Olive Banks

{{short description|British sociologist and academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox academic | name = | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Olive Davies | birth_date = {{birth date|1923|07|02|df=yes}} | birth_place = Enfield Highway, Middlesex, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2006|09|14|1923|07|02|df=yes}} | death_place = Buxton, Derbyshire, England | occupation = Educator, researcher | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = {{marriage|Joseph Banks|1944}} | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = London School of Economics | alma_mater =  | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | discipline = Sociologist | sub_discipline = Feminism researcher | workplaces = Liverpool University<br/>Leicester University | doctoral_students =  | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  }} '''Olive Banks''' (2 July 1923 – 14 September 2006) was an English professor at Leicester University who worked upon the sociology of education and the history of feminism.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/dec/12/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 |journal=The Guardian |title=Olive Banks |author=Simon Szreter |date=12 December 2006}}</ref>

==Early life== Banks was born in Enfield Highway, Middlesex, the eldest of two children of Herbert Alfred Davies and Jessie Louise ''(nee)'' Tebby. She married Joseph Ambrose (Joe) Banks in June 1944 and they both entered the London School of Economics to study sociology. Her PhD thesis was turned into her first book, ''Parity and Prestige in English Secondary Education: a Study in Educational Sociology'' (1955).<ref name=Oxford>Goldman, L. (Ed.) (2013) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005-2008'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=nbGcAQAAQBAJ&dq=olive+banks&pg=PA55 page 55] Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0199671540}} Retrieved February 2015</ref>

==Career== In 1954 she accepted a research post at Liverpool University, where she was able to investigate the history of British feminism, culminating in the publishing of ''Feminism and Family Planning in Victorian England'' (1964).<ref name=Oxford/> Her reputation as a leading scholar in her field was sealed with the publication of ''The Sociology of Education'' (1965).<ref name=Oxford/>

In 1970 she was offered a readership at University of Leicester, and three years later became the first woman to hold a chair at that university.<ref name=Oxford/>

A posthumous review of her life and work, ''Olive Banks and the Collective Biography of British Feminism'', was made by Gaby Weiner.<ref>Gaby Weiner, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40375362 "Olive Banks and the Collective Biography of British Feminism"] ''British Journal of Sociology of Education'' 29(4)(July 2008): 403-410.</ref>

==Retirement== Following her retirement in 1982, she continued her research, publishing a two volume ''Biographical Dictionary of British Feminists'' (1985–1990) and ''Becoming Feminist: The Social Origins of 'First Wave' feminism'' (1986). ''The Politics of British Feminism'' (1993) was her last book.<ref name=Oxford/>

==Death== She died on 14 September 2006 at the age of 83 in Buxton, Derbyshire of a heart attack.<ref name=Oxford/><ref>{{cite news |last= Szreter |first= Simon |date= 12 December 2006 |title= Olive Banks |url= https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/dec/12/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 |work= The Guardian |access-date= 6 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ebulletin/people/bereavements/2000-2009/2006/09/nparticle.2006-10-26.6473739680/index.html |title= Professor Olive Banks, Sociologist (1923-2006) |last= Dunning |first= Eric |website= University of Leicester |access-date= 6 May 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Sources ==

* Purvis, June (2010-01-09). {{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/97918|title=Banks [née Davies], Olive Lucy (1923–2006), sociologist, historian, and feminist}} {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Olive}} Category:British educational theorists Category:English feminists Category:British sociologists Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:1923 births Category:2006 deaths Category:20th-century British historians Category:British women historians Category:Academics of the University of Leicester Category:20th-century British women writers Category:People from Enfield, London