Caroline Benn
Encyclopedia
Caroline Middleton DeCamp Benn (13 October 1926 – 22 November 2000), formerly Viscountess Stansgate, was an educationalist and writer, and wife of the British Labour
politician Tony Benn
(formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate).
Born Caroline Middleton DeCamp, she was the elder daughter of James and Anne DeCamp of Cincinnati, Ohio
, USA. Her father was a lawyer and she came from a privileged background. Educated at Vassar College
(BA, 1946) and the University of Cincinnati
(BA, 1948), she came to the United Kingdom in 1948 to study at Oxford University
and voted for Henry Wallace
, the Progressive Party
candidate in that year's American Presidential election
. She gained an English MA on Jacobean drama
(specifically on the masques of Inigo Jones
) at University College London
in 1951.
She met Benn over tea at Worcester College
in 1949 and nine days later he proposed to her on a park bench in the city. Later, he bought the bench from Oxford City Council
and installed it in the garden of their house in Holland Park
. In June 1999, on their golden wedding anniversary
, she put on the red striped dress she had worn that night. She had four children - Stephen, Hilary
, Melissa
and Joshua, and ten grandchildren. She was also known as Carol within her family, and Pixie to her husband.
Benn devoted her life to comprehensive education and was co-founder of the Campaign for Comprehensive Education. She sent her own children to Holland Park School
, one of the first comprehensive schools in the country. In 1970 she wrote, together with Professor Brian Simon
, Halfway There - the definitive study of the progress of comprehensive reform in the UK. This was followed up in 1997 with Thirty Years On, which she co-authored with Professor Clyde Chitty. Her widely respected and authoritative biography of the Labour
pioneer Keir Hardie
was published in 1992.
As well as writing extensively about education, Benn held a number of other positions:
She was a member of the Inner London Education Authority
from 1970 to 1977,
an ILEA Governor at Imperial College London
,
a tutor at the Open University
,
a lecturer at Kensington and Hammersmith Further Education College from 1970 to 1996,
a governor of Holland Park School
for 35 years (serving 13 of those as Chair of the Governors),
President of the Socialist Education Association
. She was a friend of Cherie Blair
.
Benn played an important role in her husband's political career. She was popular with his colleagues and her views respected. She is personally credited with having suggested the title of the Labour manifesto for the 1964 general election
; she proposed The New Britain, and it eventually became Let's Go With Labour For The New Britain. She supported her husband's struggles in the 1980s for Labour's leadership and direction. However, she was also able to provide constructive criticism throughout his political career, such as his 1998 ITN documentary
.
Benn was diagnosed with breast cancer
in June 1996, having been unwell for about a year, but fought the illness for several further years. She became increasingly frail during 2000, having developed spinal
metastases, and died at Charing Cross
Hospital, London at 10pm on 22 November 2000. A Tribute to Caroline Benn: Education and Democracy edited by her daughter and Clyde Chitty, was published in 2004, featuring essays on her life and on educational reform, her life's work.
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
(formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate).
Born Caroline Middleton DeCamp, she was the elder daughter of James and Anne DeCamp of Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, USA. Her father was a lawyer and she came from a privileged background. Educated at Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
(BA, 1946) and the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
(BA, 1948), she came to the United Kingdom in 1948 to study at Oxford University
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and voted for Henry Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
, the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (United States, 1948)
The United States Progressive Party of 1948 was a left-wing political party that ran former Vice President Henry A. Wallace of Iowa for president and U.S. Senator Glen H. Taylor of Idaho for vice president in 1948.-Foundation:...
candidate in that year's American Presidential election
United States presidential election, 1948
The United States presidential election of 1948 is considered by most historians as the greatest election upset in American history. Virtually every prediction indicated that incumbent President Harry S. Truman would be defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Truman won, overcoming a three-way...
. She gained an English MA on Jacobean drama
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
(specifically on the masques of Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
) at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
in 1951.
She met Benn over tea at Worcester College
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...
in 1949 and nine days later he proposed to her on a park bench in the city. Later, he bought the bench from Oxford City Council
Oxford City Council
The Oxford City Council provides local government for the city of Oxford in England.- Overview :Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats being the official opposition...
and installed it in the garden of their house in Holland Park
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
. In June 1999, on their golden wedding anniversary
Wedding anniversary
-Official recognition:In the Commonwealth realms, one can receive a message from the monarch for 60th, 65th, and 70th wedding anniversaries, and any wedding anniversary after that...
, she put on the red striped dress she had worn that night. She had four children - Stephen, Hilary
Hilary Benn
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds Central since 1999. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2003 to 2007 and as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs...
, Melissa
Melissa Benn
Melissa Ann Benn is a British journalist and writer. She is the only daughter of Tony and Caroline Benn.Benn was born in Hammersmith, London. She has two older brothers, Stephen and Hilary, and a younger brother, Joshua. She attended Holland Park School and graduated with a first in History from...
and Joshua, and ten grandchildren. She was also known as Carol within her family, and Pixie to her husband.
Benn devoted her life to comprehensive education and was co-founder of the Campaign for Comprehensive Education. She sent her own children to Holland Park School
Holland Park School
Holland Park School was opened in London, UK, in 1958. It became the flagship for comprehensive education, and in its heyday had over 2000 in the student body. It became known as the "socialist Eton", and a number of high-profile socialists sent their children to Holland Park School, adding to its...
, one of the first comprehensive schools in the country. In 1970 she wrote, together with Professor Brian Simon
Brian Simon
Professor the Hon. Brian Simon , was an English educationist and historian.-Background and early life:The younger son of Ernest Darwin Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe and Shena, Lady Simon, he was the brother of the second Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, Roger Simon, the solicitor and writer on...
, Halfway There - the definitive study of the progress of comprehensive reform in the UK. This was followed up in 1997 with Thirty Years On, which she co-authored with Professor Clyde Chitty. Her widely respected and authoritative biography of the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
pioneer Keir Hardie
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
was published in 1992.
As well as writing extensively about education, Benn held a number of other positions:
She was a member of the Inner London Education Authority
Inner London Education Authority
The Inner London Education Authority was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990.-History:...
from 1970 to 1977,
an ILEA Governor at Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
,
a tutor at the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
,
a lecturer at Kensington and Hammersmith Further Education College from 1970 to 1996,
a governor of Holland Park School
Holland Park School
Holland Park School was opened in London, UK, in 1958. It became the flagship for comprehensive education, and in its heyday had over 2000 in the student body. It became known as the "socialist Eton", and a number of high-profile socialists sent their children to Holland Park School, adding to its...
for 35 years (serving 13 of those as Chair of the Governors),
President of the Socialist Education Association
Socialist Education Association
The Socialist Educational Association is an independent socialist educational organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the Labour Party as a socialist society, acting as the party's think tank on educational matters for 75 years...
. She was a friend of Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
.
Benn played an important role in her husband's political career. She was popular with his colleagues and her views respected. She is personally credited with having suggested the title of the Labour manifesto for the 1964 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1964
The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...
; she proposed The New Britain, and it eventually became Let's Go With Labour For The New Britain. She supported her husband's struggles in the 1980s for Labour's leadership and direction. However, she was also able to provide constructive criticism throughout his political career, such as his 1998 ITN documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
.
Benn was diagnosed with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
in June 1996, having been unwell for about a year, but fought the illness for several further years. She became increasingly frail during 2000, having developed spinal
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
metastases, and died at Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
Hospital, London at 10pm on 22 November 2000. A Tribute to Caroline Benn: Education and Democracy edited by her daughter and Clyde Chitty, was published in 2004, featuring essays on her life and on educational reform, her life's work.
Publications
- Lion In A Den Of Daniels (1962), a novel
- Halfway There: Report on the British Comprehensive School Reform (1970) with Professor Brian SimonBrian SimonProfessor the Hon. Brian Simon , was an English educationist and historian.-Background and early life:The younger son of Ernest Darwin Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe and Shena, Lady Simon, he was the brother of the second Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, Roger Simon, the solicitor and writer on...
- Higher Education For Everyone (1982)
- Keir Hardie: A Biography (1992)
- Thirty Years On (1997) with Professor Clyde Chitty