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History of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA):
WEA Eastern and the Cambridgeshire WEA District 100 Years of Learning
The Eastern Region of WEA and the Cambridgeshire WEA District in 2013 celebrated 100 years of learning.
We are the Workers’ Educational Association - also known as the WEA - and we're the UK’s largest voluntary-sector provider of adult education.
We were founded in nationally in 1903, but the Eastern region began in 1913 in order to support the educational needs of working men and women who could not afford to access further or higher education. Today we provide courses for all kinds of adults but we maintain our special mission to provide educational opportunities to adults facing social and economic disadvantage.
You can follow the WEA East History Timeline of the region by clicking on the link
We are the Workers’ Educational Association - also known as the WEA - and we're the UK’s largest voluntary-sector provider of adult education.
We were founded in nationally in 1903, but the Eastern region began in 1913 in order to support the educational needs of working men and women who could not afford to access further or higher education. Today we provide courses for all kinds of adults but we maintain our special mission to provide educational opportunities to adults facing social and economic disadvantage.
You can follow the WEA East History Timeline of the region by clicking on the link
This webpage will develop overtime, you can read more at the WEA Eastern Region's Centenary website
Albert Mansbridge:
Albert Mansbridge
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Albert Mansbridge, Companion of Honour (born: 10 January 1876, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England – died: 22 August 1952, Torquay, Devon) was an English educator who was one of the pioneers of adult education in Britain. He is best known for his part in co-founding the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) in England in 1903, serving as its first secretary until 1915.
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The WEA had a news booklet called the HIGHWAY, the 1952 edition gives a moving tribute to Albert written by Richard Henry Tawney. It opens with the line
With the death last August of Albert Mansbridge a star in the educational firmament has set. To the right is a fully searchable pdf of the 1952 edition, to download just click on the image (14Mb), below are two other downloadable editions of the highway
Highway 1953 Highway 1957 |
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Mansbridge was born the son of a carpenter, Thomas Mansbridge (whose Rank or Profession when Albert was married at the age of 25 was recorded as 'Gentleman'), and due to his family's tight finances had to leave school at 14. As a result, was largely self-educated. However, he still managed to attend university extension courses at King's College London. He eventually taught evening classes himself in economics, industrial history, and typing, all while taking up clerical work. He married Frances Jane Pringle in the Parish of Battersea, Wandsworth, London in July 1900 and they had a son, Thomas John, the following July.
Albert had growing concerns over the fact that the extension courses, started in 1873, were aimed at the upper and middle classes. To help the situation he and his wife Frances founded the WEA at a meeting in their home on 16 May 1903, using two shillings and sixpence from the housekeeping money.
Originally called An Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men, the name change took place in 1905, after pressure from the Women's Co-operative Guild. The association and its aims was quick to be recognized by universities, and Mansbridge left clerical work in 1905 to become its full-time general secretary.
The first Scottish branch of the WEA was in Springburn, Glasgow, although this only lasted until 1909 at that time, the Edinburgh and Leith Branch coming into existence on 25 October 1912 after a meeting held at the Free Gardeners' Hall, 12-14 Picardy Place, Edinburgh. The meeting was chaired by Professor Lodge and addressed by Albert Mansbridge and Dr. Bernard Bosanquet. The meeting was attended by 200 people, including Mr James Munro, M.A. who became Secretary of the newly formed branch.
Albert founded international branches of the WEA in Australia in 1913, and later Canada and New Zealand. Mansbridge suffered from spinal meningitis, but after recovering he would go on to form several other adult-education groups. These included the World Association for Adult Education in 1918, the Seafarers' Educational Service in 1919 (The Marine Society College of the Sea), and the British Institute of Adult Education in 1921. In 1922 he delivered the Lowell Lectures in Boston, and for the Pacific School of Religion with the University of California the Earle Lectures in 1926. He also founded the National Central Library, a tutorial system and a scholarly library for working people who were not connected to an academic institution.
He was a member of numerous government committees of education, including the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education from 1906 to 1912, and from 1924 to 1939. From 1915 to 1918 Mansbridge was on the Prime Minister's Committee on the Teaching of Modern Languages. He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge from 1919 to 1922.
He was also on the Statutory Commission on Oxford in 1923. He was a member of numerous church committees, including the Selborne Committee on Church and State from 1914 to 1916. Albert wrote the preface to Economic Justice; a Text-Book of Political Economy from the Christian Point of View by Gerard Collier, M. A., published in 1924. A blue plaque commemorates Mansbridge at 198 Windsor Road in Ilford.
Albert had growing concerns over the fact that the extension courses, started in 1873, were aimed at the upper and middle classes. To help the situation he and his wife Frances founded the WEA at a meeting in their home on 16 May 1903, using two shillings and sixpence from the housekeeping money.
Originally called An Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men, the name change took place in 1905, after pressure from the Women's Co-operative Guild. The association and its aims was quick to be recognized by universities, and Mansbridge left clerical work in 1905 to become its full-time general secretary.
The first Scottish branch of the WEA was in Springburn, Glasgow, although this only lasted until 1909 at that time, the Edinburgh and Leith Branch coming into existence on 25 October 1912 after a meeting held at the Free Gardeners' Hall, 12-14 Picardy Place, Edinburgh. The meeting was chaired by Professor Lodge and addressed by Albert Mansbridge and Dr. Bernard Bosanquet. The meeting was attended by 200 people, including Mr James Munro, M.A. who became Secretary of the newly formed branch.
Albert founded international branches of the WEA in Australia in 1913, and later Canada and New Zealand. Mansbridge suffered from spinal meningitis, but after recovering he would go on to form several other adult-education groups. These included the World Association for Adult Education in 1918, the Seafarers' Educational Service in 1919 (The Marine Society College of the Sea), and the British Institute of Adult Education in 1921. In 1922 he delivered the Lowell Lectures in Boston, and for the Pacific School of Religion with the University of California the Earle Lectures in 1926. He also founded the National Central Library, a tutorial system and a scholarly library for working people who were not connected to an academic institution.
He was a member of numerous government committees of education, including the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education from 1906 to 1912, and from 1924 to 1939. From 1915 to 1918 Mansbridge was on the Prime Minister's Committee on the Teaching of Modern Languages. He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge from 1919 to 1922.
He was also on the Statutory Commission on Oxford in 1923. He was a member of numerous church committees, including the Selborne Committee on Church and State from 1914 to 1916. Albert wrote the preface to Economic Justice; a Text-Book of Political Economy from the Christian Point of View by Gerard Collier, M. A., published in 1924. A blue plaque commemorates Mansbridge at 198 Windsor Road in Ilford.
Grave slab in Gloucester Cathedral
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Plaque in Gloucester Cathedral
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In 1924, to celebrate the 21st birthday of the WEA the WEA Eastern District produced a souvenir booklet, on the cover it features a very interesting early WEA logo.
Please click on the image to the right to download a searchable pdf of the booklet |
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