60.

    Letter from Betterton to Ellis, 24 November 1933. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/05/02.

  61. 61.

    Rushcliffe’s role during the war is discussed in Chap. 5.

  62. 62.

    Minutes of Executive Committee, 24 January 1935; LMA/4016/IS/A/030/01.

  63. 63.

    Brasnett, 1969, p. 79.

  64. 64.

    The Council’s role in coordinating the voluntary movement’s response to unemployment in the 1980s, and the criticism it received, is discussed in Chap. 8.

  65. 65.

    Harris, 1995, p. 538.

  66. 66.

    For a discussion of this issue, see Deakin and Davis Smith, 2011.

  67. 67.

    House of Commons Debates, Series 5, Vol. 273, col. 834, 19 December 1932.

  68. 68.

    House of Commons Debates, Series 5, Vol. 292, col. 1842, 25 July 1934. Also, 1 March 1935, col. 1490, and 23 March 1936, col. 870.

  69. 69.

    Wilkinson, 1939, p. 232.

  70. 70.

    Orwell, 1937, pp. 76–77.

  71. 71.

    Priestley, 1934, p. 287 and p. 385.

  72. 72.

    Guardian, 5 February 1923; Hannington, 1937, pp. 194–5.

  73. 73.

    Letter from Ramsay MacDonald to NCSS, 24 December 1932. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/05/02.

  74. 74.

    Quoted in Olechnowicz, 2005, p. 37.

  75. 75.

    Jones, 1986, p. 125.

  76. 76.

    Ibid., p. 125.

  77. 77.

    NCSS, 1932b.

  78. 78.

    NCSS, 1939, p. 32.

  79. 79.

    Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A08/01/32. Lady Denman was chair of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes from its inception in 1917 until 1946, leading its work during the Second World War. Other voluntary roles included chair of the Family Planning Association and trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust. She died in 1954. See The Times, 3 June 1954, p. 8.

  80. 80.

    Quoted in Jenkins, 2001, p. 165.

  81. 81.

    NCSS, 1932b.

  82. 82.

    House of Commons Debates, Series 5, Vol. 273, Col. 781, 19 December 1932.

  83. 83.

    House of Commons Debates, Series 5, Vol. 275, Cols. 629–30, 2 March 1933; Vol. 278, Col. 640, 18 May 1933.

  84. 84.

    Stevenson and Cook, 1977, p. 83.

  85. 85.

    Flanagan, 1991, pp. 205–6.

  86. 86.

    Ibid., p. 211 and p. 217.

  87. 87.

    Ibid., p. 220.

  88. 88.

    Snape, 2015b.

  89. 89.

    NCSS Annual Report 1937–38.

  90. 90.

    Burnett, 1994, p. 241.

  91. 91.

    NCSS, 1939, p. 5.

  92. 92.

    NCSS Annual Report 1938–39, p. 53.

  93. 93.

    Olechnowicz, 2005, p. 41.

  94. 94.

    NCSS Annual Report 1936–37, p. 52.

  95. 95.

    Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A08/01/31.

  96. 96.

    NCSS Annual Report 1932–33, p. 17.

  97. 97.

    Letter from Lindsay to Ellis, 21 February 1933. Uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/05/02.

  98. 98.

    NCSS, 1934.

  99. 99.

    See, for example, Grundy, 1931.

  100. 100.

    Flanagan, 1991, p. 206.

  101. 101.

    On criticism of the Council for being out of touch with new developments in the voluntary movement in the 1960s, see Chap. 7.

  102. 102.

    Snape, 2015a, p. 66.

  103. 103.

    Hayburn, 1971, p. 171.

  104. 104.

    Harris, 1995, p. 549.

  105. 105.

    Papers of the unemployment committee, 1937–47; uncatalogued papers of NCSS held at LMA; Acc 2720/A01/20/01-02.

  106. 106.

    Minutes of Executive Committee, 27 February 1947; LMA/4016/IS/A/01/032/01. See also NCSS Annual Report 1946-47.

  107. 107.

    Correspondence between John Birchall and Adela, April 1936; private papers, Birchall Family Archive.

  108. 108.

    Memorandum entitled Press coverage for annual report, 1937–38, 19 September 1938. Discussed at Meeting of NCSS Finance and General Purposes Committee; LMA/4016/IS/A/01/045/03.

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    Justin Davis Smith

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Davis Smith, J. (2019). Out of Adversity. In: 100 Years of NCVO and Voluntary Action. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02774-2_4

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