Mr. McKenna in Birmingham: Extension of the Monyhull Colony: … Mr. W. A. Blackwell (chairman of the Birmingham Board of Guardians) presided and was supported on the platform by Mr. McKenna. Sir William Byrne (chairman of the Board of Control under the Mental Deficiency Act), Sir J. Kenrick, Sir H. Manton, Mrs. Hume Pinsent, Miss Stillwell, Mrs. Labone, Canon Astbury, Alderman Bowater, Alderman Sayer, and Alderman Jephcott. The chairman, in introducing Mr. McKenna, expressed appreciation of his efforts to carry through the Mental Deficiency Act. It was an Act which, he hoped, would make their work in the colony permanently successful. … … (continues) … Mr. McKenna … (said) … He hoped they would not regard it as a mark of ill-will but rather as a proof of genuine admiration, that he had succeeded in taking from them one of the members of the Joint School Committee. The King had been pleased to approve the appointment of Mrs. Hume Pinsent as honorary commissioner on the new Board of Control, and Birmingham would lose her services. He was afraid this would make him a somewhat unwelcome visitor, one of those old emissaries of the Crown who used to spy out local wealth with a view to levying taxes on it, but they would not forget that Birmingham’s loss would be a gain to the whole country. (Hear, Hear.) Mrs. Pinsent’s valuable services to the cause of education and local government in Birmingham afforded the strongest testimony of her fitness for the new post, and gave assurance that the high standards of efficiency Birmingham had attained would be extended to other parts of the country in which so much has not yet been done … … … …
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949