| Biography | The British Housewives' League is a non-party group that seeks to communicate the voice of the British housewife to the State and to provide facts and research and encourage women to be active and participation in society. The League defends the UK's independence and constitution, promotes Christian (Traditional British) values, and discourages excessive state control because of the evidence of the consequent breakdown in society. In the past the League has campaigned against rationing, identity cards, anti-fluoridation campaigns in the 1950s and UK membership of the European Union.
The newsletter of the League was called Housewives Today but now produces a magazine called The Lantern, deals with all issues relevant to Women.
The League was founded by Irene May Lovelock, née Northover-Smith (1896-1974), who became its first chairman. As a housewife during the Second World War, Lovelock encountered at first hand the problems of rationing, shortages and queueing. Lovelock wrote a memoir of the League but it was never published. In April 1946 Lovelock resigned from the chair of the League to become its president.
Another prominent chairman of the League was Dorothy Crisp, a journalist and writer of provocative articles in the Sunday Dispatch. Under her direction it developed a campaigning posture on women, the state and the dangers of socialism similar to that of the Conservative party in the 1940s. Crisp had been a member of the Conservatives and published books promoting both conservatism and Christianity. She had sought the Conservative nomination for the by-election held in Acton in 1943, and when unsuccessful, she stood as an independent candidate. However the League broke ranks with the Conservative Party and moved further to the political right in the later part of the 1940s. She was subject of a patronising article referring to her as "the buxom, brown-eyed, voluble little woman", by Gordon Beckles, published in the 12 July 1947 issue of Leader Magazine under the title of "Housewife of England!". It featured a photo of her giving a speech on behalf of the League. It has been said that Dorothy Crisp is the historical figure who most resembles Margaret Thatcher. |