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Women’s History Month Highlight:

Irene Barkclay (1894-1989)

She trained as a surveyor to champion social housing
By Lizzie Broadbent

For a woman described in her that was ‘Octavia Hill’ work ‘because I was interested in people and
Guardian obituary in 1989 as their housing and I found it absorbing.’ She always held that housing
‘one of the most influential social was basic, the first essential to help people lead happy lives. In 1915,
reformers of the 20th century’, she enrolled as a day student at Bedford College, cycling from North
Irene Barclay has a relatively low Finchley to Regent’s Park every day. After completing her degree in
profile. The first woman to qualify social studies, she won a scholarship to study for a diploma in
as a chartered surveyor in 1922, sociology at the London School of Economics.
Irene spent her fifty-year career Starting out
improving housing conditions in As part of her LSE diploma, Irene did a work placement with Edith
local communities across Neville in St Pancras and when she graduated, since municipal estate
Britain’s major cities, particularly management was not open to women, Edith put her in touch with
in London. Damp walls, leaking Maud Jeffery. Maud had been Octavia Hill’s secretary in 1916 and she
Irene Barclay, n.d. probably early 1970s roofs, insect-infested furniture had also embarked on a career in property management. Now she
and unscrupulous money lenders were just some of the issues she had a job with the office of Woods and Forests managing one of
kept firmly in her sights and during the 1920s and 30s she played a London’s Crown Estates, Cumberland Market.
major role in developing new-build housing in the Somers Town area
of London that still stands today. If this conjures up images of greenery and luxury, they can be
dismissed. These streets to the northeast of Regent’s Park lay a
Irene was born in Hereford (England) on 27th May 1894, the eldest hundred meters and a world away from John Nash’s grand creamy
of four children and was given her mother Alice’s maiden name, terraces. There were ‘few worse slums to be found than in some of the
Turberville, as her middle name. Her brother, Kingsley, who went on to back streets of vermin-ridden tenements with damp basements,
edit the New Statesman, described himself as a ‘child of Victorian leaking roofs, smoking chimneys, rotted flooring and total lack of
dissent’. Their maternal grandfather edited a Congregationalist paper; reasonable sanitary arrangements for houses occupied by a number
their father, Basil Martin, was a non-conformist vicar who embraced of families,’ Irene later wrote.
F.D. Maurice’s philosophy of Christian socialism and clashed with She started with office work, doing the estate accounts, preparing
church leaders and congregation members throughout his career. He rent rolls and bank balances, managing correspondence and filing
most wanted to spend his working life in the London slums but his and keeping records. To understand what repairs were needed, she
failure to toe the parish line thwarted his ambition. had to learn about building construction and sanitation, the cost of
Instead, he was offered a parish in Hereford. There he continued to labor and materials, the causes of damp and deterioration in houses
pursue his agenda, giving lectures on socialism and organizing Sunday and different methods of remedying defects.
afternoon conferences where guests included Charlotte Despard, Surveying was one of the professions that opened up to women as a
later co-founder of the Women’s Freedom League. He became leader result of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 and Maud
of the Labor Party in the local parliament, butting heads on almost encouraged Irene to study for the exams that would enable her to
every issue with his Conservative opposite number, Laurence become a Fellow of the Surveyors’ Institution. She took a two-year
Housman: the only thing they agreed on was that women should get course at the College of Estate Management, which covered three
the vote. (Housman went on to become a stalwart of the Women’s Tax main areas: Land Agency, Valuations and Building Surveying.
Resistance League, working alongside Louise Jopling, and is one of
four men to be named on the statue of Millicent Fawcett.). When Irene passed the exams in 1922, she made headlines, the
first, and for a while, the only woman surveyor in the country. A couple
At school, Irene’s religious beliefs often made her feel like an of years later she described the attitudes from men in the industry as
outsider and it was only when a dwindling congregation forced a generally courteous and encouraging. ‘Probably our friend Mr Anti is
family move to North London in 1913 that her sense of strangeness still muttering about home and washing but I have not heard his voice
started to dissipate somewhat. Her father became Minister of the much lately.’
Finchley Unitarian Church and now she was part of a larger community Working partnerships
of people with similar views.
Irene gained some experience in architectural work with Louis de
Growing up, Irene was, like her siblings, instilled with a sense of Soissons, architect of Welwyn Garden City, and then returned to the
importance of a career with social purpose. At first, she wanted to be Office of Woods and Forests for a short period. In 1924, two years
a doctor, then a teacher but she realized that what really motivated her after qualifying, she took the bold step of setting up a business with
was eradicating poverty and she decided that the best route to doing Evelyn Ellis Perry (1896-1976), who had qualified as a surveyor the

14 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 61 • NO 2 / 2025 • MARCH/APRIL