128,794 research outputs found
The replanning of the blitzed city centre in Britain: a comparative study of Bristol, Coventry and Southampton, 1941-1950
No full textBefore the outbreak of the Second World War Britain had suffered the consequences of uncontrolled industrial development - too highly populated built-up areas and indiscriminate sprawl of houses in the suburbs of industrial cities. Those associated with town planning called for comprehensive national planning. The state of city centres was the microcosm of the lack of such planning - insufficiency caused by traffic congestion and chaotic development of buildings of all kinds, and the absence of social amenities such as civic centres and public open spaces. But the local authorities could do very little, because, for one thing, there was no proper legislation dealing with such highly densely developed areas.
The German air raids on several industrial cities in 1940 were thought to have provided a golden opportunity for the local authorities to set to the task of replanning city centres. The Government promised to make up the necessary legislation, and encouraged the blitzed local authorities to plan boldly and comprehensively. City centre replanning had become a symbol of post-war reconstruction as a whole. However, the blitzed authorities soon had to face a wave of pressure to subdue boldness in their city centre plans. This thesis, by exploring the three case studies of Bristol, Coventry, and Southampton, illustrates the development of city centre replanning in the 1940s, and explains why it failed to live up to some of the expectations of its supporters
Engineering workers and the rise of Labour in Coventry 1914-1939
No full textThis thesis is concerned with Coventry in the period 1914 to 1939.
It is a study of the developments in the city's labour movement in this
period. It concentrates on the fortunes of engineering trade unions, the
Labour Party, the Co-operative movement, and the Communist Party. The aim
of the thesis is to explain the way the labour movement changed in these
years, and to draw attention to the shifts in working class consciousbess
that took place.
Although most of the thesis covers the period 1914 - 1939 there is an
introductory survey that covers the development of large scale engineering
in Coventry, and the growth of the engineering unions and the Labour Party
before the First World War. The thesis then follows the progress of the
unions during the war, and. explains the effect of the main war-time strikes.
The years after the war, up to 1922, are dealt with in detail, as these were
years of political and industrial upheaval. The lockout of the engineering
unions in 1922 is also dealt with in detail, and the thesis looks at the effect
of the lockout on the AEU in particular.
Then the position of the unions in the period of set-backs and defeats
after 1922 is covered, as is their eventual recovery in the 1930's. A study
is made of the way the recovery took place, and the differences between the
resurgent trade unionism and the earlier unionism of the war and the early
1920's are shown. The thesis also looks at the effect of the General Strike
on Coventry. Throughout the thesis, an attempt is made to explain the changing
relationship between the Labour Party and the trade unions, and account for
the gradual emergence of the Labour Party as the majority party in the city.
The victory of the Labour Party in the local elections is considered, and an
assessment of Labou& period of rule between 1937 and 1939 is given. The
role of the Communist Party in organising the unemployed in the post-war
years, and its involvement in the unions, and particularly the recovery of
the unions, is studied.
The thesis also covers the political life of Coventry in this period;
and therefore deals with the Conservative and Liberal Parties and the
coalition they formed against the Labour Party. It attempts to explain
the many different ways in which these parties exercised social and political
leadership in Coventry. The work of the City Council in the fields of
housing and education is studied, and emphesis given to the differences
in policy between the Labour Party and the other political parties, and the
impact of Council policies on working class people.
The role of the Engineering Employers' Association is studied, and
the changes in its relations with the unions throughout this period. Attenion
is also given to its relations with the local political parties, and its
influence on Coventry in general. The internal discussion that took place
within the Coventry Co-operative Society in the 1920's is assessed, as is
its strengthening links with the Labour Party.
The thesis examines the way the development of mass production in the
engineering industry changed jobs and changed the role of the unions in the
factories. The response of trade union shop stewards to changix conditions
is examined, both in the period of unrest during and after the First World
War, and in the second part of the 1930's. Technological change in the period
is only dealt with in its effects on employment, though a broad outline of
economic change is given
Women, work and war : industrial mobilisation and demobilisation, Coventry and Bolton, 1940-1946
No full textThe emphasis in this thesis is on women's popular
attitudes towards the two processes of industrial mobilisation
and demobilisation which took place between 1940 and 1946.
Although the work includes a survey of the national picture of
those two processes, it concentrates on case studies in two towns
which exhibited different characteristics of women's employment,
Coventry and Bolton. This is done in an attempt to see if the
tradition of women's employment affected their attitudes towards
war work. In Coventry, the best sources of women's employment
were for single women. During the nineteen-thirties it was obvious
that the motor industry employed increasing numbers of women, but, again,
the unmarried. The economic participation rate in Coventry was slightly
lower than the national average. On the other hand, the cotton industry
in Bolton customarily had engaged married women as well as single women,
therefore, the women's economic participation rate was about 10 per cent.
higher than the national average. Local custom with regard to married
women's employment appears to have affected women's ideas About their
domestic responsibilities. Coventry women were more reserved and more
conscious of their domestic role. However, the comparison between the
two towns also brought out similarities as well as differences in women's
attitudes to industrial mobilisation. During demobilisation, the
similarities between Coventry and Bolton were more strongly marked.
The majority of women war workers had no intention of staying on in the
factory, in jobs which were still largely thought of as 'men's work'.
Most women thought that their well-being was dependent on men's secure
employment and high wages. They did not want to do anything to threaten
it. There seems to have been little antagonism between men and women
during the mobilisation and demobilisation period
The relationship between independence, inclusion and well-being: the perspective of older citizens living in Coventry, U.K.
No full textIndependence, inclusion and wellbeing are commonly seen in a complementary relationship in
policy and research literature. This paper examines the meaning of these terms for older citizens
living in Coventry and the implications for policy implementation. The data presented, obtained
from a large community survey of citizens of 55 years and over living in Coventry, found that
although most survey participants were able to function independently, participate in ordinary
community life and enjoyed reasonable physical and mental health, many others experienced a
series of significant barriers to inclusion and wellbeing.
The paper concludes that there is no automatic convergence between independence, inclusion
and wellbeing at the level of the individual citizen and that to address this issue, more socially
inclusive rather than individualistic forms of independence may be more appropriate goals for
local public agencie
Weavers and freemen in Coventry, 1820-1861 : social and political traditionalism in an early Victorian town
No full textThis thesis is concerned with Coventry from about 1820
to 1861, and in particular with the social and political attitudes
that characterised it. The dominant industry in the city and the
area of Warwickshire to the north was the weaving of silk ribbons.
They were usually made in domestic workshops often by family
labour; piecework rates by a standard 'list' were the traditional
method of payment. A chronic surplus of labour threatened to
disrupt the list-system and depress earnings. Before 1835 the
list-system was several times generally abandoned; moreover, each
successive list was lower than the last, and real earnings fell
more rapidly than prices for those continuing on the same type of
loom. On the other hand, many weavers turned to more productive
looms and so increased their earnings. The home market for ribbons
expanded, Warwickshire had little competition from other domestic
producers, and much continental competition was effectively excluded
by the statutory prohibition of imports until 1826. Although the
tariff that then replaced it proved an inadequate barrier against
continental producers between 1828 and 1832 - and those years were
disastrous for Coventry as a result - it did suffice to guard and
preserve for Warwickshire a growing market for cheap ribbons from
the early 1830s onwards. Standard prices were not lowered after
1835, and were generally abandoned only once, from 1840 to 1842;
the continued adoption of more productive looms further increased
earnings.
Throughout the period, there was a strong tradition of support
for the list system from 'honourable’ manufacturers and citizens at
large, anxious for the prosperity of the weavers and the town itself.
The same tradition sustained a lavish system of statutory poor
relief until 1830; and though it became more frugal thereafter,
the fortunate exemption of Coventry from the close control of the
Poor Law Commission until 1844, owing to the autonomy conferred
by a local act, helped to preserve outdoor relief for the unemployed.
At times of distress relief funds were collected: but a far greater
amount of money was disbursed to the poor from the dole charities,
with which the city was exceptionally well endowed. Some charities
were a special preserve of the city's freemen, who also enjoyed
rights of pasture on land near the city. The freemen, a large and
growing group, were determined to retain their privileges or
convert them into rights as substantial. With the city’s
assistance or acquiescence, they did so.
Many weavers were freemen. Their common good fortune
helped to create complaisance and a pervasive moderation of conduct.
Although the city had a popular electorate because of its freeman
franchise, it was never predominantly radical; radical electors had
to coalesce with moderate liberals to return their candidates.
Radical movements that disavowed middle-class prescriptions were
numerically weak: and even these minorities were distinguished by
their constitutionality. There were scarcely any violent clashes
with authority. Industrially, the record is similar: of militant
yet disciplined conduct. Even in the one act of Luddism that
occurred there was little violence to person.
The weavers were always characterised by a preference for
the outwork system. Steam factories were few in Coventry until
the 1850s. They then threatened through superior productivity to
displace the outwork system. The outdoor weavers competed with them
by the installation of larger looms in their domestic topshops: and
then, in a movement in which they were supported by the factory
weavers and the city, compelled upon the factory proprietors a system
of remuneration which removed the superior productivity of their
looms. By 1859 the outwork system seemed more secure than ever.
But the free trade measures of 1860, by removing the tariff which
had long shielded the city, led to an influx of continental ribbons,
a great excess of labour in Coventry, and the end of both support
for the weavers from the city - now mindful of the need to cheapen
labour-costs - and also the list-system which paternalism had long
sustained
Albinism information posters (English and Chichewa) September 2013:AIMZ: Albinism in Malwai & Zambia
No full textA set of albinism information posters in English and Chichewa. These posters were created by the Design Studio at Coventry University
Albinism information posters (English and Chichewa) September 2013:AIMZ: Albinism in Malwai & Zambia
No full textA set of albinism information posters in English and Chichewa. These posters were created by the Design Studio at Coventry University
Land adjacent to Glebe Farm, Coventry Road, Lutterworth: Archaeological monitoring of boreholes (OASIS ID: headland3-369514)
No full textArchaeological borehole monitoring was undertaken by Headland Archaeology on land adjacent to Glebe Farm, Coventry Road, Lutterworth. Evidence suggesting an earlier route for the watercourse slightly to the south of its current position to the west of the boreholing area were produced along with the suggestion that intermittent and conjoining water sources contributed to deposit a sequence of alluvial deposits at the west end of the works area. No deposits or materials suitable to aid in paleoenvironmental reconstruction were evident
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Architecture in tension: an examination of the position of the architect in the private and public sectors, focusing on the training and careers of Sir Basil Spence (1907-1976) and Sir Donald Gibson (1908-1991)
No full textIn the early 1900s tensions began to appear within the architectural profession,
as private practitioners struggled to deal with the implications of professional
colleagues moving into public sector employment. Sir Basil Spence and Sir
Donald Gibson began their architectural training in the mid-1920s and, as
tensions between the sectors intensified, Spence entered private practice and
Gibson chose to enter the public sector. Each became an exemplar of his
chosen sector of the profession and yet both have, until recently, escaped
critical attention. The tensions between the public and private sectors of the
profession have been acknowledged within the historiography, but not received
detailed analysis.
This thesis advances the current historiography by presenting an examination
of the division between the sectors, focusing on the relationship between the
RIBA and the public sector union AASTA and assessing the influence of
AASTA on Gibson's Coventry City Architect's Department.
Through an examination of archival material, contemporary published material,
and buildings, this thesis builds on the work of the Sir Basil Spence Archive
Project, adding detailed accounts of his early life, architectural training, and
RIBA presidency, presenting new information and correcting certain aspects of
the accepted historiography. It likewise presents new information on Gibson's
early life and training and his central role in achieving improved status and
representation for the public sector. An analysis of selected projects provides a
comparative study of their contrasting approaches to architecture: the
technically informed, collaborative team-work of Gibson and the individual
artistry of Spence.
Both men played pivotal roles in reforming the RIBA and in changing public and
professional perceptions of the architect, nevertheless, the long lineage and
complex nature of tensions within the profession meant that the public/private
division was never be bridged and issues of status and representation
remained essentially immutable
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