Barbara Estelle Shenfield

her 1945 election leaflet

Dame Barbara Estelle Shenfield (9 March 1919-17 June 2004), was born Barbara Estelle Farrow and later known as Barbara Estelle Lewis. She was a British academic and Liberal Party politician. She was Chair of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service. She was awarded a DBE in 1986.

Background

She was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire^[1] the daughter of George and Jane Farrow, of Bearwood, Staffordshire. She was educated at Langley High School, Worcester and the University of Birmingham, where she received Honors in Social and Political Science. In 1941 she married Flt-Lt. Gwilym Ivor Lewis. They had one son. However that same year, Lewis was killed in action.^[2]

Professional career

During the war she worked in the Women's Land Army.^[3] After the war she worked as a University Lecturer in social studies at the University of Birmingham where she had studied herself. In 1959, after a three year break, she worked as a Lecturer at the Department of Economics and Social Studies, Bedford College, London University, until 1965. She was Academic Director, UC at Buckingham from 1972–73. She was Visiting Professor at Michigan State University in 1960 and Temple University, Philadelphia in 1974, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Rockford College, Illinois from 1969–71 and again in 1974. She was Consultant at the US Department of Labor in 1964. She was Director of PEP Study of Company Boards’ Social Responsibilities from 1965–68. She was a Member of the UK Government Committee on Local Taxation from 1965–66 the UK Government Committee on Abuse of Welfare Services from 1971–73 and the Government Review Team on Social Security from 1984–85. She was Chairman of the National Executive of the National Old People's Welfare Council (later Age Concern) from 1971–73. She was Chairman of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service from 1981–88. She was a member of Friends of the Imperial War Museum from 1991–2002. She was a member of the Pornography and Violence Res. Trust from 1996–2002. She was a Trustee of the Social Affairs Unit from 1990–2003.^[4]

Political career

She was Liberal candidate for the Handsworth division of Birmingham at the 1950 General Election. She had an uphill battle to win the seat as it had been Conservative for decades;

She continued her activity in the party and was elected a member of the Liberal Party national executive. She was also involved in party policy development being a joint author of the Liberal report The Aged and the Nation.^[5] She did not contest the 1950 General Election. She was Liberal candidate for the Walsall division of Staffordshire at the 1951 General Election;

She did not stand for parliament again.^[6]

Publications

She was a notable writer on social and political affairs and had published the following works;

• 1957 Social Policies for Old Age: A Review of Social Provision for Old Age in Great Britain
• 1969 Company giving
• 1971 The Social Responsibilities of Company Boards
• 1971 Company Boards: Their Responsibilities to Shareholders, Employees, and the Community
• 1972 The Organisation of a Voluntary Service: A Study of Domiciliary Visiting of the Elderly by Volunteers
• 1975 Myths of Social Policy: A Series of Four Lectures Delivered at Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois

Arthur Asher Shenfield

In 1951, ten years after the death of her first husband, she married fellow Birmingham lecturer Arthur Shenfield.^[7] Born in 1909, he was also active in the Liberal Party. In 1939 he was prospective parliamentary candidate for Willesden East.^[8] Due to the outbreak of war, the election did not take place. By 1945 he had switched to stand as Liberal candidate for Birmingham Edgbaston. Like her, he finished third;^[9]

They had one son.^[10] By 1955 Shenfield had cut his ties with the Liberal Party to become economic director at the Federation of British Industries.^[11] Shenfield was a notable writer on economic and political affairs and had published the following works;

• 1962 British Made Abroad
• 1963 The Two Faces of the Common Market
• 1968 The Political Economy of Tax Avoidance: a Lecture
• 1970 The Ideological War Against Western Society
• 1971 The Roots of American Discontent
• 1972 Business and Consumerism
• 1977 The Rise of Trade Union Power in Britain
• 1977 From Campus to Capitol: The Cost of Intellectual Bankruptcy
• 1978 The Uses and Abuses of Eminent Domain
• 1980 The Failure of Socialism: Learning from the Swedes and English
• 1981 Myth and Reality in Economic Systems
• 1983 Myth and reality in anti-trust
• 1983 Icarus: Or the Fate of Democratic Socialism
• 1986 What Right to Strike?
• 1998 Limited Government, Individual Liberty and the Rule of Law

Shenfield died in 1990.

References