Creating Conservative Fabians: The Conservative Party, Political Education and the Founding of Ashridge College

Traces the origins & development of Bonar Law Memorial Coll (BLMC) at Ashridge (Hertfordshire, England) in the late 1920s by the Conservative Party in GB as a center for the political education of Conservative intellectuals who would "rival the Fabians." It is shown how the Conservative Party, though still politically dominant during the interwar years, perceived an increasing threat from the growing cultural, political, & intellectual activities of the Left. The Conservatives both feared & admired the Fabian Society for what they perceived as its influence over the Labour Party & the development of socialism in GB. As such, they used the Society as basic model for the development of Ashridge, which they promoted as a meeting place for Conservative thinkers, writers, & activists. Ashridge became known as a college in citizenship, focused on the development of the British Constitution & the political history of the growth & expansion of the British Empire; specific courses designed to facilitate this citizenship are reviewed. K. Hyatt Stewart