The Vote – The Pinsent Family

The Vote: Friday 17th February 1928

Women and the Board of Control: Sir Frederick Willis has just retired from the Chairmanship of the Board of Control, and his place has been taken by Mr. Lawrence George Brock, a Principal Assistant-Secretary of the Ministry of Health, who has also been made a Commissioner of the Board of Control. We take this opportunity of again urging that women should be appointed to the Board of Control, of equal status with the men on the Board. This Board now consists of three unpaid Commissioners, Sir Leolin Forestier Walker, K.B.E., M.P., Sir Marriott Cooke, K.B.E., M. B., and Miss R. Darwin, and the following paid Commissioners, Sir J. Fraser Macleod, K.G. Lieut.-Col. B. T. Hodgson, C.M.G., C. H. Bond, C.B.E., D.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P., each of whom receives £1,500 a year; A. Rotherham, M. B., Hon. H. C. Bailey, Mrs. F. Pinsent, C.B.E., each receiving £1,200 to £1,500 ; and R. Cunyngham Brown, C.B.E., (temporary), with £1,200. In view of the fact that there are more women mental patients than men, it seems extraordinary to us that there is no medical woman on this Board, and we think that the Ministry of Health should have taken advantage of the retirement of Sir Frederick Willis to appoint a medical woman as a Commissioner of the Board. … (continues) …

[see additional complaints about lack of medical representation: The Vote: Friday 20^th September 1929, Friday 7^th February 1930 and Friday 5^th December 1930]

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

The Vote: Friday 24th June 1932

Board of Control: The King, on the recommendation of the Minister of Health, has approved the appointment of Miss Ruth Darwin as a senior commissioner of the Board of Control, in succession to Mrs. Ellen F. Pinsent. Mrs. Pinsent, who will retire on July 31, has had a long and distinguished career of public service. She served for many years on the Birmingham Education Committee and on the City Council and was a member of the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded, 1904 to 1909. She was an honorary commissioner of the Board of Control from 1913 to 1920 and a commissioner from 1921 to 1930, and has been a senior commissioner since January 1, 1931, when the board was reconstituted under the Mental Treatment Act, 1930. Miss Darwin, granddaughter of Charles Robert Darwin, was an honorary commissioner from 1920 to 1930, and has been a commissioner since January 1, 1931. She is a member of the committee recently appointed to consider certain issues arising in connection with the sterilisation of the mentally unfit. While we welcome Miss Darwin’s appointment as one of the senior commissioners of the Board of Control, we again urge the necessity of including a medical woman as a senior commissioner, just as we urge that a medical woman should be included in the recently appointed committee appointed to consider certain issues arising in connection with the sterilisation of the mentally unfit.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

The Vote: Friday 13th February 1931

The Board of Control: Women Commissioners Appointed: The Mental Treatment Act, 1930, provides that the Board of Control shall consist of the Chairman (who FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1931, shall be a paid Commissioner) and not more than four other Commissioners, all of whom shall be paid Commissioners. These members of the Board of Control are called “Senior Commissioners,” and it is stated that of the Senior Commissioners other than the Chairman, one at least shall be a legal Commissioner, two shall be medical Commissioners, and one at least shall be a woman. These Senior Commissioners are appointed by His Majesty on the recommendation, with regard to the legal Commissioners, of the Lord Chancellor, and in the case of the other Commissioners, of the Minister of Health. In addition to the Senior Commissioners, there are to be other paid Commissioners, who are appointed, subject to the approval of the Minister of Health, by’ the Board of Control. The Act declares that women are to be included as well as men among these Commissioners, and that any Commissioners so appointed shall be officers of the Board. Last December we reported that the Senior Commissioners, consisting of the Chairman, Mr. Lawrence George Brock, C. B., and four other Senior Commissioners — one legal man, two medical men, and one lay woman, Mrs. Ellen Pinsent, C.B.E., had been appointed. At the same time, we said it was most regrettable that no medical woman had been appointed a member of the Board of Control. Last week The Times reported that this Board of Control, with the approval of the Minister of Health, had appointed the following to be Commissioners: Mr. A. E. Evans, M. B., D.P.H., Mr. S. E. Gill, M.D., D. P. H., Mr. E. 0. Lewis, D.Sc., L. R. C. P., Mr. J. W. W. Adamson, M.D, Surgeon Rear-Admiral J. F. Hall, C.M.G., K.H.S., Surgeon Rear-Admiral E. T. Meagher — at present Medical Inspectors; and Mr. C. F. Penton, Barrister-at-Law, Miss I. M. C. Duncan, B. A., LL. B., Barrister-at-Law, Surgeon-Captain H. C. Devas, Miss I. G. H. Wilson, M.D., D.P.M., and Miss R. Darwin (part-time). We are glad to note that three women are among these Commissioners appointed by the Board of Control, including one medical woman and one-woman barrister. We are, however, by no means satisfied with the composition of the Board of Control itself, as it seems only common sense that of its two medical members one should be a woman and the other a man. The proportion of women to men among the medical Commissioners appointed by the Board is also ludicrously inadequate.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949