Sir Roy Shaw (8 July 1918 – 15 May 2012) was a British educationalist and public servant. Originally employed in adult education, to which he remained dedicated in later life, he was Secretary-General of the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ...

from 1975 to 1983.

Early life

Roy Shaw was born on 8 July 1918 in Sheffield, England, the only child of Frederick Shaw, a steelworker, and Elsie Shaw, née Ogden, who had been a 'buffer girl' in the steelworks during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. His father left the family when his son was four and died not long afterwards, and Shaw was brought up for a time by his grandparentsFrancis Becket
"Sir Roy Shaw: Arts Council leader who fought right-wingattacks on public arts subsidies"
''The Independent'', 16 May 2012 (his grandfather was a miner in Shirebrook, Derbyshire), which he revisited in the Central Television programme on his life (1983). Shaw attended

Firth Park Grammar School Firth Park Academy is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in the Shiregreen area of Sheffield, England. It is partnered with Longley Park Sixth Form, HBH Academy Trust, Beck Primary School, Hucklow Primary Schoo ...

,Richard Hoggar
Obituary: Sir Roy Shaw
''The Guardian'', 15 May 2012 but the later part of his schooldays were affected by the onset of

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension, ...

, and he was unable to gain his Higher School Certificate. He worked first in a butcher's shop and then, after two years at the '' Sheffield Telegraph'', Shaw worked for Sheffield Library, having by then declared himself a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...

at the registration for the Military Training Act 1939 on 3 June 1939, three months before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Shaw gained a place at the Quaker college at Woodbrooke, Birmingham, for a pre-university course in 1941 and later read German and Philosophy at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Unive ...

, from which he graduated in 1946. While at Manchester University he was an editor of the short-lived journal, ''Humanitas'', along with Herbert McCabe, who later became a Dominican priest. In 1946, Shaw married Gwenyth Baron. They had seven children, including the sociologist

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV crime-action television drama series ''The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable television parts include the title roles in '' Th ...

and journalist Phil Shaw.

Career

Also in 1946, Shaw was appointed a tutor for th
Workers' Educational Association
in the East Riding of Yorkshire, based at Driffield. In 1947, he became a lecturer in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, and in 1958 was appointed Director of the Leeds University Adult Education Centre in Bradford. In 1962 Shaw was appointed head of Adult Education at the

University of Keele Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

, and was made a Professor in 1967. WhIle at Keele he became a member of the Boards of Governors of the BBC and of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, and was involved in the foundation of the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British 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 underg ...

. In 1975 he was appointed Secretary-General of the

, where he remained until retirement in 1983. While at the Council he particularly promoted Arts Education, in line with his lifelong commitment to expanding access to the Arts. Shaw rejected a common assumption about arts funding:

"The arts do reach only a minority of the population, particularly the serious arts which we fund, but I believe you can extend the reach beyond the middle class... by education. What distinguishes the bourgeoisie is not a special gift from God but the fact that they've had an education and the opportunity to enjoy the arts."

Despite this, in the later half of his tenure Shaw presided over the council during one of its most difficult periods. After the election of the

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's Conservative government in 1979, the council was forced to make major cuts to the budgets of the arts organisations it financially supported.Obituary: Sir Roy Shaw
''Daily Telegraph'', 15 May 2012, accessed 16 May 2012

Later years and religious history

In retirement, Shaw wrot
''The Arts and the People''
and his critical account of ''Th
Spread of Sponsorship
', a subject on which he also wrote in ''

The Political Quarterly ''The Political Quarterly'' is an academic journal of political science that first appeared from 1914 to 1916 and was revived by Leonard Woolf, Kingsley Martin, and William A. Robson in 1930. Its editors-in-chief are Ben Jackson ( University ...

''. Shaw was a prolific lecturer, published examples including "Culture and Equality: The Role of Adult Education", his inaugural lecture at Keele; "The Relevance of Ruskin" (The Ruskin Lecture, 1987); and "Who Should Pay for the Arts?" (The Harold Dellar Lecture, 1987). In his seventies, Shaw was for nearly a decade the theatre critic of ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...

''. He remained concerned with political issues, for example visiting Israel in 1994 to press for the release of the nuclear whistle-blower

Mordechai Vanunu Mordechai Vanunu ( he, מרדכי ואנונו; born 14 October 1952), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Isra ...

.Roy Shaw "Whistle-blower in solitary", ''The Tablet'', 7 January 1995 In 2006, at the age of 88, Shaw chaired th
Celebrating Age
festival in Brighton and Hove. Shaw converted to Catholicism in 1955, but left the Church in the late 1960s returned in the 1970s, although he eventually described himself as an

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficie ...

in his last decade. He was knighted in 1979, the last Secretary-General so to be honoured before the Council itself was broken into separate councils for each nation in the UK during 1991. In his final year he wrote a partial draft of an autobiography, which was completed after his death by his widow, Gwen Shaw, and published privately by her in 2012 under the titl
'Catching the Rope: A Memoir of the Early Years 1918-1946'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Roy 1918 births 2012 deaths Academics of Keele University Alumni of the University of Manchester British arts administrators British conscientious objectors Knights Bachelor People educated at Firth Park Academy Academics of the University of Leeds