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State and Society in the English Countryside: The Rural Community Movement 1918–39

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2012

JEREMY BURCHARDT
JEREMY BURCHARDT*
Affiliation:
Department of History, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AA, UKj.burchardt@reading.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper assesses the relationship between state and society in interwar rural England, focusing on the hitherto neglected role of the Rural Community Councils. The rise of statutory social provision in the early twentieth century created new challenges and opportunities for voluntarism, and the rural community movement was in part a response to this. The paper examines the early development of the movement, arguing that a crucial role was played by a close-knit group of academics and local government officials. While largely eschewing party politics, they shared a commitment to citizenship, democracy and the promotion of rural culture. Many of them had been close associates of Sir Horace Plunkett. The Rural Community Councils engaged in a wide range of activities, including advisory work, adult education, local history, village hall provision, support for rural industries and an ambivalent engagement with parish councils. The paper concludes with an assessment of the achievements of the rural community movement, arguing that it was constrained by its financial dependence on voluntary contributions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 81 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

Notes

1. Brasnett, Margaret, Voluntary Social Action: A History of the National Council of Social Service 1919–1969 (London, 1969), especially pp. 19–35Google Scholar, remains one of the most useful accounts of the institutional nexus between central government and voluntarism immediately after the war. McCarthy, Helen, ‘Parties, Voluntary Associations and Democratic Politics in Interwar Britain’, Historical Journal, 50 (2007), 891–912CrossRefGoogle Scholar, emphasises the ongoing vitality of the voluntary tradition after 1918.

2. The paper is based mainly on: the records of the National Council of Social Service held at the Greater London Record Office, which relate especially to the East Midlands, Kent and Herefordshire Rural Community Councils as well as to the movement more generally; the papers of the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council in Oxfordshire Archives; the East Sussex Rural Community Council in the East Sussex Record Office and the Nottinghamshire Rural Community Council in the Nottinghamshire Record Office. The reports and bulletins of the National Council of Social Service in the British Library and the extensive reportage on the activities of the Rural Community Councils in The Times newspaper have also proved useful. The selection of Rural Community Council archival material mainly corresponds to catalogued records in public archives, with additional attention to Oxfordshire, Kent and the East Midlands as three of the earliest and most active community councils, which nevertheless contrast with each other in interesting ways.

3. The intellectual origins of the wider rural community movement are considered in Burchardt, Jeremy, ‘Rethinking the Rural Idyll: The English Rural Community Movement, 1913–26’, Cultural and Social History, 8: 1 (2011), 73–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Rogers, Alan, The Most Revolutionary Measure: A History of the Rural Development Commission, 1909–1999 (Salisbury, 1999), especially pp. 3–30Google Scholar.

4. Adams was much influenced by Sir Horace Plunkett, the great advocate of agricultural cooperation, under whom he had worked at the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland in the early years of the twentieth century.

5. Deneke, H., Grace Hadow (London, 1946), pp. 92–3Google Scholar.

6. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council (n.p., 1926), p. 10.

7. Minute headed ‘Conference on Rural Adult Education’, in Nottinghamshire Archives, DDRC 1/2.

8. The Times, 19th October 1929, p. 9.

9. Undated typescripts, one entitled ‘The Kent Council of Social Service’, the other untitled, in file titled ‘Notes on history of Rural Community Councils (Herefordshire and Kent) 1941–67’, in London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), LMA/4016/15/F/01/006.

10. The Times, 10th March 1923, p. 12; and 19th July 1937, p. 19.

11. The Times, 1st February 1966, p. 12.

12. Deneke, Grace Hadow, p. 98.

13. Richmond was also a one time member of ‘Milner's Kindergarten’ in South Africa.

14. Grace Hadow, ‘Rural Community Councils’, The Nineteenth Century and After, August 1925, pp. 190–1. Salter Davies had a similar conception of the relationship: ‘the statutory bodies and the voluntary organizations were partners and neither could do its work without the other’, The Times, 30th September 1926, p. 9. This remark was made in the context of educational policy.

15. ‘The Carnegie Trust. Report for 1927. Art and Education in Rural Areas’, The Times, 5th May 1928, p. 7.

16. Hadow, ‘Rural Community Councils’, p. 191.

17. ‘Village Craftsmen. Part-time Business on Co-operative Lines’, The Times, 1st March 1926, p. 20.

18. ‘The Development Commissioners. Report on Research’, The Times, 2nd November 1927, p. 7; The Times, 16th March 1938, p. 16. Amongst the Rural Community Councils funded by the Development Commission for rural industries work were Hampshire (£325 in 1927) and Kent (£460 in the same year). The Times, 14th February 1927, p. 18; The Times, 12th September, 1927, p. 7.

19. ‘The Carnegie Trust’, The Times, 5th May 1928, p. 7.

20. Carnegie Trustees Accounts. The Times, 15th May 1935, p. 3.

21. Minute headed ‘Conference on Rural Adult Education’.

22. Turnor, ‘Rural Developments’, p. 4.

23. ‘Better Living in Rural Areas’, British Institute and National Council of Social Service Monthly Bulletin, 2nd series, 6, 65–6.

24. ‘Adult Education’, The Times, 3rd October 1928, p. 8.

25. Turnor, ‘Rural Developments’, pp. 5–6.

26. ‘The Drift from the Land’, The Times, 28th December 1937, p. 18.

27. Hadow, ‘Rural Community Councils’, p. 194.

28. Hadow, ‘Rural Community Councils’, p. 189.

29. ‘Rural Problems in Kent’, The Times, 30th September 1926, p. 9.

30. Sir Horace Plunkett to Grace Hadow, 31st July 1924, quoted in Deneke, Grace Hadow, p. 96.

31. Turnor, ‘Rural Developments’, pp. 5–6. Beauty mattered very much to several of the rural community movement's leaders, including Turnor, an architect, decorator and carver, and Hadow, author of, among other things, the literary anthology Ideals of Living (1911).

32. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council, 1926, p. 13.

33. Ibid., p. 12.

34. ‘Village Drama in Kent. Success of the Maidstone School’, The Times, 2nd November 1926, p. 12.

35. ‘Drama and Rural Life’, The Times, 22nd September 1927, p. 12.

36. ‘Sir Henry Rew. Lifelong Service to Agriculture’, The Times, 9th April 1929, p. 18.

37. ‘Industries of the Countryside. Work of Rural Community Councils’, The Times, 29th June 1931, p. 19.

38. The obvious exception is Christopher Turnor, a member of the Country Landowners’ Association's executive committee. But Turner's involvement with the rural community movement came principally through his Workers’ Educational Association rather than his Country Landowners’ Association connections.

39. Griffiths, Clare, Labour and the Countryside. The Politics of Rural Britain 1918–1939 (Oxford, 2007)Google Scholar.

40. ‘Industries of the Countryside’, The Times, 29th June 1931, p. 19 and 28th June 1929, p. 9.

41. Reconstruction and Social Service: Being the Report of a Conference called by the National Council of Social Service (Westminster, 1920). The first paper at the conference was given by Alderman J. Chaplin, Mayor of Leicester and General Secretary of the Leicester and Leicestershire Amalgamated Hosiery Union. But it should be noted that the main themes of the conference were urban and national. The National Council of Social Service was not yet as centrally concerned with rural problems as it was to become over the next few years.

42. ‘Needs of Rural Areas. Lord Bledisloe on Community Council Work’, The Times, 19th October 1925, p. 18.

43. ‘English Canning Industry. New Factory Opened by Mr Buxton’, The Times, 28th June 1929, p. 9.

44. ‘Young Farmers’ Clubs’, The Times, 27th December 1928, p. 6; ‘Two Trusts. Experiment in Well Doing. A Programme for the Countryside’, The Times, 31st May 1932, p. 17. Other information has been compiled from a wide range of sources including historical information listed on contemporary Rural Community Council websites.

45. ‘Village Social Life’, The Times, 2nd May 1927, p. 11 and ‘Drama and Rural Life’, The Times, 22nd September 1927, p. 2.

46. Ibid.

47. Sir William Bromley-Davenport, Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire (Cheshire, 1935); Christopher Turnor (East Midlands Joint Rural Community Council, 1926); Brigadier General Lord Hampden (Hertfordshire, 1928); the Marquis of Titchfield (Nottinghamshire, 1938); Mr W. M. Goodenough, later chairman of Barclays Bank (Oxfordshire, 1932); and Lord Stradbrooke (Suffolk, 1937).

48. C. R. W. Adeane, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire (Cambridgeshire, 1926); Colonel T. Marshall-Brooks (Cheshire, 1935); Brigadier General E. C. Walthall (Derbyshire, 1926); Mr W. Bastard (East Midlands Joint Rural Community Council and Leicestershire, 1926); Admiral Tufton Beamish (East Sussex, 1933); Lieutenant Colonel O. R. Swayne of Tillington Court (Herefordshire, 1927); Mr James Dudley (Hertfordshire, 1927); Mr H. A. Hannen (Kent, 1923–4); Mr Guy Ewing (Kent, 1924–9); Captain the Honourable Michael Knatchbull (Kent, 1929-); Lieutenant Colonel W. Coape Oates of Besthorpe (Nottinghamshire, 1926); Reverend R. E. Roberts (Rutland, 1931); Lady Barbara Seymour (Rutland, 1935); Lord Bath (Somerset, 1928); Major Maurice Fearing Cely-Trevilian (Somerset, 1929); and Lord Cranbrook (Suffolk, 1937).

49. A reading list issued by the East Midlands Joint Rural Community Council suggests a predominantly liberal/radical view of rural history, featuring works by Hermann Levy, the Hammonds, Wilhelm Hasbach, the guild socialist Montague Fordham, Sir Horace Plunkett, the Fabian H. D. Harben, and the rural report of the Liberal Land Committee amongst others. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council, 1926, pp. 87–8.

50. ‘Pioneer Work in Villages’, The Times, 6th August 1927, p. 8.

51. Vaughan Nash, ‘The Awakened Village. Value of Team Work. A Flying Survey’, The Times, 28th September 1932, p. 13.

52. ‘Problems of Rural Life. Opportunities for Public Service’, The Times, 13th July 1935, p. 17.

53. Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. Joint Scheme of Rural Community Councils, Nottinghamshire Archives, DDRC/1/1.

54. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council, 1926, p. 12.

55. Hadow, ‘Rural Community Councils’, p. 196.

56. Nash, ‘Awakened Village’, p. 13.

57. Ibid., and ‘National Council of Social Service. Work in Rural Areas’, The Times, 15th August 1927, p. 13.

58. ‘Village Drama in Kent. Easter School for Producers at Folkestone’, The Times, 23rd April 1927, p. 7.

59. ‘Village Welfare’, The Times, 11th February 1929, p. 9.

60. ‘Drama and Rural Life’, The Times, 22nd September 1927, p. 12.

61. ‘Village Life in Hertfordshire. Report of Rural Community Council’, The Times, 15th May 1928, p. 13.

62. ‘Notes from NCSS files’, LMA/4016/15/F/001.

63. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council, 1926, p. 12; ‘Fuller Life in the Villages. Community Council's Work in Sussex’, The Times, 19th August 1938, p. 9.

64. Guy Ewing, ‘English Village History’, The Times, 16th January 1926, p. 6.

65. L. Shoeten Sack, ‘A Domesday Survey of Kent’, The Times, 28th March 1931, p. 8.

66. National figures and those for Oxfordshire and Warwickshire are taken from Burchardt, Jeremy, ‘Reconstructing the Rural Community: Village Halls and the National Council of Social Service, 1919 to 1939’, Rural History, 10:2 (1999), 193–216, 201–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For Berkshire, see Jeremy Burchardt, ‘Village Halls and Meeting Places in Berkshire’, in Joan Dils, ed., Historical Atlas of Berkshire, 2nd edition, forthcoming.

67. ‘The Kent Council of Social Service’ [n.d.], LMA/4016/15/F/01/006; ‘Royal Counties Show’, The Times, 5th June 1937, p. 7.

68. ‘Kent Rural Industries. Treasury Help for Smiths and Wheelwrights’, The Times, 14th January 1926, p. 7; ‘Rural Industries’, The Times, 14th February 1927, p. 18.

69. ‘Kent Rural Industries’, p. 7.

70. ‘Passing of the Village Smithy’, The Times, 15th April 1925, p. 13.

71. ‘Village Craftsmen. Wrought Iron Work of Kentish Smiths’, The Times, 29th July 1930, p. 16.

72. ‘Somerset Willow Industry. The Danger of Foreign Competition. Safeguarding Demand’, The Times, 12th September 1928, p. 9.

73. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council, 1926, p. 12.

74. ‘Fuller Life in the Villages’, The Times, 19th August 1938, p. 9.

75. ‘Village Craftsmen. Wrought Iron Work’, p. 16.

76. ‘Village Welfare’, The Times, 11th February 1929, p. 9.

77. ‘Royal Counties Show’, p. 7.

78. ‘Notes from NCSS files and press cuttings’ (typescript), LMA/4016/15/F/01/006.

79. Ibid.

80. ‘Village Craftsmen. Wrought Iron Work’, p. 16.

81. ‘Royal Counties Show’, p. 7.

82. ‘Kent Rural Industries’, p. 7.

83. ‘Passing of the Village Smithy’, p. 13.

84. ‘Kent Rural Industries’, p. 7.

85. ‘Village Craftsmen. Wrought Iron Work’, p. 16.

86. ‘Village Craftsmen’, p. 20.

87. ‘Rural Industries’, p. 18.

88. ‘Somerset Willow Industry’, p. 9.

89. ‘Rural Problems in Kent’, p. 9; ‘Preservation of Rural England. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Organization Formed’, The Times, 31st January 1930, p. 19; ‘Minutes of the First Committee Meeting held on Monday June 8, 1931, at the Old Bank House, Lewes’, East Sussex Record Office, RCC/6/1.

90. ‘Social Life of the Villages’, The Times, 13th July 1936, p. 8.

91. East Sussex Rural Community Council, Health Services for East Sussex, n.d. [1930]

92. ‘Village Community Councils. Two examples in Kent’, The Times, 11th August 1925, p. 9.

93. ‘Village Life in East Kent. Community Councils’, The Times, 27th July 1925, p. 9.

94. ‘Pioneer Work in Villages’, The Times, 6th August 1927, p. 8.

95. Handbook of the Joint East Midlands Rural Community Council, pp. 80–6; ‘Lord Fairhaven's Gift to Lode’, The Times, 10th November 1930, p. 7.

96. ‘Village Life in Hertfordshire’, The Times, 15th May 1928, p. 13.

97. Hadow, ‘Rural Community Councils’, pp. 195–6.

98. ‘Village Community Councils’, The Times, 11th August 1925, p. 9; ‘Rural Problems in Kent’, p. 9 [L. Shoeten Sack].

99. Ibid. See also the utterly dismissive portrayal of parish councils with which Hadow opens her article ‘Rural Community Councils’.

100. A letter from Wyndham Deedes, vice chairman of the National Council of Social Service, to The Times in 1937 states that ‘Perhaps of even greater importance [than the study of local history] is the work that is being undertaken in educating the villagers in the knowledge and workings of local government. . . In this work the National Council believes that if a greater interest were shown in the work of parish councils by the general body of local electors and if, on their part, parish councils made more general use of their powers to appoint committees on which non-members were invited to serve, the parish council would become a really effective means of expressing in the village the partnership between official and voluntary effort.’ Since it was precisely this partnership that village community councils had been intended to express, it is plain that the National Council of Social Service no longer believed that they were capable of achieving this. ‘The Drift from the Land’, The Times, 28th December 1937, p. 18.

101. The National Council of Social Service published Parish Councils: Their Origin, Functions, and Powers in 1935, priced at three pence. ‘Local Government in Rural Areas. Work of Parish Councils’, The Times, 15th May 1935, p. 8.

102. ‘The Community Council of Herefordshire’, LMA/4016/15/F/001/006. This records that, on 20th February 1939, the executive committee of the National Council of Social Service recommended that Herefordshire Rural Community Council should take steps to establish a parish councils service, largely with a view to raising funds.

103. ‘Notes from NCSS Files’, 3, LMA/4016/15/F/01/006.

104. ‘Herefordshire’ – undated anonymous typescript in ‘Notes from NCSS Files’, 3, LMA/4016/15/F/01/006.

105. See in particular Cohen, Anthony, The Symbolic Construction of Community (London, 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

106. Griffiths, Labour and the Countryside.

107. Newby, Howard, Green and Pleasant Land? Social Change in Rural England (London, 1980)Google Scholar, especially chapters 5 and 6, remains the most devastating critique of the 1947 Act.

108. Williams used this phrase in relation to more ambitious, but in his view still insufficiently far reaching, efforts to create agrarian communities, such as D. H. Lawrence's Rananim, Coleridge's Pantisocracy, Owen's New Harmony or Ruskin's Guild of St George. Williams, Raymond, Culture and Society (London, 1958; 1990 edition), p. 212Google Scholar. For two interesting critiques of the recent work of the Rural Community Councils along these lines, see Philip Lowe and Henry Buller, ‘Private Groups’, in A. BlundenRogers, J. Rogers, J. and Curry, N., Countryside Handbook (London, 1985), pp. 47–70Google Scholar, and McLaughlin, B., ‘Rural Policy into the 1990s: Self-help or Self-deception’, Journal of Rural Studies, 3 (1987), 361–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.