Hilda Martindale 1875 – 1952
Civil servant, women’s activist.
12 March 1875- 18 April 1952
Education
Primary school in Germany (learned German).
1885 Started attending Brighton School for Girls.
1893-1895 Attended Royal Holloway College, Egham.
Interested in working with children but not finding social work courses with children attended lectures on hygiene and sanitation at the Royal Sanitary Institute. Passed their examination, becoming an associate.
1897-98 Studied public health and hygiene at Bedford College obtaining a certificate in hygiene.
Selected achievements and interests
1900 Started working as a factory inspector for the Civil Service under Adelaide Anderson. Women were not permitted to sit the administrative grade entry examinations for the Civil Service until 1925 but she was accepted because of her connections and knowledge. Had she got married she would have been forced to resign as married women were then banned from employment in the Civil Service. (The marriage bar was only removed in 1946.)
In his annual report of 1879 The Chief Inspector of Factories wrote: “I doubt very much whether the office of factory inspector is one suitable for women.”….”the duties of a factory inspector would be incompatible with the gentle, home-loving character of a woman.” (quoted from Women in the UK Civil Service – History (civilservant.org.uk))
1901-1933 Served in the factory department of the Home Office.
Started her drive to improve working conditions for women and children.
1903 Wrote an influential report on lead poisoning in brick factories. Supported Gertrude Tuckwell in attempt to eradicate lead in household and work environments.
1905 Examined working conditions in Ireland.
1907 Became Senior Lady Inspector in the Civil Service.
1921 Appointed Superintending Inspector when the men and women’s branches merged, a position that put her in charge of male colleagues.
1925 Promoted to Deputy Chief Inspector.
1933-1937 Made Director of Women’s Establishments at the Treasury.
Attempted to establish equal opportunities and pay for women and to recruit more women to the Civil Service.
1935 Appointed a CBE.
1937 Retired but sat on the governing body of Bedford College and on the council of Barnardo’s.
Issues
As a civil servant she could not join organisations that were campaigning for improvements in working conditions eg the Women’s Trade Union League but her reports were of great importance to them.
Was often the only women present at Treasury meetings and unsuccessfully advocated the case for equal pay for women, removal of the ban on married women’s employment and acceptance of women in the foreign and diplomatic service. (1946 saw the removal of the marriage bar and acceptance of women in the Foreign Office.)
Few women entered the Civil Service and those that did were not always welcomed.
Connection to Bloomsbury
Networking.
Female networks including:
Adelaide Anderson, Ellen Pinsent, Gertrude Tuckwell, Muriel Ritson.
Publications
1938 Women Servants of the State, 1870–1938
1944 From One Generation to Another, 1839–1944
1948 Some Victorian Portraits and Others
Further reading
A History of Women in the UK Civil Service 2015_history_of_women_in_the_civil_service.pdf (civilservant.org.uk)