Down memory lane

Virginia Berridge, a member of the former Convocation and daughter of the late James Stewart Cook, tells us about her father's and her links to the University of London.

Your father James Stewart Cook had a long association with the University of London federation, from his student days at Imperial College and LSE, to his involvement with the University of London Union. Can you tell us a little more about his connection to the University and the legacy he left?

My father was brought up by his mother in a single parent family as his father, one of the first Conservative political agents, died of TB when he was very young (aged two or three), in the 1900’s. He made his way to university via scholarships and took a degree in chemistry at Imperial College, with later study at LSE. He was involved in student politics and was president of the University of London Union.

He was elected to the Standing Committee of Convocation in 1940 and became a Convocation Senator in 1944. He was also the author of the pamphlet Convocation - A Study in Academic Democracy. Convocation was a full part of the governance of the University and its elected Senators sat on the University Senate, which was the governing body of the University of London. Of course academic governance has changed in the 21st century beyond recognition to a more managerial model. I would guess few, if any, universities now allow their graduates a governance role of this sort!

At the time when my father was a Convocation Senator, some of the leading universities had their own Members of Parliament. So if you were an Oxford, Cambridge or London graduate, you had two votes, one of which was for your university MP. The MP for the University of London, Sir Ernest Graham Little, was supported by a graduates’ association as an independent. A number of London graduates formed the University of London Society, arguing that the graduates’ association was simply a front for getting Graham Little re-elected. They wanted more active involvement for graduates in the University. The new Society was supported by Mary Stocks, the Principal of Westfield College, who nearly unseated Graham Little in the 1945 general election. The Society was a non-political body which continued up to the abolition of Convocation in 2003. Graham Little continued as MP until the abolition of the University franchise in 1950.

James Stewart Cook (pictured third from left) with fellow students

Your father had a varied and inspiring career. What were some of the roles he undertook in his professional life?

He worked as an industrial chemist over a wide field: in sugar beet factories in Ipswich, Kings Lynn and Peterborough, as an analyst in the Post Office engineering department and as a chemical engineer in a radio valve factory. He was associated with the British Standards Institution and the Festival of Britain. He was at one stage the organising secretary of the British Association of Chemists and undertook teaching and lecturing also.

His real love was politics. He joined the Labour Party in 1933, much to the horror of his family, who were Conservatives. He contested three parliamentary elections – Henley in 1945, East Surrey in 1964 and Kingston upon Thames in 1966. He fought over 33 local elections and was elected initially to Windsor Council in 1945, continuing on and off thereafter. He won a seat on Berkshire County Council in 1964 and became leader of the Labour Group on that council, at a time when its Labour group was the largest in the country.

What was some of the best advice your father gave you?

When I was filling in my university application form, there was a section where you had to say what you wanted to do as a career after graduation. He advised me to say that I wanted to do research – which he said would be attractive to those looking at the form. I had no idea what research was at that stage but I put it down anyway!

After your father passed away, a prize was set up in his honour to support University of London students (the James Stewart Cook Convocation Trust Prize), which is still awarded today. What did the creation of this prize mean to you? How does it feel knowing that the Prize has made an impact on so many students over the years?

My mother and I were very pleased that the prize had been set up and I attended the ceremony when it was awarded for the first time. I was very surprised to hear that it’s still being awarded today. When Convocation came to an end, I assumed that the money would have run out and the prize would no longer be awarded. It’s excellent that it is still carrying on and encouraging present day students. [See page 12 for an interview with a former prize recipient, Jonah Foong].

Senate House in the late 1930s

Tell us about your own University of London experience as an undergraduate and postgraduate student. What are some of your favourite memories of student life?

I was a history undergraduate at Westfield College (now incorporated into Queen Mary) and did my PhD at Birkbeck under the supervision of Professor Eric Hobsbawm. I guess my favourite memories include the friends I made at the time – many of whom I’m still in touch with; also coming to events – debates, film club – at the Union in Malet Street (now Student Central); and, as a postgraduate student, coming to Eric Hobsbawm’s seminars at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), full of avid postgrads sitting on the floor because the room was so full, full of debate. The IHR in Senate House, the refectory upstairs where we had our lunch, and the British Museum, where we worked in the library (not yet in St Pancras), were the pivots round which our lives focused.

In September 2020, you attended the virtual tour of Senate House as part of London Open House. What memories of Senate House did this evoke for you?

The tour was very interesting and even went down into the basement and looked at the massive electrical installation there to heat and light the building. Apparently, Senate House was one of the first buildings in London to be fully electric in this way. I remember a few years ago, when the building had to be rewired, it was a huge undertaking.

The tour brought back memories of going as a child with my father to Convocation ‘Conversaziones’ in Senate House. These were evenings, open to members of Convocation, when the University ‘displayed its wares’, with recitals, talks, recordings of BBC programmes, and you could walk through the whole building, visiting the library, listening to music in the music library. I guess Open House would be the nearest equivalent now, or perhaps some of the Being Human events organised by the School of Advanced Study.

Like your father, you have remained closely linked with the University of London federation. Can you tell us more about your association and what your current role with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine involves?

I’ve worked at various institutions within the University: the Addiction Research Unit (now National Addiction Centre) at the Institute of Psychiatry (now Kings College), the Institute of Historical Research and now LSHTM. I’m a historian and came there originally as Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor now) to co-direct the AIDS Social History Programme. This was a Nuffield-funded major historical programme of work looking at AIDS policy making as ‘history in the making’ - history while it was still being made. I was researching events which hadn’t happened when I first started the research - not the usual role for an historian. I stayed on at the School, was promoted to be its first history professor and founded the Centre for History in Public Health, a focus of professional historians within this public heath institution. My research interests are in post-war public health, drugs, alcohol and smoking policy, and swine flu, among other areas. The advent of COVID has meant that much of my work has reoriented in that direction in recent months.

Senate House Library is honoured to be the custodian of the James Stewart Cook papers, which includes material from his time as Senator at the University and his involvement in the University of London Society, as well as papers relating to his political career and his personal life.