Remembering Olive Gibbs
On the 6th of February, it was the centenary of not only the Representation of the People Act of 1918, but of the birth of Olive Gibbs, Oxford politician.
Photo of Olive Gibbs taken from the Oxford Mail
Olive is most famous for two events, the bringing down of the Cutteslowe wall, and the ‘saving of Jericho’. The council had long been trying to remove the seven foot wall, built by a private property developer, that separated the council estate of Cutteslowe from private housing to the west (http://bbc.in/1FwfP5E). In 1959, the council finally gained the compulsory purchase order powers, and councillor Olive and her husband Edmund were instrumental in seeing the wall brought down. In the 1960s, she prevented the clearance of the slum houses in Jericho, instead bringing in housing improvement schemes that allowed the working-class residents to stay in their homes and improve them slowly. As many speakers commented, it’s now one of the most desirable areas of the city, gentrification rendering the terraced houses completely out of the realms of affordable.
On the national stage, she became a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and was its chair from 1964 to 65. There’s a great photo of her at a protest march with musicians Marc Bolan, Joan Baez, Donovan and Tom Paxton (http://bit.ly/2EtaILC). She also has a whole host of accolades -Honorary Freeman of the City of Oxford, Frank Cousins’ Peace Award (1986), twice Lord Mayor of the City, first woman to receive an honorary degree from what was to become Oxford Brookes University.
And so on Tuesday night, we found ourselves in the Assembly Room of the Town Hall, celebrating Olive's life and work in Oxford with people who knew her. As someone fairly new to Oxford, not knowing anything about her life, I thought there was a great balance of factual information from Liz Wooley, local historian, and personal stories from her son Simon Gibbs, as well as from audience members who came to share their memories.
It is perhaps difficult to add a critical perspective at an event that is intended as a celebration, but I think it is also important to remember that Olive was a fully rounded, flawed person. She was characterised by all the speakers as formidable; a principled and honest woman who may have been small in stature but was, energetic and direct to the point of aggression. There were many humorous, well rehearsed anecdotes; Olive calling her fellow councillors silly old fools; and on a separate occasion, ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you look like that awful woman Olive Gibbs’; ‘Madam, I am that awful woman’.
One of the aspects that I found most interesting was made explicit by Christine Sim, City Councillor and deputy Lord Mayor. Olive began her career in politics in 1952, when her housekeeper and friends convinced her to spearhead a campaign to prevent the closure and cutting of nursery schools in the Oxford area (sounds all too familiar). It was through community action and this local campaign that Olive entered into the more formal establishment of council life, becoming councillor for Oxford’s west ward from 1953 to 1983. This route into politics, Christine suggests, is one often taken by women, perhaps those who wouldn’t consider a career in political governance otherwise.
As was highlighted on the night, the central role Olive played in Oxford's local government from 1952 to 1989 was enabled not only by her strong will and energy, but by the efforts of campaigners who had come before her. She was born on the day when equal rights made a crucial advance - all men (not just those with property) over the age of 21 could now vote, as could women over 30 years of age who held (or had husbands who held) £5 worth of property. Although all women could vote by the time Olive played her role in Oxford council, it will come as no surprise that she entered a hostile environment, where she was sidelined due to her gender and her status as a mother. Is there any story to substantiate this? You didn't talk about her being sidelined before so this cones as a surprise and leaves me wondering how exactly that played out
Olive can be seen as someone who made a difference not only by simply being a visible woman in a position of power, but as someone who changed the fabric and history of the city itself.
For more information:
Gibbs, Olive (1989) "Our Olive": The Autobiography of Olive Gibbs. Robert Dugdale. 978-0946976027
There is a blue plaque marking Olives birthplace at Christ Church Old Buildings. http://bit.ly/2H1KFd8 Perhaps you might like to go and visit it?
