Power Eileen Edna

Photo Power Eileen Edna
Eileen Edna LePoer Power (January 9, 1889-August 8, 1940) was an important British economic historian and medievalist. She was the eldest daughter of a stockbroker and was born at Altrincham (now part of Greater Manchester) in 1889. She was educated at Oxford High School for Girls, Girton College, and the Sorbonne. Power was Director of Studies in History at Girton College (1913-21), Lecturer in Political Science at the London School of Economics (1921-24), and Reader of the University of London (1924-31). In 1931 she became Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she remained until 1938 when she became Professor of Economic History at Cambridge University. Her most famous book, Medieval People, was published in 1924. In 1927 Power founded the Economic History Review. In 1933 she joined LSE's head, William Beveridge, in establishing the Academic Freedom Committee, an organization that helped academics fleeing from Nazi Germany. A critic of Britain's foreign policy, Power was an active member of the Union of Democratic Control. In 1937 Power married the historian Michael Postan, having previously been engaged to Reginald Johnston, tutor to Puyi. She died of heart failure in 1940. Her book, The Wool Trade in English Medieval History (1941) was published posthumously. A collection of her lectures, Medieval Women, was published in 1975. Kingsley Martin, Father Figures (1966): In the autumn of 1924 I started work at the London School of Economics. Sir William Beveridge was director when I joined the staff in 1924. He accepted me first on a part-time basis. I never hit it off with Beveridge, though I recognised from the beginning that he was a man of extraordinary ability. I once, and only once, pleased Beveridge. I said that he "ruled over an empire on which the concrete never set". He was so delighted with this remark that he constantly quoted it, always attributing it, however, to Eileen Power, with whom, like everyone else, I assume he was more or less in love. Eileen, indeed, was one of the most attractive women I have ever known. She was good-looking, and carried her erudition as a medieval scholar with wit and grace. She wrote delightfully, her account of the domestic life of nunneries would never bore anyone, and her Medieval People showed that careful scholarship can be made popular and achieve large sales. We used to speculate on whether she would marry; on the whole the betting was that an air ace would carry her off her feet, but in the end it was the excellent historian, Michael Postan, on whom the choice fell. There was no one who did not deeply regret her loss when she died suddenly of heart failure. LSE website: Her public lectures continued the nineteenth-century tradition of the lecture as an intellectual and political forum. She was a wonderful speaker, and her spoken eloquence used to fascinate her audience. In the eyes of former students, Eileen Power had opened their eyes to the varieties of political life, understanding, and tolerance. Gifted with considerable intellect and an attractive personality, she was an active and much loved figure among staff and students alike. She died suddenly in 1940 during the School's wartime evacuation at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.
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Power Eileen Edna

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