GCT Giles

Granville Charles Trelawney Giles (9 May 1891 – 30 October 1976), known as GCT Giles, was a leading British communist, most famous for playing a central role in the evacuation of three million children to the countryside during World War II, and for playing a prominent role in the formation of Britain's post-war educational reforms. Despite being educated at both Eton College and the University of Cambridge, he was a supporter of the comprehensive school system, fighting for the rights of working-class children and teachers. He was also the first communist to be appointed president of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), and headed a school which following his retirement became one of Britain's first comprehensive schools.

Giles became a communist after visiting the Soviet Union in 1925. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, and would remain a lifelong member. Later in life, he became the target of anti-communist witch-hunts, which led him to lose his position temporarily on the executive of the NUT. Despite suffering from political persecution, he made a significant contribution to British educational policy, directly influencing the pattern of educational reform in the period immediately following World War II, and greatly improving the working conditions of British teachers. After leaving Eton he was a scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and in 1913 was awarded a first-class (division two) in Part I of the Classical Tripos. Giles first came into contact with socialist theories while studying in Germany that same year. Giles worked with disabled British military servicemen for the YMCA. Upon returning to Britain, he was appointed senior Latin master at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. Outside of the communist movement, his greatest political influences of that period were Sylvia Pankhurst and E. D. Morel. Giles later narrated a second film, Behind the Spanish Lines (1938).

From 1931 onwards, Giles played a significant role in the Communist Party's Teachers’ Advisory Committee.

Educational activism

Evacuation of children during World War II Giles played a central role in evacuating children during World War II. Following the outbreak of the war, he emerged as a senior figure in the NUT and was appointed leader of the head office at Hamilton House, the organisation that prepared the evacuation of teachers and young children from cities likely to be bombed by the German airforce. Operation Pied Piper, assisted by a team headed by Giles and carried out by 100,000 teachers and parents, successfully evacuated over three million British children to the countryside without a single fatality. This evacuation was the single largest mass migration of civilians in British history, and its success would see Giles's position rapidly rise within both the NUT and the CPGB.

Activities as first communist president of the NUT In 1937 Giles was elected to the NUT executive, where he remained until 1949. he and many other similarly-minded education reformers were satisfied enough with its provisions to throw their weight behind it. Upon becoming NUT president, he worked hard to support the Act, speaking at over 200 meetings in a single year discussing both the parliamentary Bill and the Act itself. Giles was also selected by Butler to tour and give speeches at sites throughout the UK where Allied troops were preparing for the Normandy landings (D-Day).

The New School Tie (1946) After World War II was over, Giles's position as president of the NUT allowed him to influence the direction of Britain's post-war educational reforms. In 1946 he published his most famous work, The New School Tie (1946). This campaigning pamphlet was dedicated to supporting the Education Act 1944. Within this work, Giles argued strongly that the quality of education that a child receives should not be determined by their family wealth. The New School Tie proved to be very popular with his contemporaries and has been described by historians as a clear expression of post-war radical populism.

Anti-communist persecution In 1948, forged leaflets were circulated, purportedly belonging to a non-existent organisation called the "Young Communist Action Group", which claimed to show secret plans of how communists could take over the NUT leadership.

Later life Giles married Olivia Winifred Watterson, a feminist and left-wing journalist, in 1915, with whom he had two sons. Winifred died in 1927. The same year, Giles married fellow lifelong communist activist Elisabeth (Betsy) Shoesmith. According to his obituary in The Times, Giles was a lifelong member of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

Giles died on 30 October 1976. After his death, many of his possessions were donated to the Working Class Movement Library.