Janet Upcott

Janet Mary Upcott (1888 – 6 December 1985) was an English social worker specialising in housing management. She managed housing estates in London and Chesterfield, and was a long-time contributor to the estates work of the National Trust.

Life

Educated at Notting Hill and Ealing High School,[1] Upcott studied at Somerville College, Oxford, where she received a BA when degrees opened to women in 1920.[2] She then trained in social work at the London School of Economics.[3] In 1910, she was trained as a housing manager by Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust.[4]

In the 1920s she became manager of a Ministry of Munitions housing estate, the Dudley estate. Her contributions there involved establishing a branch of the Women's Institute; helping the tenants to raise £130 to employ a district nurse; and running a boxing club.[5][6]

In 1927, she was appointed manager of the St Augustine's Estate by Chesterfield Town Council.[4] This was seen as a 'housing experiment of considerable significance' as Upcott was the first woman trained on the Octavia Hill system to be employed by a local authority.[7][8]

In 1928 she organised a Conference of Women Municipal Managers,[9][4][10] and she also gave lectures to other national women's associations.[3][11]

From the 1910s until the 1940s, she was on the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the National Trust, remaining on the Estates Committee until the late 1960s.[12][13][14][4]

Upcott House, a block of flats in Hackney, is named after Janet Upcott in recognition of her work as Hackney and Islington's housing manager.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "In Memoriam" (PDF). NHEHS Old Girls' Association Newsletter: 4. 1986.
  2. ^ University, Oxford (1921). Oxford University Gazette Vol. 51 1920–1921. p. 233. doi:10.25446/oxford.21905568.v1.
  3. ^ a b Brion, M.C., 'The Society of Housing Managers and Women's Employment in Housing' (PhD thesis, 1989), p. 70.
  4. ^ a b c d Morrell, C., 'Housing and the Women's Movement, 1860-1914' (PhD thesis, 1999), p. 363.
  5. ^ Brion (1989), pp. 82-3.
  6. ^ Brion, Marion (2002). Women in the Housing Service. Routledge. pp. 28–30. ISBN 978-1-134-89359-1.
  7. ^ The Times, quoted in The Notting Hill High School Magazine 42 (1927), p. 19.
  8. ^ Brion (2002), pp. 32-3.
  9. ^ Power, Anne (2021-03-23). Property Before People: The Management of Twentieth-Century Council Housing. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-000-32047-3.
  10. ^ Brion (2002), pp. 40-1.
  11. ^ Brion (1989), p. 108.
  12. ^ Darley, Gillian (1990). Octavia Hill. Constable. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-09-469380-7.
  13. ^ Jenkins, Jennifer; James, Patrick (1994). From Acorn to Oak Tree: The Growth of the National Trust 1895-1994. Macmillan. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-333-58953-3.
  14. ^ Bagnall, Polly; Beck, Sally (2015-11-26). Ferguson's Gang: The Remarkable Story of the National Trust Gangsters. National Trust. ISBN 978-1-909881-86-0.
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