Barbara Drake
Barbara Drake was a member of the Fabian Society and trade unionist.
She was born in Knightsbridge, London, the daughter of Daniel Meinertzhagen, a banker, and his wife, Christina née Potter, sister of Beatrice Webb. In 1900 she married the solicitor Bernard Harpur Drake. They had no children.
Active in the Women's Industrial Council, she conducted an enquiry into the position of the tea-shop girl.
Her 1920 book, Women in Trade Unions was an influential work produced by her under the auspices of the Labour Research Department and the Fabian Women's Group. A co-opted member of the London County Council Education Committee from 1925, she supported educational reforms including the introduction of comprehensive schools. When the Labour Party took control of the county council in 1934, she was made an alderman, holding the seat until 1946.
