Flora Solomon
Encyclopedia
Flora Solomon OBE
(28 September 1895–1984) was born Flora Benenson in Pinsk
, Imperial Russia, in 1895. She was known as an influential Zionist. She was the first woman hired to improve working conditions at Marks & Spencer
in London
. She was the mother of Peter Benenson
, founder of Amnesty International
.
, in what is now Belarus
. She was a daughter of the Jewish Russian gold tycoon Grigori Benenson, related to the Rothschild family
. She was married to Harold Solomon, a member of a London stockbroking family and a career soldier who was a brigadier-general in the First World War. She had one child, Peter Benenson
, who would become the founder of Amnesty International
.
She was widowed in 1931 and raised Peter on her own. In the 1930s, prior to World War II
, she helped find homes for refugee children who fled to London from continental Europe
. During World War II she organized food distribution for the British government and was awarded the OBE
for her work, which had a profound impact on later government policy in the UK in relation to health care and the welfare state.
She founded Blackmore Press, a British printing house. Her life was described in her autobiography A Woman's Way, written in collaboration with Barnet Litvinoff and published in 1984 by Simon & Schuster
.
In 1939, over dinner with Simon Marks
, the son of a founder of Marks & Spencer, she complained to him about the company's salary policies. She learned that staff often did not eat lunch there because they could not afford it. She said to Marks, "It's firms like Marks & Spencer that give Jews a bad name". Marks immediately gave Solomon the job of looking after staff welfare. In her new position, she "pioneered the development of the staff welfare system" (including subsidized medical services). These practices directly influenced the Labour
concept of the welfare state and the creation of the British National Health Service
in 1948. As a result, Marks & Spencer acquired the reputation of the "working man’s paradise".
. She introduced him to his second wife Aileen. Whilst working in Spain as the Times Correspondent on Franco`s side of the Civil War, Philby proposed that she become a Soviet agent. His friend from Cambridge Guy Burgess
was simultaneously trying to recruit her into MI6. But the Soviet resident in Paris, Ozolin-Haskin (code-name Pierre) rejected this as a provocation. Had both moves succeeded she would have become a double agent
.
In 1962 when Philby was the correspondent of the London Observer
in Beirut
, she objected to the anti-Israeli tone of his articles. She related the details of the contact to Victor (later Lord) Rothschild
. who had worked for MI5
. A Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn
had already told the CIA about Philby`s work for the KGB up to 1949. Nicholas Elliott, a former MI6 colleague of Philby`s in Beirut confronted him. Though Philby did not confess, a week later he boarded a Soviet freighter the Dolmatova bound for Odessa, en route to Moscow, never to return.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(28 September 1895–1984) was born Flora Benenson in Pinsk
Pinsk
Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...
, Imperial Russia, in 1895. She was known as an influential Zionist. She was the first woman hired to improve working conditions at Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. She was the mother of Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson was an English lawyer and the founder of human rights group Amnesty International . In 2001, Benenson received the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement.-Biography:...
, founder of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
Personal life
Solomon was born in PinskPinsk
Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...
, in what is now Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. She was a daughter of the Jewish Russian gold tycoon Grigori Benenson, related to the Rothschild family
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
. She was married to Harold Solomon, a member of a London stockbroking family and a career soldier who was a brigadier-general in the First World War. She had one child, Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson was an English lawyer and the founder of human rights group Amnesty International . In 2001, Benenson received the Pride of Britain Award for Lifetime Achievement.-Biography:...
, who would become the founder of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
She was widowed in 1931 and raised Peter on her own. In the 1930s, prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she helped find homes for refugee children who fled to London from continental Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. During World War II she organized food distribution for the British government and was awarded the OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for her work, which had a profound impact on later government policy in the UK in relation to health care and the welfare state.
She founded Blackmore Press, a British printing house. Her life was described in her autobiography A Woman's Way, written in collaboration with Barnet Litvinoff and published in 1984 by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
.
Marks and Spencer
Solomon is also remembered for improving employee conditions at Marks & Spencer stores in the UK, which had a profound impact on later government policy in the UK in relation to health care and the welfare state.In 1939, over dinner with Simon Marks
Simon Marks
Simon Marks, 1st Baron Marks of Broughton , was a British Jewish businessman.Marks was born in Leeds and educated at The Manchester Grammar School. In 1907 he inherited a number of "penny bazaars" from his father, Michael Marks, which had been established with Thomas Spencer...
, the son of a founder of Marks & Spencer, she complained to him about the company's salary policies. She learned that staff often did not eat lunch there because they could not afford it. She said to Marks, "It's firms like Marks & Spencer that give Jews a bad name". Marks immediately gave Solomon the job of looking after staff welfare. In her new position, she "pioneered the development of the staff welfare system" (including subsidized medical services). These practices directly influenced 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...
concept of the welfare state and the creation of the British National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
in 1948. As a result, Marks & Spencer acquired the reputation of the "working man’s paradise".
Kim Philby
Solomon was a long-time friend of British intelligence officer Kim PhilbyKim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
. She introduced him to his second wife Aileen. Whilst working in Spain as the Times Correspondent on Franco`s side of the Civil War, Philby proposed that she become a Soviet agent. His friend from Cambridge Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
was simultaneously trying to recruit her into MI6. But the Soviet resident in Paris, Ozolin-Haskin (code-name Pierre) rejected this as a provocation. Had both moves succeeded she would have become a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
.
In 1962 when Philby was the correspondent of the London Observer
Observer
Observer may refer to person who is observing. More specialised meanings follow.-Computer science and information theory:*In information theory, any system which receives information from an object....
in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, she objected to the anti-Israeli tone of his articles. She related the details of the contact to Victor (later Lord) Rothschild
Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild
Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, GBE, GM, FRS was a biologist by training, a cricketer and a member of the prominent Rothschild family...
. who had worked for MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
. A Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn
Anatoliy Golitsyn
Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE is a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about the long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership. He was born in Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR...
had already told the CIA about Philby`s work for the KGB up to 1949. Nicholas Elliott, a former MI6 colleague of Philby`s in Beirut confronted him. Though Philby did not confess, a week later he boarded a Soviet freighter the Dolmatova bound for Odessa, en route to Moscow, never to return.
Publications
- Solomon, F. & Litvinoff, B. (1984). A Woman's Way. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671460021 (also titled Baku to Baker Street: The Memoirs of Flora Solomon)