Xenia Field
Xenia Noelle Field MBE (née Lowinsky; 25 December 1894 – 24 January 1998) was a British county councillor, prison reformer, philanthropist, horticulturist and author.
Xenia Field | |
|---|---|
| Member of the London County Council for Paddington North | |
| In office 1946–1950 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Xenia Noelle Lowinsky 25 December 1894 Secunderabad, India |
| Died | 24 January 1998 (aged 103) London, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour Social Democratic Party (from 1982) |
| Spouse |
James Field
(m. 1936; died 1941) |
| Parent |
|
| Occupation | Philanthropist, county councillor, and author |
Early life
Field was born on 25 December 1894 at Secunderabad, India, where her father Thomas Hermann Lowinsky was general manager of the Hyderabad (Deccan) Co coal mines.[1] On their return to England, the family lived at Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire.[1] Field was a pupil at Heathfield School, and then attended finishing school in Paris.[1] Her father was a keen gardener, who won a Royal Horticultural Society gold medal.[1]
Career
In World War II, after a stint in the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, she led the Women's Organization for Salvage and Recovery for Herbert Morrison of the Ministry of Supply.[1]
With Morrison's support, she was elected as a Labour member of London County Council in 1946, representing Paddington North electoral division.[1][2] She stood, unsuccessfully, for parliament, first at North Somerset in 1950 and then at Colchester in 1951.[1] She also sat as a magistrate, and became interested in prison reform.[1] She joined the breakaway Social Democratic Party in 1982, shortly after their formation.[1]
She used a bequest from her father to establish a charitable trust, the Field Foundation, under whose auspices she gave financial support to The Salvation Army, persuading them to set up the first bail hostel in Britain, in 1971.[1] She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1958, and appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 12 June 1967.[3] She also won the Royal Horticultural Society's Veitch Memorial Medal, in 1972.[1]
Personal life
She married Dr. James Field, a much older man, in 1936; he died only five years later.[1]
Death
She died at Goldsborough Nursing Home, Ladbroke Road, Kensington, London on 24 January 1998, from a stroke.[1] She was 103.
Bibliography
- Window Box Gardening.
- Growing Bulbs in the House. 1954.
- The Housewife Book of House Plants. The Garden City Press Limited. 1956.
- Under Lock and Key: a Study of Women in Prison. 1963.
- Indoor Plants. Paul Hamlyn Limited. 1966.
- Colorful World of Roses. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. 1969.
- Book of Garden Flowers. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. 1971.
- Gardening From Scratch. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. 1973.
- Gardening Week by Week. Crescent Books. 1975.
References
- Buczacki, Stefan (2004). "Oxford DNB article: Field, Xenia Noelle". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69295. Retrieved 29 July 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- W Eric Jackson (1965). Achievement: A short History of the London County Council. Longmans. p. 262.
- "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Xenia Field". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2014.