Rose Hacker
Encyclopedia
Rose Hacker was a British
socialist
, writer, sex educator
and campaigner for social justice. At her death, aged 101, she was the world's oldest newspaper columnist.
. Her parents were middle class Jewish immigrants, and her father ran a business making women's clothes. She studied art, design, French and German at the Regent Street Polytechnic
, but was a voracious learner outside formal education, aided by an incredible memory. After leaving polytechnic, she worked for her father as a model, designer and assistant, while keeping up a full social life in London.
She had to give up her first love, a doctor, because the social mores and economic realities of the day forced him to choose between marriage and a career. She was outraged that life should create such situations, but later had a happy marriage with Mark Hacker, an accountant. They had two sons and adopted a daughter.
She developed her talents as an artist and sculptor, having a piece displayed in the British Museum
. She remained active even late in life, practising belly-dancing, T'ai chi and the Alexander Technique
, and swimming most days. In 2007, she and two fellow care home residents performed a dance choreographed specially for them at The Place
, in Euston.
and socialist
in her teens, having seen wounded soldiers returning from World War I
, and hunger marchers from Wales and the Midlands in Oxford Street
. In the 1930s she worked against fascism
and to relieve the sufferings of the working class during the Great Depression
. In 1931, at the height of Stalin's purges, she visited the USSR along with the Sydney & Beatrice Webb
. Writing of her trip in the Camden New Journal, Hacker said: 'of course we didn't know what he ( Stalin ) was doing then' seemingly indicating that, like many people on the left at that time, she did not believe the atrocity stories circulating about the regime. The phrase 'we did not know' in regard to Stalin's terror has to be set alongside the fact that, also in 1931, a conference against 'slavery in Russia' took place at London's Royal Albert Hall. Hacker's activitism continued as she became involved with the Co-operative Correspondence Club
, and she became more involved with education, counselling and helping the disadvantaged through her work as a relationship counsellor with the Marriage Guidance Council after the Second World War
. This led to work in prisons, mental hospitals and with the disabled, and she also championed housing rights and equality for all.
In 1949, she was one of the researchers for a study on sexual behaviour in Britain, dubbed "Little Kinsey" after the 1948 American Kinsey Report. The study grew out of Britain's Mass Observation programme and was partly funded by the Daily Mirror's Sunday Pictorial. It went further than the first Kinsey Report by interviewing women as well as men, but its findings were deemed shocking and few were made public.
One of the biggest problems she uncovered was that of unconsummated marriages. Hacker wrote several books, but it was her sex education book, Telling the Teenagers: A guide to parents, teachers and youth leaders (1957), that became a best seller. It was revised and republished in 1960 as The Opposite Sex: Vital knowledge about adult relationships – from your first "date" to married life and love.
After years of serving on voluntary and local government organisations, Hacker was elected to the Greater London Council
as Labour Party
member for St Pancras
. Her election slogan was "bring the countryside to London". She was also chair of the Thames Waterways Board.
When the editor of her local North London newspaper, the Camden New Journal
heard her speak on nuclear disarmament, he offered her a fortnightly column in the paper.
The column first appeared in September 2006 and generated considerable interest. For the last 18 months of her life she was in great demand for television, radio and magazine interviews and articles. She wrote the column as a very personal testament to the truth, and was rather disappointed to discover no one had written in to complain about it.
Hacker died in hospital in 2008 after a fortnight's illness.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, writer, sex educator
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
and campaigner for social justice. At her death, aged 101, she was the world's oldest newspaper columnist.
Life
Hacker was born in central LondonLondon
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...
. Her parents were middle class Jewish immigrants, and her father ran a business making women's clothes. She studied art, design, French and German at the Regent Street Polytechnic
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
, but was a voracious learner outside formal education, aided by an incredible memory. After leaving polytechnic, she worked for her father as a model, designer and assistant, while keeping up a full social life in London.
She had to give up her first love, a doctor, because the social mores and economic realities of the day forced him to choose between marriage and a career. She was outraged that life should create such situations, but later had a happy marriage with Mark Hacker, an accountant. They had two sons and adopted a daughter.
She developed her talents as an artist and sculptor, having a piece displayed in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. She remained active even late in life, practising belly-dancing, T'ai chi and the Alexander Technique
Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique teaches the ability to improve physical postural habits, particularly those that have become ingrained and conditioned responses...
, and swimming most days. In 2007, she and two fellow care home residents performed a dance choreographed specially for them at The Place
The Place
The Place is a dance and performance centre in Duke's Road near Euston in the London Borough of Camden. Originally the home base of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre from the 1970s, it is now the location of the London Contemporary Dance School, the Richard Alston Dance Company and the Robin...
, in Euston.
Work
Hacker became a pacifistPacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in her teens, having seen wounded soldiers returning from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and hunger marchers from Wales and the Midlands in Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
. In the 1930s she worked against fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and to relieve the sufferings of the working class during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. In 1931, at the height of Stalin's purges, she visited the USSR along with the Sydney & Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
. Writing of her trip in the Camden New Journal, Hacker said: 'of course we didn't know what he ( Stalin ) was doing then' seemingly indicating that, like many people on the left at that time, she did not believe the atrocity stories circulating about the regime. The phrase 'we did not know' in regard to Stalin's terror has to be set alongside the fact that, also in 1931, a conference against 'slavery in Russia' took place at London's Royal Albert Hall. Hacker's activitism continued as she became involved with the Co-operative Correspondence Club
Co-operative Correspondence Club
The Cooperative Correspondence Club was a group of approximately twenty four women, living all over the United Kingdom, who wrote to each other in the form of a private correspondence magazine from 1936-1990.- Origin :...
, and she became more involved with education, counselling and helping the disadvantaged through her work as a relationship counsellor with the Marriage Guidance Council after the Second World War
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...
. This led to work in prisons, mental hospitals and with the disabled, and she also championed housing rights and equality for all.
In 1949, she was one of the researchers for a study on sexual behaviour in Britain, dubbed "Little Kinsey" after the 1948 American Kinsey Report. The study grew out of Britain's Mass Observation programme and was partly funded by the Daily Mirror's Sunday Pictorial. It went further than the first Kinsey Report by interviewing women as well as men, but its findings were deemed shocking and few were made public.
One of the biggest problems she uncovered was that of unconsummated marriages. Hacker wrote several books, but it was her sex education book, Telling the Teenagers: A guide to parents, teachers and youth leaders (1957), that became a best seller. It was revised and republished in 1960 as The Opposite Sex: Vital knowledge about adult relationships – from your first "date" to married life and love.
After years of serving on voluntary and local government organisations, Hacker was elected to the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
as Labour Party
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...
member for St Pancras
St Pancras
-Saints:* Pancras of Taormina, martyred in 40 AD in Sicily* Pancras of Rome, the saint martyred c.304 AD after whom the following are directly or indirectly named-United Kingdom:* St Pancras, London, a district of London...
. Her election slogan was "bring the countryside to London". She was also chair of the Thames Waterways Board.
When the editor of her local North London newspaper, the Camden New Journal
Camden New Journal
The Camden New Journal is a free, independent newspaper that covers the London Borough of Camden. It was born out of a strike in the 1980s supported by campaigning journalist Paul Foot, Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson and the paper's editor Eric Gordon...
heard her speak on nuclear disarmament, he offered her a fortnightly column in the paper.
The column first appeared in September 2006 and generated considerable interest. For the last 18 months of her life she was in great demand for television, radio and magazine interviews and articles. She wrote the column as a very personal testament to the truth, and was rather disappointed to discover no one had written in to complain about it.
Hacker died in hospital in 2008 after a fortnight's illness.
External links
- Rose Hacker Column in Camden New JournalCamden New JournalThe Camden New Journal is a free, independent newspaper that covers the London Borough of Camden. It was born out of a strike in the 1980s supported by campaigning journalist Paul Foot, Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson and the paper's editor Eric Gordon...
- Obituary in The Times