James Hemming
Encyclopedia
Dr. Clifford James Hemming FBPS
FRSA (1909 - 25 December 2007), better known as James Hemming, was a British child psychologist, educationalist and humanist.
, James Hemming's childhood education was patchy, and he later obtained his BA via a correspondence course run by Birkbeck College, London.
Hemming taught at schools in Bristol
, Bournemouth
and at Isleworth grammar school, Middlesex
. On the outbreak of the second world war, Hemming taught English and PE at Isleworth.
In 1945, Hemming married Kay, another teacher. She died in 1993.
James Hemming died in Kingston Hospital
, Kingston upon Thames
, leaving an estate worth £1,615,879 net. Beneficiaries from his will included Oxfam
, National Children's Bureau
, Amnesty International
UK, Friends of the Earth
, World Wide Fund for Nature
, Greenpeace
, Cancer Research Campaign, British Humanist Association
, Arthritis and Rheumatism Council
, Unicef, and the Adlerian
Society for Individual Psychology
http://www.adleriansociety.co.uk/.
Hemming was a regular panel member on the 1970s BBC programme If You Think You've Got Problems.
politics, and was a member of the Green Alliance
.
He launched a campaign against the use of the cane, and was an advocate for sex education. He opposed the introduction of Section 28
, declaring in 1987 that homosexuality was "morally acceptable as a way of life" http://www.galha.org/galha-mourns-death-of-gay-rights-defender/.
Hemming had a particular interest in moral education, from a humanist perspective, and was active in the work of the Campaign for Moral Education and the Social Morality Council (later The Norham Foundation). He served on the Executive Committee of the Social Morality Council and was on the editorial board of its journal, Journal of Moral Education. He was a member of the Television Research Committee, set up to investigate the impact of mass media on the moral development of young people.
The Times Educational Supplement described Hemming as "one of the drivers behind the introduction of personal, social and health education.
He also spent some time lecturing in Africa, and wrote widely used books for schools. He was educational adviser to the World Education Fellowship.
from 1977–1980, and vice-president until his death. He served on the BHA's Education Committee for 30 years (c1966s-1998) and was a humanist representative on the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (1980s-1990s). He was also an honorary associate of the Rationalist Association
and a vice-president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.
He was a signatory to Humanist Manifesto II
(1973).
The James Hemming Essay Prize http://www.hemmingprize.org.uk/ was established in 2009 and is administered by the British Humanist Association, New Humanist
magazine and the South Place Ethical Society
. The inaugural prizes were awarded in August 2009.
British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society is a representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom. The BPS is also a Registered Charity and, along with advantages, this also imposes certain constraints on what the society can and cannot do...
FRSA (1909 - 25 December 2007), better known as James Hemming, was a British child psychologist, educationalist and humanist.
Biography
Born in Ashton-under-LyneAshton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
, James Hemming's childhood education was patchy, and he later obtained his BA via a correspondence course run by Birkbeck College, London.
Hemming taught at schools in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
and at Isleworth grammar school, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
. On the outbreak of the second world war, Hemming taught English and PE at Isleworth.
In 1945, Hemming married Kay, another teacher. She died in 1993.
James Hemming died in Kingston Hospital
Kingston Hospital
Kingston Hospital is an acute NHS hospital in Kingston upon Thames, South West London. It has an Accident & Emergency Unit, a popular midwife-led Maternity unit, and an STD clinic known as the Wolverton Centre...
, Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
, leaving an estate worth £1,615,879 net. Beneficiaries from his will included Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, National Children's Bureau
National Children's Bureau
The National Children's Bureau is a children's charity based in Islington, London. It was founded in 1963 The National Children's Bureau (NCB) is a children's charity based in Islington, London. It was founded in 1963 The National Children's Bureau (NCB) is a children's charity based in Islington,...
, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
UK, Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
, World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
, Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, Cancer Research Campaign, British Humanist Association
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
, Arthritis and Rheumatism Council
Arthritis Research Campaign
The organisation formerly known as Arthritis Research Campaign is a British medical research charity dedicated to curing arthritis....
, Unicef, and the Adlerian
Adlerian
Pertaining to the theory and practice of Alfred Adler , whose school of psychoanalysis is called Individual Psychology . Central to the Adlerian approach is to see the personality as a whole and not as the mere net result of component forces. Thus the term individual psychology...
Society for Individual Psychology
Individual psychology
Individual psychology is a term used specifically to refer to the psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler...
http://www.adleriansociety.co.uk/.
Writing and activism
James appeared as a defence witness in the Penguin Books obscenity trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1960.Hemming was a regular panel member on the 1970s BBC programme If You Think You've Got Problems.
Politics
Around 1942-46 Hemming was involved with Common Wealth, a socialist political party. Later he was active in local Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politics, and was a member of the Green Alliance
Green Alliance
Green Alliance is a charity and an independent think tank focused ambitious leadership for the environment in the United Kingdom . We have a track record of over 30 years, working with the most influential leaders from the NGO, business, and political communities...
.
Teaching and education
He was a governor of St. Georges in the East secondary modern school and Mayfield Girls' Secondary School (now closed).He launched a campaign against the use of the cane, and was an advocate for sex education. He opposed the introduction of Section 28
Section 28
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...
, declaring in 1987 that homosexuality was "morally acceptable as a way of life" http://www.galha.org/galha-mourns-death-of-gay-rights-defender/.
Hemming had a particular interest in moral education, from a humanist perspective, and was active in the work of the Campaign for Moral Education and the Social Morality Council (later The Norham Foundation). He served on the Executive Committee of the Social Morality Council and was on the editorial board of its journal, Journal of Moral Education. He was a member of the Television Research Committee, set up to investigate the impact of mass media on the moral development of young people.
The Times Educational Supplement described Hemming as "one of the drivers behind the introduction of personal, social and health education.
He also spent some time lecturing in Africa, and wrote widely used books for schools. He was educational adviser to the World Education Fellowship.
Eagle comic
Hemming was involved in the launch of The Eagle. Wrote Hemming,
I came in on Eagle originally because Johnny Metcalfe of Colman, Prentis & Varley rang me up to know if I was interested in the project. I was drawn in to taking the original dummy around to show the teacher and head teacher organisations. We met first around then. The launch complete, you asked me to stay linked as your consultant. So there we, very pleasantly, were. As for those early days, there was the sheer miracle of Eagle appearing regularly as, for months, perforce, we had no time in hand. Then there was the solid identification and teamwork that somehow got the work done week by week.
Humanism
A member since its formation in 1963, Hemming was President of the British Humanist AssociationBritish Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
from 1977–1980, and vice-president until his death. He served on the BHA's Education Committee for 30 years (c1966s-1998) and was a humanist representative on the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (1980s-1990s). He was also an honorary associate of the Rationalist Association
Rationalist Association
The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1899 by a group of free thinkers who were unhappy with the increasing political and decreasingly intellectual tenor of the British secularist movement...
and a vice-president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.
He was a signatory to Humanist Manifesto II
Humanist Manifesto II
The second Humanist Manifesto was written in 1973 by Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, and was intended to update the previous one. It begins with a statement that the excesses of Nazism and world war had made the first seem "far too optimistic", and indicated a more hardheaded and realistic...
(1973).
The James Hemming Essay Prize http://www.hemmingprize.org.uk/ was established in 2009 and is administered by the British Humanist Association, New Humanist
New Humanist
New Humanist is a monthly magazine published by the Rationalist Association in the UK. It has been in print for 125 years; starting out life as Watts's Literary Guide, founded by C. A. Watts in November 1885....
magazine and the South Place Ethical Society
South Place Ethical Society
The South Place Ethical Society, based in London at Conway Hall, is thought to be the oldest surviving freethought organisation in the world, and is the only remaining Ethical society in the United Kingdom...
. The inaugural prizes were awarded in August 2009.
Books and pamphlets
- The Problem of Child Crime. (1944). (Common Wealth Popular Library, no. 6).
- (with Josephine Balls) The Child is Right - a Challenge to Parents and Other Adults. (1945). London: Longmans, Green.
- The teaching of social studies in secondary schools. (1949). London: Longmans.
- Mankind against the killers. (1956). London: Longmans, Green.
- Problems of Adolescent Girls. (1960, 2nd ed 1967).
- Adolescents and Society'. (1962). (Arthur Mellows Memorial Lecture).
- Understand yourself and other people. (1966). Oxford: Blackwell.
- The psychology of adolescence: nine lectures. (1966).
- Individual Morality. (1969).
- (with Howard Marrat).Humanism and Christianity: the common ground of moral education: a consideration. (1969). Isleworth: H. Marratt.
- The alternative society. (1969). (Conway Memorial Lecture).
- Sex Education in Schools
- (with Zena Maxwell(. Sex and Love. (1972). London: Heinemann Educational .
- You and Your Adolescent. (1975).
- The Betrayal of Youth: secondary education must be changed. (1980). London: Marion Boyars.
- Instead of God: Pragmatic Reconsideration of Beliefs and Values. (1986).
Articles
- "Agony Aunties and Their Contribution to Health Education (a) The Search for Reassurance." The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Vol.92 (5), 1972, pp. 246–249.
- "Another Prospect on Moral Education" Journal of Moral Education, Vol.9 (2), 1980, pp. 75–80.
- "Why I am an atheist", New Humanist, Vol.100 (4), Autumn, 1985, pp. 32–33.
- "Physiology of moral maturity", Journal of Moral Education, Vol.20 (2), 1991, pp. 127–137.
- "The Living Cosmos", New Humanist, Vol.109 (2), 1993, pp. 7–8.
- "Morality after myth". Journal of Moral Education, Vol.25 (1), 1996, pp. 39–45.