Margaret Cole
Dame Margaret Isabel Cole, DBE (née Postgate; 6 May 1893 – 7 May 1980) was an English socialist politician, writer and poet. She wrote several detective stories in conjunction with her husband, G. D. H. Cole. She went on to hold important posts in London government in the period after the Second World War.
Margaret Cole DBE | |
|---|---|
 Margaret Cole in 1944-45 by Stella Bowen | |
| Born | Margaret Isabel Postgate 6 May 1893 United Kingdom |
| Died | 7 May 1980 (aged 87) United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Writer, politician |
| Alma mater | Roedean School Girton College, Cambridge |
| Genre | Mystery, biography |
| Relatives | John Percival Postgate (father) Edith Allen (mother) Raymond Postgate (brother) Oliver Postgate (nephew) John Postgate (nephew) Richard J. Cole (grandson) |
Life
A daughter of John Percival Postgate and Edith (née Allen) Postgate, Margaret was educated at Roedean School and Girton College, Cambridge. While reading of H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw and others at Girton, she came to question the Anglicanism of her upbringing and to embrace socialism after reading notable books on the subject.[1]
Having completed her course (Cambridge did not allow women to graduate formally until 1947), Margaret became a classics teacher at St Paul's Girls' School. Her poem The Falling Leaves, a response to the First World War, and currently on the OCR English Literature syllabus at GCSE, shows the influence of Latin poetry in its use of long and short syllables to create mimetic effects.
Pacifist period
During World War I, her brother Raymond Postgate sought exemption from military service as a socialist conscientious objector, but was denied recognition and jailed for refusing military orders. Her support for her brother led her to a belief in pacifism. During her subsequent campaign against conscription, she met G. D. H. Cole, whom she married in a registry office in August 1918.[1] The couple worked together for the Fabian Society before moving to Oxford in 1924, where they both taught and wrote.
In the early 1930s, Margaret abandoned her pacifism in reaction to the suppression of socialist movements by the governments in Germany and Austria and to the events of the Spanish Civil War.
Education work
In 1941, Margaret Cole was co-opted onto the Education Committee of the London County Council, on the nomination of Herbert Morrison, and became a champion of comprehensive education. She was an alderman on London County Council from 1952 until the Council's abolition in 1965.[2] She was a member of the Inner London Education Authority from its creation in 1965 until her retirement from public life in 1967.
Harold Wilson had given her an OBE in 1965 and she became a Dame when she was awarded a DBE in 1970.[1]
Writings
She wrote several books, including a biography of her husband.[3] Margaret's brother Raymond was a labour historian, journalist and novelist.[4] Margaret and her husband jointly authored many mystery novels.[5]
Margaret and her husband created a partnership, but not a full marriage: her husband took little interest in sex and he regarded women as a distraction for men. Nevertheless, they had a son and two daughters. Margaret Cole comprehensively documented their life together in a biography she wrote of her husband after his death.[6]
Detective stories
By G. D. H. and M. I. Cole:
- (1925) The Death of a Millionaire
- (1926) The Blatchington Tangle
- (1927) The Murder at Crome House[6]
- (1928) The Man from the River
- (1928) Superintendent Wilson's Holiday
- (1929) Poison in the Garden Suburb or Poison in a Garden Suburb
- (1930) Burglars in Bucks or The Berkshire Mystery
- (1930) Corpse in Canonicals or The Corpse in the Constable's Garden
- (1931) The Great Southern Mystery or The Walking Corpse
- (1931) Dead Man's Watch
- (1932) Death of a Star
- (1933) A Lesson in Crime (short stories)
- (1933) The Affair at Aliquid
- (1933) End of an Ancient Mariner
- (1934) Death in the Quarry
- (1935) Big Business Murder
- (1935) Dr Tancred Begins
- (1935) Scandal at School or The Sleeping Death
- (1936) Last Will and Testament
- (1936) The Brothers Sackville
- (1937) Disgrace to the College
- (1937) The Missing Aunt
- (1938) Mrs Warrender's Profession
- (1938) Off with her Head!
- (1939) Double Blackmail
- (1939) Greek Tragedy
- (1940) Wilson and Some Others
- (1940) Murder at the Munition Works
- (1940) Counterpoint Murder
- (1941) Knife in the Dark
- (1942) Toper's End
- (1945) Death of a Bride
- (1946) Birthday Gifts
- (1948) The Toys of Death
Bibliography
- Margaret Cole (1949): Growing up into Revolution
- M. I. Cole (1971): The Life of G. D. H. Cole, ISBN 0333002164
- Naomi Mitchison (1982): Margaret Cole, 1893–1980, ISBN 0-7163-0482-1
- B. D. Vernon (1986): Margaret Cole, 1893–1980: A Political Biography, ISBN 0-7099-2611-1
- See under G. D. H. Cole for joint works
References
- Marc Stears, "Cole , Dame Margaret Isabel (1893–1980)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 6 May 2017
- Jackson, W. Eric (1965). Achievement. A Short History of the London County Council. Longmans. p. 258.
- Husband's biography.
- Mulholland, Marc (2016). "How to Make a Revolution: The Historical and Political Writings of Raymond Postgate Postgate". Socialist History. 49: 107.
- Evans, Curtis (2012). Masters of the "humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920–1961. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786490899.
- Curtis Evans (28 November 2016). Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall. McFarland. pp. 121, 131 ff. ISBN 978-0-7864-9992-2.
External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Margaret Cole |
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Harold Wilson |
Chairman of the Fabian Society 1955–1956 |
Succeeded by Arthur Skeffington |
| Preceded by G. D. H. Cole |
President of the Fabian Society 1962–1980 |
Succeeded by John Parker |
Authority control  |
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