Nancy Broadfield Parkinson

Dame Nancy Broadfield Parkinson (23 January 1904 – 10 December 1974) was a British civil servant, and controller of the British Council (Home Division) during the Second World War.

During the war, Parkinson assisted refugees and organised 365 centres to arrange accommodation and education for them. Following the war, she supported international students and foreign visitors to the United Kingdom. She worked in the cause of international relations, and towards the establishment of UNESCO. She was also instrumental in promoting international cooperation in education via the conferences of the allied ministers of education. In recognition of this work, she was said to have been "the first woman other than the Queen to achieve [the] distinction of Dame Commander of the Order of Michael and St George".

Background

Parkinson was born into a Northern England manufacturing and mercantile family which was mainly of non-conformist faith during her childhood. One of Parkinson's maternal great-grandfathers was Thomas Noton, who was a bookkeeper, and later the manager of a cotton mill in Oldham, Greater Manchester. He married Ann Buckley, daughter of John and Betty Buckley. They baptised their first child William in a Wesleyan chapel in Oldham. Parkinson's maternal grandfather was Robert Barclay, a cloth merchant trading with Argentina. who married Mary Anne Noton. Mary Anne Noton was baptised in the Anglican parish church in Oldham on 5 November 1837.

Parkinson's last address was 6 Hanover Terrace, in London, where she had lived since at least 1948. She died on 10 December 1974, and left £41,725 .

According to the British Council, Parkinson was "a tireless worker, fiercely loyal to her department, and equally willing to negotiate with government ministers and undertake more practical tasks ... Her work with our Home Division was outstanding". For example, when a choir of sixty singers from Hungary needed an escort across London at midnight, Parkinson ensured their safe arrival. Much of her work was done in the cause of international relations, on the understanding that if visitors to her country were treated and entertained well, then international "connections, understanding and trust" would be enhanced. The British Council also called her, "the driving force behind the establishment of UNESCO". At the 1959 Commonwealth Education conference at Oxford, 100 international delegates attended. Of those, the only female delegates were four women of the United Kingdom delegation, which included Parkinson who was at that time controller of the British Council Home Division.

Awards and tributes In the 1938 Birthday Honours, Parkinson was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) when she was honorary secretary to the Hospitality Council of the National Union of Students in London. That award was upgraded in the 1946 New Year Honours when she was made Commander of the British Empire (CBE), as director of the Home Division of the British Council. In the 1965 New Year Honours, as controller of the British Council's Home Division she was made Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG), "in honour of her 30 years' exceptional service to the British Council". At the reception following Parkinson's DCMG award, her "tireless energy, skilful negotiations and kindness to colleagues and ... visitors" was noted. The British Council commented, "It is not easy to be a woman in an organisation where almost all the senior staff are men. Perhaps you can only hold your own by being just that little bit better than most.