Constance Rover
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Constance Rover (15 December 1910 – 16 February 2005) was an English historian. She educated on behalf of the
Workers' Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...
and became a full-time faculty member of the
Polytechnic of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...
as deputy head of law and sociology law department in 1957. Rover began England's first
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
course in the early 1960s and wrote the books ''Women's Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain 1866–1914'' and ''Punch Book Of Women's Rights'' in 1967. She retired in 1971, a year after publishing ''Love, Morals And The Feminists''. Rover was a member of the
International Alliance of Women The International Alliance of Women (IAW; , AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suff ...
board and published ''Rambling Rhymes'' in 1990.


Biography

On 15 December 1910, Rover was born in
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, England. She was the sole child of an invalid father. Rover was educated at Cockermouth Grammar School and went on to work as a secretary in
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
and later
Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
. Following her getting married and becoming a mother, she remained at home but did gain outside interests. Rover became a member of the
Townswomen's Guild Members representing their Federation at the 2009 AGM in Birmingham The Townswomen's Guild (TG) is a British women's organisation. There are approximately 30,000 members, 706 branches and 77 Federations throughout England, Scotland, Wales and N ...
following her 1954 relocation to
Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. She studied an external degree in economics under family policy and single parenthood specialist OR McGregor at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. Following graduation, Rover educated on behalf of the
Workers' Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...
, before going on to join the
Polytechnic of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...
in
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...
as a full-time faculty member in 1957, becoming deputy head of law and sociology law department. She was also a senior government lecturer and began the first
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
course in England for part-time students who had no formal qualifications in the early 1960s; the course quickly became over-subscribed. Rover also got her
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
and wrote a book on suffrage researching in the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
and the
Fawcett Society The Fawcett Society is a membership charity in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation dates back to 1866, when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. From 190 ...
archives. The book, ''Women's Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain 1866–1914'', was published by her in 1967. That same year, ''Punch Book Of Women's Rights'', was prepared historically by the author and included cartoons, stories and verses that were featured in the British magazine ''Punch''. When the second wave of feminism came to emerge, Rover authored ''Love, Morals And The Feminists'' in 1970. She wrote about a global account of women's rights' struggles, that made up the first wave of feminism from well known figures such as
Annie Besant Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an arden ...
,
Josephine Butler Josephine Elizabeth Butler (; 13 April 1828 – 30 December 1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture in B ...
,
Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...
and
Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for Eugenic feminism, eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and co ...
. In 1971, Rover retired hesitantly and relocated to
Hythe, Kent Hythe () is an old market town and civil parish on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, England. ''Hythe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The earliest reference to Hythe is in Domesday Book (1086) though there i ...
from
Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...
. She studied French and German, playing
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
and reading. Rover began travelling following the death of her husband and joined the
International Alliance of Women The International Alliance of Women (IAW; , AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suff ...
's board. She attended the International Alliance of Women's meetings held in Australia, Finland, Iceland and Japan and became friends with women from several backgrounds. Rover published ''Rambling Rhymes'' in 1990.


Personal life

She was married to the solicitor Frederick Rover, with whom she had a daughter who became a historian of prostitution law. Rover died on 16 February 2005.


Approach

She said of her research into women's rights in a 1983 interview that it was to combine her interests in history, law and politics. Jan Marsh of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' said of Rover's legacy: "Those schooled in the "personal is political" approach will see how this silently informed her work, and how, through the resolutely impersonal scholarship demanded of her generation, she opened a door through which historians poured, often only half-aware of their predecessors."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rover, Constance 1910 births 2005 deaths People from Cumbria Alumni of the University of London 20th-century English women writers English women non-fiction writers English women historians 20th-century English historians English feminists Workers' Educational Association Academics of the University of North London