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,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=1986 |title=In Memoriam |url=https://www.nhehsarchives.net/Filename.ashx?systemFileName=NHEOGAN1986.pdf&origFilename=NHEOGAN1986.pdf |journal=NHEHS Old Girls' Association Newsletter |pages=4}}</ref> Upcott studied at Somerville College, Oxford, where she received a BA when degrees opened to women in 1920.<ref name="Gazette 1920–1921">{{cite book |last1=University |first1=Oxford |url=https://portal.sds.ox.ac.uk/articles/online_resource/1920-1921_-_Vol_51/21905568?file=38857335 |title=Oxford University Gazette Vol. 51 1920–1921 |date=1921 |pages=233 |doi=10.25446/oxford.21905568.v1}}</ref> She then trained in social work at the London School of Economics.<ref name=":1">Brion, M.C., '[https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/19994/1/293008_Vol1.pdf The Society of Housing Managers and Women's Employment in Housing]' (PhD thesis, 1989), p. 70.</ref> In 1910, she was trained as a housing manager by Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust.<ref name=":2">Morrell, C., '[https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/0405ebda-1b5b-ef73-2ec5-7c17e773d075/1/morrell1999housing.pdf Housing and the Women's Movement, 1860-1914]' (PhD thesis, 1999), p. 363.</ref>

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.<ref>Brion (1989), pp. 82-3.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brion |first=Marion |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Women_in_the_Housing_Service/VeyJAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=janet+upcott&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover |title=Women in the Housing Service |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-89359-1 |pages=28–30 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1927, she was appointed manager of the St Augustine's Estate by Chesterfield Town Council.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref>''The Times,'' quoted in ''[https://www.nhehsarchives.net/Filename.ashx?systemFileName=NHEJ1927_Iss_042_March.pdf&origFilename=NHEJ1927_Iss_042_March.pdf The Notting Hill High School Magazine]'' 42 (1927), p. 19.</ref><ref>Brion (2002), pp. 32-3.</ref>

In 1928 she organised a Conference of Women Municipal Managers,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Power |first=Anne |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Property_Before_People/2zIWEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=janet+upcott&pg=PP45&printsec=frontcover |title=Property Before People: The Management of Twentieth-Century Council Housing |date=2021-03-23 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-32047-3 |pages=29 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>Brion (2002), pp. 40-1.</ref> and she also gave lectures to other national women's associations.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Brion (1989), p. 108.</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Darley |first=Gillian |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Octavia_Hill/Rn2xAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=janet+upcott&dq=janet+upcott&printsec=frontcover |title=Octavia Hill |date=1990 |publisher=Constable |isbn=978-0-09-469380-7 |pages=304 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Jennifer |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/From_Acorn_to_Oak_Tree/GGtnAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=janet+upcott&dq=janet+upcott&printsec=frontcover |title=From Acorn to Oak Tree: The Growth of the National Trust 1895-1994 |last2=James |first2=Patrick |date=1994 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-58953-3 |pages=95 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bagnall |first=Polly |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ferguson_s_Gang/iE4mEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=janet+upcott&pg=PT191&printsec=frontcover |title=Ferguson's Gang: The Remarkable Story of the National Trust Gangsters |last2=Beck |first2=Sally |date=2015-11-26 |publisher=National Trust |isbn=978-1-909881-86-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

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.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==  {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Upcott, Janet}} Category:1888 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Category:British social workers