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.
Early and young adult life
GCT Giles was born in 1891 and educated at Eton College. During his time there, his "fag" (boy servant) was future Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. After leaving Eton he became 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. In 1914 World War I broke out, in which he fought as a British Army officer. After suffering a mental breakdown caused by the stress of the war, he began re-examining his beliefs."Three years of war and the loss of many of my friends put me in hospital with a bad breakdown. I began to think and read."After being dismissed by the army on grounds of ill health, Giles worked with disabled British military servicemen for the YMCA. He then spent time as a teacher and journalist abroad, serving as a professor of English at the Public Commercial School in Athens and as a master at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. Upon returning to Britain, he was appointed senior Latin master at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.
As a young man Giles was briefly a member of the Labour Party and Teacher's Labour League. However, in 1925 he visited the Soviet Union, an event which had a profound effect on his political outlook and solidified his budding socialist beliefs. Soon after his return he joined both the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), becoming a lifelong member of both organisations. He became immersed in active politics very quickly thereafter, working with the CPGB during the general strike the following year. It was in 1926 that he also became the headmaster of Acton County Grammar School for Boys, a position he held until retirement in 1956. Outside of the communist movement, his greatest political influences of that period were Sylvia Pankhurst and E. D. Morel.
Anti-fascist and socialist activism in the 1930s
During the 1930s Giles worked to support victimised teachers from Spain and Germany, where rising fascist movements had placed many academics in danger. Giles was associated with an organisation known as the International Committee for the Relief of Victimised Teachers, and was also a member of the national committee of the British Committee for the Relief of German Teachers. Being especially interested in Spanish politics, he acted as the star and commentator of the documentary Spanish A.B.C. (1938), directed by Thorold Dickinson and produced by Sidney Cole. 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. Fighting for higher wages and better conditions for British educators, he was repeatedly (and unanimously) elected the leader of the Middlesex Teachers’ Panel, which under his leadership was frequently successful in its negotiations with the County Authority. Using his position as a senior figure in the NUT (see below), he also managed to convince many fellow leading union members to oppose the release from prison of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists.