Caroline Middleton Benn (née DeCamp; 13 October 1926 – 22 November 2000), formerly Viscountess Stansgate, was a British educationalist and writer, and wife of Labour politician

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

(formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate).

Biography

Benn was born Caroline Middleton DeCamp in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, the eldest daughter of Anne Hetherington (''née'' Graydon) and James Milton DeCamp, a Cincinnati lawyer."Caroline Benn. Obituary"
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', 24 November 2000. Retrieved 10 January 2021. Educated at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

(AB, 1946) and the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

(BA, 1948), she travelled to the United Kingdom in 1948 to study at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and voted for Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party candidate in that year's American Presidential election. She earned an English MA on

Jacobean drama English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

(specifically on the

masques The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

) at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 1951. She met Tony Benn over tea at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, in 1948, and just nine days later he proposed to her on a park bench in the city. Later, he bought the bench from

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the local authority for the city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Oxford has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974, Oxford has been a non-metropolitan district, wi ...

and installed it in the garden of their house in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and largely surrounds its namesake park, Holland Park. Colloquially referred to as 'Millionaire's Row', ...

. In June 1999, on their golden

wedding anniversary A wedding anniversary is the anniversary of the date that a wedding took place. Couples often mark the occasion by celebrating their relationship, either privately or with a larger party. Special celebrations and gifts are often given for partic ...

, she put on the red striped dress she had worn that night. The couple had four children:

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

, Hilary,

Melissa Melissa is a feminine given name. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek word μέλισσα (''mélissa''), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (''meli''), "honey". In Hittite language, Hittite, ''melit'' signifies "honey". Meliss ...

and Joshua – and ten grandchildren. She devoted her life to

comprehensive education Comprehensive may refer to: * Comprehensive layout, the page layout of a proposed design as initially presented by the designer to a client. *Comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, th ...

and was co-founder of the Campaign for Comprehensive Education. She sent her own children to

Holland Park School Holland Park School is a coeducational Comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located in Holland Park, London, England. Opened in 1958, the school was considered a flagship for comprehensive education, nicknamed 'th ...

, one of the first comprehensive schools in the country. In 1970, she wrote alongside Professor Brian Simon, ''Halfway There'' – the definitive study of the progress of comprehensive reform in the UK. This was followed up in 1997 with ''Thirty Years On'', which she co-wrote with Prof. Clyde Chitty. As well as writing extensively about education, Benn held a number of other positions: she was a member of the

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. From 1965 to 1986 it was an ad hoc committee of the Greater London Co ...

from 1970 to 1977, an ILEA Governor at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, a tutor at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

, a lecturer at Kensington and Hammersmith Further Education College from 1970 to 1996, a governor of

for thirty-five years (serving from 1971 to 1983 as Chair, under the headship of Derek Rushworth), and president of the Socialist Education Association. Benn played a significant role in her husband's political career, earning popularity among his colleagues who respected her views, which were often more radical than Benn's. She is personally credited with having suggested the title of the Labour Party manifesto for the 1964 general election. She proposed ''The New Britain'', and it eventually became ''Let's Go With Labour for the New Britain''. In 1964 she was secretary of the ''Who Killed Kennedy? Committee'' set up by

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

Death

Benn was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 1996, having been unwell for about a year, but fought the illness for several further years. She became increasingly frail during 2000, having developed spinal

metastases Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

, and died at

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is district general hospital and teaching hospital located in Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approxim ...

, London, on 22 November 2000, aged 74.

Tribute

''A Tribute to Caroline Benn: Education and Democracy'', edited by her daughter and Clyde Chitty, was published in 2004, featuring essays on her life and on educational reform and her life's work.

Publications

* ''Comprehensive School Reform and the 1945 Labour Government'' (1980), History Workshop Journal * ''Lion in a Den of Daniels'' (1962), a novel * ''Halfway There: Report on the British Comprehensive School Reform'' (1970), with Professor Brian Simon * ''Higher Education For Everyone'' (1982) * ''Keir Hardie: A Biography'' (1992) * ''Thirty Years On'' (1997), with Professor Clyde Chitty

References

External links

"A Tribute to Caroline Benn" (2004)
edited by Melissa Benn & Clyde Chitty
Caroline Benn
at Google Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Benn, Caroline 1926 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American women writers Academics of the Open University Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of University College London American emigrants to England Caroline Comprehensive education Deaths from breast cancer in England English educational theorists People associated with Imperial College London Writers from Cincinnati University of Cincinnati alumni Vassar College alumni Stansgate Tony Benn Spouses of British politicians