Monica Felton

Monica Felton (1906 – March 1970) – British writer, Feminist and social activist, a member of the Labour Party.^[1]

Felton was brought up in a staunch Primitive Methodists Household. Her mother Una Page (née Bone) wrote temperance hymns, and her father was a Primitive Methodist Minister.^[2]

She studied at the University of Southampton and later gaining a PhD at the London School of Economics; she was later appointed to its board of governors.

In 1937 she was elected to the London County Council as a Labour Party councillor representing St Pancras South West, holding the seat until 1946.^[3]

In 1947–1951 she served as Chairman of the Corporation for the construction of the new town of Stevenage.

Town Planner

During the late 1930s, she became a leading urban planner, connected to the London County Council where she worked until the start of the Second World War. During the war she worked for the British Ministry of Supply. During the war and afterwards, Dr. Felton lectured on urban planning and housing for the BBC Home Service and BBC World Service.

After the war hundreds of thousands of new homes where being built. Dr. Felton was closely involved in the planning and implementation involved. In the years 1945–1946 part of the major New Towns Committee who led by John Reith construction of satellite towns planned. She worked for the London County Council and Hertfordshire County Council .

In 1949, she was the chairperson of the Stevenage Development Corporation in the county of Hertfordshire. Stevenage was the first of the post-war new towns that were built by the Labour government on the basis of the New Towns Act of 1946.

North Korea

In 1951, she visited North Korea as part of the Women's International Democratic Federation commission^[4] and outlined her impressions in the book "That's why I went" (1954), adhering to an anti-war position. After her visit to Korea she was fired from her job as Chairman of the Stevenage Development Corporation.

Since 1953, was a member of the World Peace Council. Winner of the International Stalin Prize "for peace between peoples" (1951).

India

In 1956, whilst attending a forum in India, met with Rajaji. Rajaji was an Indian lawyer, independence activist, politician, writer and statesman, and also the last Governor-General of India. She later wrote his biography, "I meet with Rajaji" (1962).

References

Further reading

• Clapson, Mark (29 September 2014). "The rise and fall of Monica Felton, British town planner and peace activist, 1930s to 1950s". Planning Perspectives. 30 (2): 211–229. doi:10.1080/02665433.2014.950686.