Helen Caroline Bentwich ( Franklin; 6 January 1892 – 26 April 1972) was a British philanthropist and politician.

Biography

Helen Franklin (later Bentwich) was born in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

, London, into a prominent

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. Her father, Arthur Ellis Franklin, was a merchant banker and her uncles

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territor ...

and

Stuart Samuel Stuart Samuel may refer to: * Stuart Samuel (politician), British banker and politician * Stuart Samuel (physicist), American physicist {{hndis, Samuel, Stuart ...

were leading politicians. Her siblings included Hugh Franklin, a suffragist, and

Ellis Arthur Franklin Ellis Arthur Franklin (28 March 1894 – 16 January 1964) was an English merchant banker. Early life Franklin was born in Kensington, London into an affluent Anglo-Jewish family. He was the son of Arthur Ellis Franklin, a merchant banker an ...

, another banker and eventual vice-principal of the

Working Men's College The Working Men's College (also known as the St Pancras Working Men's College, WMC, The Camden College or WM College), is among the earliest adult education institutions established in the United Kingdom, and Europe's oldest extant centre for adu ...

. She attended

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top ...

and Bedford College. Her niece,

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Her work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal ...

, established in 1952 that

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

consisted of a

double helix In molecular biology, the term double helix refers to the structure formed by base pair, double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA. The double Helix, helical structure of a nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its Nuclei ...

Philanthropy

Bentwich served a forewoman at the Woolwich Arsenal in 1916. She fought for the rights of women workers and tried to form a trade union. Forced to resign, she became an organiser for the

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the ...

. Bentwich and her husband moved to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in 1919, where he was appointed attorney-general under the British Mandate. She organised nursery schools, formed arts and crafts centres, and became honorary secretary of the Palestine Council of Jewish Women. She had mixed feelings about later developments in the region: Her nephew, lawyer Benedict Birnberg, wrote a letter to ''

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 ...

'' stating that she "never acquired a handle and always cold-shouldered

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

." In the 1930s she was active in the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany, and was later involved in helping the Falashas in Ethiopia.

Political career

Soon after her arrival, Helen joined the Labour Party and ran for Parliament at a by-election in Dulwich (1932) and in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

in the 1935 general election, but lost both times. However, in the spring of 1934 she was invited by

Eveline Lowe Eveline Mary Lowe (29 November 1869 – 30 May 1956) was a British politician. Born in Rotherhithe as Eveline Farren, she attended Milton Mount College and then Homerton College, where she qualified as a teacher. She then began teaching at the c ...

to become a co-opted member of the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

education committee, and in 1937 she was elected a member of the council for

North Kensington North Kensington is an area of west and northwest London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green predominately in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly in the London Borough of Brent and City of Westminster. The ...

. In 1946, she was elected for Bethnal Green North East and from 1955 to 1965 she was a member for Stoke Newington and Hackney North. She became chairman of the education committee in 1947, alderman in 1949, vice-chair in 1950, and chairman of the council from 1956 to 1957. In 1965 she was appointed CBE.

Personal life

She married barrister

Norman Bentwich Norman de Mattos Bentwich (28 February 1883 – 8 April 1971) was a British barrister and legal academic. He was the British-appointed attorney-general of Mandatory Palestine and a lifelong Zionist. Biography Early life Norman Bentwich was the ...

in 1915. She followed him in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, shortly after their wedding. In 1931, the couple returned to England. They had homes in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

and

Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval build ...

, as well as a home in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, where her husband was a

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

professor.

Death and legacy

Bentwich died at her home in

, London, in 1972, a year after her husband. The archives of Helen Bentwich are held at

The Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...

at the Library of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Bibliography

* ''Our Councils: The Story of Local Government'' (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962) * ''Mandate Memories, 1918 – 1948'' (with Norman Bentwich, Hogarth Press, 1965) * ''The Vale of Health on Hampstead Heath, 1777–1967'' (Hampstead: High Hill Press, 1968) * ''History of Sandwich in Kent'' (Deal: T. F. Pain and Sons, 1971) * ''If I forget thee: some chapters of autobiography, 1912–20'' (London: Elek, 1973) * ''Tidings from Zion: Helen Bentwich's letters from Jerusalem, 1919–1931'' (edited by Jenifer Glynn; London: I.B. Tauris, 2000).

References

External links

Portrait of Helen Bentwich in 1957
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentwich, Helen 1892 births 1972 deaths 20th-century English women politicians 20th-century English politicians 20th-century British philanthropists 20th-century British Jews 20th-century English memoirists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century British women philanthropists Alumni of Bedford College, London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English autobiographers Jewish English politicians Local historians of England English people of Israeli descent English women philanthropists Franklin family (Anglo-Jewish) Historians of London Labour Party (UK) councillors Members of London County Council People from Hampstead People from Jerusalem People from Notting Hill People from Sandwich, Kent Women councillors in England Women's Land Army members of World War I