Panel 14: “Building Begins” (1931-1934) Creating a Community

SHENA SIMON (1883-1972) – A LONG LIFE SPENT CAMPAIGNING

Shena spent her entire adult life as a social reformer. She was hardworking, scrupulous in preparation and was truly a force to be reckoned with for opponents. She thus built up a formidable public image as a tough operator but her private personality was marked by her kindness and charm. Shena played an instrumental part in Wythenshawe’s early development. She established a strong rapport with Barry Parker and ensured that the council retained his services in order to preserve Wythenshawe’s garden city design. Shena stayed in close touch with developments on the estate and in 1969 she was there to witness the laying of the foundation stone for Wythenshawe’s long overdue civic centre.

News Chronicle, 15th November 1932. Source: Shena Simon Papers, Manchester Archives+. Shena at the Manchester and Salford Women Citizens Association garden fete, July 1922. Source: Shena Simon Papers, Manchester Archives+. Wythenshawe Park and surrounding housing (2021). Source: Historic England, ref. 35015_039. Wythenshawe housing (2021). Source: Historic England, ref. 35015_026.

Excerpt from Burdett’s map of Cheshire from 1780 showing the Wythenshawe area before the industrial revolution. Source: University of Manchester Library.

Her moral courage, and her gift for marshalling statistical data made her a powerful adversary to those too ready to look to education for the imposed “cuts”. She never hesitated to stand up for her convictions, however formidable the odds. Source: Obituary in The Times, 18th July 1972.

Shena in 1962. Source: Shena Simon Papers, Manchester Archives+. The Simon family memorial at Manchester Crematorium. Photo by John Ayshford.

Shena’s passion was education. Her interest started when she was Lady Mayoress and she made a career out of her work on Manchester City Council’s Education Committee which she served on for over forty years. Such was the long nature of her service that, according to Mabel Tylecote, “no member of the Education Committee knew the schools as intimately as she did. Over many years she systematically visited them, knowing children as well as teachers”. Her contribution to education in Manchester was recognized in 1982 with the opening of the Shena Simon College. Nationally, she played a key role in raising the leaving age and laying the groundwork for the introduction of comprehensive education. Her work refl ected her deep desire to democratize education in order to improve the chances of children from poorer families and to overhaul the existing education system which served the privileged. The Simons’ son Brian would later follow in her footsteps as a leading progressive educationalist.

Shena was a lifelong advocate for women’s equality and forged a strong friendship with the feminist writer Virginia Woolf. The emancipation of women could only spring from women themselves and Shena therefore urged women to take an active role in public affairs. In 1922 as Lady Mayoress Shena hoped that there would be at least one female prime minister by 2022 and that women would compose half the representatives in Parliament and Manchester City Council, a goal which has sadly only been partially met. Shena Simon died in July 1972 leaving behind the Simons’ greatest achievement a fullyfl edged Wythenshawe of 100,000 people. Her ashes are interned alongside Ernest’s at Manchester Crematorium.

Her devotion to the cause of women’s emancipation was not merely a matter of enabling women to make their contribution to social and political life but resulted from a deep-seated belief that women were possessed of distinctive qualities and a set of values of their own which urgently needed expression in order to redress the balance of male forces in society. Excerpt from a speech delivered by Mabel Tylecote: The Work of Lady Simon of Wythenshawe for Education in Manchester, 28th November 1974. Source: Shena Simon Papers, Manchester Archives+. Wythenshawe was an archetype for ambitious municipal housing along garden city lines and delivered on much of its aims. It was seen as a model with national signifi cance, in part because it was promoted so diligently by the Simons! It also achieved wide notoriety for its imperfections and later failings around deprivation. It still remains one of best, but ultimately incomplete realisations of Ebenezer Howard’s ethos for new urban civilisation.

Wythenshawe Hall itself was not always well cared for by the City Council and slipped into decay after the Second World War and subsequently some elements were simply demolished or unsympathetically reconstructed. Wythenshawe Hall suffered a dreadful arson attack in 2016 and a great effort was taken to rebuild it. The surrounding park – gifted to the people of Manchester by Ernest and Shena Simon in an “act of imaginative statesmanship” – remains intact and fi rmly at the heart of Wythenshawe. During the early 1970s the Princess Parkway was shorn of its bucolic origins and became a much busier noisy motorway that now forms a signifi cant bisection of the area. The M60 too effectively cuts off Wythenshawe from Manchester much more strongly than the River Mersey ever did. The great growth of the airport and associated businesses to the south since the 1960s has provided an economic base, but has diminished the peaceful notion of the garden city. The areas around Wythenshawe have also experienced tremendous suburban expansion, from Altrincham in the west to Cheadle and Gatley in the east, such that the estate is much less distinct, rather lost within the vast sprawl of Greater Manchester housing. But a genuine sense of community and belonging is still retained by the second and third generations that were born and grew up in the neighbourhoods of Wythenshawe. The story of Wythenshawe remains very important for us today. The history of Manchester’s bold project in developing a garden city to house those suffering in the slums can help to inform us about devolution for England’s regions and cities as well as how we might solve the housing problems that still bedevil Britain.

The plaque at Wythenshawe Hall commemorating the Simons’ purchase of Wythenshawe Hall and Park. Photo by John Ayshford.

Acknowledgements:

The exhibition was developed with the generous help of John McCrory, Janet Wolff, as well as Ingrid Holden and Libby Edwards from the Friends of Wythenshawe Hall. We also extend our gratitude to Margaret Simon (granddaughter of Ernest and Shena Simon) for her help and her permission to reproduce photographs of her family. The support of Sarah Hobbs, Larysa Bolton and the Archives+ team at Manchester Central Library in facilitating access to Ernest and Shena Simon’s papers on multiple visits over many months was indispensable for research and for the collection of original material displayed in the exhibition. Other vital historic material was helpfully and speedily provided by Josh Tidy and Sophie Baxter-Jones at the Garden City Collection (Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation), as well as by Phil Madeley at the Legal Records Centre, Manchester City Council.

The enthusiastic support of Elena Kretinina and Jane Ayrton at Wythenshawe Forum library was essential to delivery. Excellent design for all exhibition material was provided by David Webb (david-webb.co.uk).

Financial support from the Social Responsibility Catalyst Fund of the University of Manchester’s School of Environment, Education and Development, and the Manchester Geographical Society was vital for the production of materials for the exhibition.

Exhibition curators:

John Ayshford has a master’s degree in History from the University of Manchester. As well as being fascinated by the lives of the Simons, John is primarily interested in political history. He hopes to continue his studies at the University of Manchester in the near future. Contact him: johnayshford@hotmail.co.uk

Martin Dodge is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Manchester. Much of his research is currently focused on the historical geography of Manchester’s public housing. In 2018 he co-wrote the Manchester: Mapping the City book and in 2019 he co-curated a small public exhibition Celebrating Burnage Garden Village. Contact him: m.dodge@manchester.ac.uk