# Olive Banks

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Olive_Banks
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Olive_Banks.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Banks
> Source revision: 1323759658
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{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](/source/Enfield_Highway), [Middlesex](/source/Middlesex), England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2006|09|14|1923|07|02|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [Buxton](/source/Buxton), [Derbyshire](/source/Derbyshire), England
| occupation         = Educator, researcher
| known_for          = 
| title              = 
| boards             = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation-->
| spouse             = {{marriage|Joseph Banks|1944}}
| partner            = 
| children           = 
| parents            = 
| relatives          = 
| awards             = <!--notable national-level awards only-->
| website            = 
| education          = [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics)
| alma_mater         = <!--will often consist of the linked name of the last-attended higher education institution-->
| thesis_title       = 
| thesis_url         = 
| thesis_year        = 
| discipline         = Sociologist
| sub_discipline     = Feminism researcher
| workplaces         = [Liverpool University](/source/Liverpool_University)<br/>[Leicester University](/source/Leicester_University)
| doctoral_students  = <!--only those with WP articles-->
| notable_students   = 
| main_interests     = 
| notable_works      = 
| notable_ideas      = 
| influenced         = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source-->
}}
'''Olive Banks''' (2 July 1923 – 14 September 2006) was an English professor at [Leicester University](/source/Leicester_University) who worked upon the [sociology of education](/source/sociology_of_education) and the history of [feminism](/source/feminism).<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/dec/12/guardianobituaries.obituaries1 |journal=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) |title=Olive Banks |author=Simon Szreter |date=12 December 2006}}</ref>

==Early life==
Banks was born in [Enfield Highway](/source/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](/source/London_School_of_Economics) to study [sociology](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Olive Banks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Banks) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Banks?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.