Edgbaston: Mrs. Hume Pinsent on Women’s Work in this Council: A joint meeting of the Edgbaston Conservative and Liberal Unionist Association was held at the Vestry Rooms Edgbaston, last evening. Mr. C. Combridge presiding: He said the three proposed candidates were Mrs. Hume Pinsent and Messrs. T. H. Charles and R. Stuart Todd. The situation was a little peculiar. Councillor Tunbridge was retiring and Councillors Nettlefold and Godlee were going to leave Edgbaston for Harborne. Mrs. Hume Pinsent had been selected by the Liberal Unionists wing of the party. The adoption of the candidates was carried unanimously. Mr. T. H. Charles advocated the collection of rates in equal quarterly installments. He promised to use his best efforts in the direction of the economy if returned. Mr. Stuart Todd said that his qualification was that of a purely businessman. He was a Unionist, a Tariff Reformer, and a firm believer in Colonial Preference. Mrs. Hume Pinsent said she had had considerable training in public work, to which she had served a ten years’ apprenticeship, chiefly in connection with the old School Board and the Education Committee. Of the latter body she was chairman of the Special School Sub-Committee which dealt with the education of the blind, deaf, crippled, epileptic, and mentally defective children in the city. Perhaps it would come as a surprise to learn that there were about 2,500 of such unfortunate children in the city. She reviewed her work on the Education Committee, and on the Royal Commission on the Care Control of the Feeble-minded. She did not rest her claims as a candidate on the fact that she was a woman, but on the record of her public work and to satisfy the feeling among members of the Council that chairmen of sub-committees having control of the spending of public money should be fully responsible, elected members of the Council. After-Care of Defectives: There was a great deal to be done in the future with regard to the training and continuous aftercare of all detectives, and she hoped very much that the electors of Edgbaston would give her the opportunity of placing her experience before the City Council. Such matters affected the efficiency of the whole English race. The neglect of defectives largely increased the number of criminals, paupers, and unemployed. When it was remembered that a very large percentage of detectives came eventually on to the rates for support, it would be seen that the question affected the welfare of the city. A great deal of distress need never have exist. Many of the defectives were preventable cases—others need never have been born if only we had given the unfortunate mothers and fathers’ proper care and control. (Applause.) Improvements in education, both elementary and secondary, were needed. Present methods were not elastic enough to meet our needs. We needed more courage and more patience to test experiments by careful observation. We should, no doubt, need more money for further developments. Working among the mentally defective had brought her into contact with the problem of lunacy and the administration of the lunacy laws. The Asylums Committee had no power to co-opt a woman, and the only way to get a woman on that committee was that she should be a member of the Council. “You may not be surprised to learn that there are far more women who are lunatics than men, and it does seem hard that no member of their own sex is allowed a chance of helping to control them.” In conclusion Mrs. Pinsent said that her work among the poorest and most neglected children in the city focused her deepest interest in the Housing and Health Committees. She believed that the knowledge gained would be useful in the difficult work of the prevention of child mortality and disease. Dr. Kirby asked the candidates as to the plans for the tramway accommodation for Edgbaston. The present travelling facilities were wretched, but he hoped that the great unwieldy Dreadnoughts of machines would not come to Hagley Road. Mrs. Hume Pinsent said that a decent tramway system—perhaps not necessarily along the Hagley Road—would be a great advantage. …
(elsewhere) … The Municipal Campaign: In connection with the municipal elections, Sir Thomas Barclay put in a strong plea for a higher percentage of representation of Liberals on the Council. Alderman Edwards, in a letter to Mr. Harrison Barrow supporting his candidature for R. Martin’s and Deritend, expressed surprise at opposition being offered. Mrs. Hume Pinsent was adopted as one of the three Unionist candidates for Edgbaston.
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