Janet Philip

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Janet Philip
Lady Beveridge, circa 1957.jpg
Born26 November 1876
Died25 April 1959(1959-04-25) (aged 82)
Spouse(s)David Mair (m. 1897)
William Beveridge (m. 1942)

Janet Thomson Philip OBE (26 November 1876 – 25 April 1959), known as Jessy Philip, Jessy Mair and later Janet Beveridge, was a member of the third cohort of female students to study at the University of St Andrews[1] and was School Secretary at the London School for Economics (LSE) from 1920 to 1939.[2] She took a role in producing and promoting the Beveridge Report that her husband William Beveridge had been commissioned to write by the Churchill war ministry Labour-Conservative coalition government.[3]

Early life and education[]

Janet Thomson Philip, known as Jessy during her childhood and first marriage, was born in Dundee on 26 November 1876.[3] She left the High School of Dundee to study mathematics at the University of St Andrews from 1893 to 1897.[4]

Career[]

From July 1915, Philips volunteered for the Ministry of Munitions before joining as a staff member. She was appointed to a role at the Ministry of Food as it was inaugurated in 1916, and took on the role of Assistant Director for Bacon Distribution in September 1917.[2] As "Jessy Mair", she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours.[5]

Between 1920 and 1938, she served as School Secretary and Acting Dean at the London School for Economics[1] and was closely involved in the development of the LSE logo and motto.[6] She had previously worked with William Beveridge, LSE Director, as his private secretary at the Ministry of Munitions.[2]

From 1935, Philips produced 30 columns a year on London University affairs for the Sunday Times for 3 guineas a week.

Between 1934 and 1935, she encouraged the study of modern languages at the LSE, and championed the creation of courses for civil service examination.[2][3]

Archival research by Ann Oakley, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the UCL, found that Philips (now married to Beveridge) was instrumental in helping to produce and publicise the Beveridge Report which led to the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom.[3]

Personal life[]

The graves of Lord and Lady Beveridge

While studying mathematics at St Andrews Philip met met David Beveridge Mair,[7] a mathematician from the University of Cambridge, when he was her external examiner. They married in Newport on Tay in 1897 and had four children, including Lucy Mair, a notable professor of Anthropology.[8]

At the LSE she worked with William Beveridge (1st Baron Beveridge, KCB (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963)[9] who was LSE Director between 1919–37. They married on 15 December 1942, and she became Lady Beveridge.[10] They are buried at Thockrington Church, Northumberland.

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Trailblazing Women at the University of St Andrews: A Celebration for International Women's Day – Special Collections blog". special-collections.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "A controversial appointment – Jessy Mair, School Secretary, 1920–1939". LSE History. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Oakley, Ann (6 July 2021). Forgotten Wives: How Women Get Written Out of History. Policy Press. pp. 143–144, 161–172. ISBN 978-1-4473-5584-7.
  4. ^ "Biographical Register 1747–1897". arts.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  5. ^ "No. 30460". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 7 January 1918. p. 381.
  6. ^ ""Cheerful nonsense with brains behind it" – devising the LSE coat of arms". LSE History. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  7. ^ Blaikie, Lennard (August 1942). "Mr. D. B. Mair". Nature. 150 (3800): 261–262. doi:10.1038/150261a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  8. ^ "Mair, Lucy Philip (1901–1986), social anthropologist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63455. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Person Page". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  10. ^ Wagner, A. R. (April 1950). "The Complete Peerage, or a History of the House of Lords and all its Members from the Earliest Times. By G. E. C, revised and much enlarged. Edited by Geoffrey H. White, F.S.A. Volume XI. Rickerton to Sisonby. 11×8. Pp. vii + 748 + 161. London: St. Catherine Press, 1949". The Antiquaries Journal. 30 (1–2): 100–101. doi:10.1017/s0003581500088417. ISSN 0003-5815.
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