Early Life
Born Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Catlin, Williams is the daughter of a political scientist and philosopher Sir George Catlin, and the feminist and pacifist writer Vera Brittain. She was educated at various primary schools including Mrs Spencer's School in Brechin Place, South Kensington, and Christchurch Elementary School in Chelsea, Talbot Heath School in Bournemouth, St Paul's Girls' School, London, and Somerville College, Oxford, where she was an Open Scholar. As a member of the OUDS she toured the USA playing the role of Cordelia in Shakespeare's King Lear. She was the first woman to chair the Oxford University Labour Club (1950).
After graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics she was a Fulbright Scholar and studied at Columbia University in New York City. On returning to Britain, she began her career as a journalist. In 1960, she became General Secretary of the Fabian Society.
Read more about this topic: Shirley Williams
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)