March 11, 2016
Remembering Eleanor Rathbone 1872-1946
PSS, as we know it now, started life in Liverpool in late 1918, and owed much to Eleanor Rathbone’s activism. Eleanor was one of Liverpool’s most prominent women the daughter of the liberal MP, Philanthropist, and social reformer, William Rathbone VI.
A feminist and suffragist, she was a powerful and effective social and welfare reformer in her own right, and in 1909 had become the first woman to win a seat on Liverpool City Council as the Independent member for Granby ward.
Her background in building up the city’s social services, with Elizabeth Macadam (1871-1948), pre-dated the First World War. In the aftermath of the conflict the two women, aided by Frederick D’Aeth (1875-1940) and other allies, revitalised the Liverpool Council of Voluntary Aid (LCVA) to meet the desperate social needs of the city.
They appointed an experienced social worker, Dorothy Keeling (1881-1967) as the first secretary of the newly created personal services committee, and under her leadership, voluntary workers were enrolled and organised on a ward basis.
Each was then given responsibility for a small number of families. They gave advice but not money, which, early on, created much dissent amongst other
philanthropic institutions in the city.
The advantage of The Personal Services Society, as it was renamed in 1922, was its ability and willingness to respond quickly to the crises of the day: in times of extreme poverty caused by high unemployment they set up clothing and boot clubs as well as a loan fund. But they were also innovative, exemplified by the holiday service that Eleanor set up in 1927 to send both working women and housewives away for a break.
PSS inspired the establishment of numerous other voluntary organisations, locally and nationally, many of which became household names, including the Citizen’s Advice Bureau and Age Concern.
Eleanor’s influence and ethos is still present today as Person Shaped Support continues to innovate and to influence- as she did- health, social and community services, making a real difference to people’s lives. Significantly, the Rathbone family connection endures, supporting the organisation that their distant relative helped create, and reflecting their commitment to the family motto ‘what can be done ought to be done.’
During 2016, today’s PSS will be helping the Remembering Eleanor Rathbone group to commemorate and celebrate the 70th anniversary of Eleanor Rathbone’s death in 1946, and her commitment to the betterment of society.
As grand as it sounds, the group comprises just two of us, myself and Lesley Urbach. Lesley’s primary
interest is in Eleanor’s humanitarian work for refugees, especially Jews, in and from Nazi Europe before and during the Second World War. We are determined to raise Eleanor’s status, and for every aspect of her activism to be recognised and acknowledged. The year began with two exhibitions about Eleanor, one at the Central Library, the other at the University of Liverpool Library as well as a Roscoe lecture on 14 January 2016 at the Adelphi Hotel.