Ernest Gowers : plain words and forgotten deeds / Ann Scott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scott, Ann, 1938-

Series:

Understanding governance

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gowers, Ernest, 1880-1966.

Gowers, Ernest.

Politics and government.

Civil service.

Grammarians.

Great Britain--Officials and employees--Biography.

Great Britain.

Grammarians--Great Britain--Biography.

Civil service--Great Britain--Biography.

Great Britain--Politics and government--20th century--Biography.

Great Britain--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 255 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke, UK ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Summary:

During his long career as a British civil servant, Ernest Gowers was close to the centre of many of the momentous events of the first half of the twentieth century. However he only became famous in 1948 when Plain Words, originally written as a training pamphlet for the British Civil Service, became an instant best-seller for HMSO.

Ann Scott has had access to Gowers' family archives. Using these and other previously untapped primary sources she builds a portrait of the career of one member of a cohort of high-flying civil servants who began their careers at the turn of the century. Gowers' final task as a civil servant was to run London's civil defence during WWII. Because of the wealth of original material available, two chapters are devoted to the way in which civil defence was planned and the many challenges he had to face, using his own words and those of his colleagues.

Described as Britain's 'No 1 Chairman' he chaired many inquiries after the war. The Royal Commission into Capital Punishment had a profound effect on him, turning him into a convinced and influential abolitionist. At the age of 75 he began the task that engaged him for the final ten years of his life, revising Fowler's Modern English Usage.

Contents:

1 Anatomy of a Victorian Family 1

Ernest Gowers' father, Sir William Gowers 1

Sir William Gowers and his children 4

2 Education for Public Service 7

Bilton Grange - the stepping stone to Rugby 7

Rugby - the choice of schoo l9

Clare College, Cambridge 11

Competition for employment among the new middle class 12

'Cramming' at Wrens and reading for the Bar 14

Success in the Civil Service Examination 15

3 Coping with Lloyd George 16

The India Office 17

Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for India 19

Marriage and family 20

Talent uncovered - promotion to Principal Private Secretary to Lloyd George 21

The turbulent introduction of Lloyd George's National insurance Bill 22

Lloyd George and the Marconi Scanda l24

Establishing the National Insurance Commission - Gowers joins the 'Loan Collection' 26

4 WWI: Under Cover at Wellington House 33

Wellington House is established 33

The work conducted by Wellington House 37

The turning point for Wellington House 42

The contribution made by Wellington House 47

The impact of the war on the Gowers family 47

Calm between the storms: the Conciliation and Arbitration Board 51

5 Influential Head of 'Enfeebled' Mines Department 52

The troubled history of the coal industry 54

Birth of the 'enfeebled mouse' 55

The Samuel Royal Commission 57

The 1926 miners' strike 60

The Samuel Memorandum 61

The miners' strike unresolved 62

The end of the miners' strike 64

6 'Quis Custodiet?' - Surtax, Syntax and Scanda l65

Inland Revenue 65

'Mainly about the King's English' 68

Rescue at Entebbe 71

7 Mine Owners' Bogy Man 77

Controversy at the outset 77

Failed test case 79

Steps towards nationalisation 82

Coal becomes a national property 84

Free at last 87

A weekender in the country 88

8 WWII: Preparing for London's Civil Defence 91

The build-up of civil defence 91

Establishing the civil defence regions 94

On the brink of war 97

The Phoney War 99

Air raids begin 103

The Battle of Britain 107

The Battle of London (the Blitz) 109

The appointment of Special Commissioners 111

Herbert Morrison succeeds John Anderson 113

Euan Wallace retires 114

9 WWII: Leading London through the Blitz 117

Gowers succeeds Wallace as Senior Regional Commissioner 117

Reorganising the fire services 122

After the Blitz, the 'long haul' of the Lull 123

The Little Blitz 131

The end of the war - the civil defence regions disbanded 134

War and the Gowers family 136

The end of the war - farewells 138

10 Post-war Reconstruction 141

Harlow New Town Development Corporation 143

Committees of Inquiry: 'No. 1 Chairman' 147

Women in the Foreign Service 148

Closing hours of shops 149

Historic houses 151

Foot-and-mouth disease 152

11 Abolishing Capital Punishment 154

The politics of capital punishment 154

Royal Commission into Capital Punishment established 159

The Royal Commission's report 161

The fate of the report 162

A Life for a Life? The Problem of Capital Punishment 166

1957 Homicide Act 168

Abolition of capital punishment 169

12 Plain Words 172

Genesis 172

A fight for royalties 177

The ABC of Plain Words 178

The Complete Plain Words 182

Gowers and the language zealots 184

Revisions of Plain Words 186

13 Revising Fowler's Modern English Usage 188

14 'A Last Retrospect' 200

Gowers and the Civil Service 200

Gowers and English usage 203

Gowers and his family 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230580251

0230580254

OCLC:

317926897