Phillip Bagwell
Bagwell began working life as a school teacher but went to Regent Street Polytechnic in 1951, where he remained full time until 1977 and part time for another ten years. He was a prolific writer; his first book, “The Railwaymen”, which came out in 1963, was a history of the NUR, a forerunner to today’s RMT – a sequel came out 20 years later. It remains a classic of its kind.
He was a long-term member of the Communist Party until 1956, although he managed to combine adherence to both Christianity and Marxism for the rest of his life. A product of his commitment to Christianity was “Outcast London”, a history of the West London Methodist Mission.
In his later years, as a commentator on transport policy he was difficult to excel, both his “The Transport Revolution” (1974) and “The Transport Crisis” (1996) summed up just what is wrong with Britain’s approach over the past half century.
He also co-wrote with his sister, Joan Lawley, a biography of their father, also Phillip Bagwell, who was imprisoned for his pacifist beliefs during the first world war. Phillip Bagwell died aged 92 in 2006.
Source: Guardian 15th March 2006
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