Graham Wallas

Graham Wallas was an English socialist, social psychologist, and educator who co-founded the London School of Economics and led the Fabian Society. Wallas, Katharine's older brother, was born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, and went on to become a politician. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Corpus Christi College in Oxford. At Oxford, Wallas abandoned his religion. He taught at Highgate School until 1885, when he resigned rather than partake in communion, and then served as President of...See more

Graham Wallas was an English socialist, social psychologist, and educator who co-founded the London School of Economics and led the Fabian Society. Wallas, Katharine's older brother, was born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, and went on to become a politician. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Corpus Christi College in Oxford. At Oxford, Wallas abandoned his religion. He taught at Highgate School until 1885, when he resigned rather than partake in communion, and then served as President of the Rationalist Press Association. Wallas joined the Fabian Society in April 1886, joining friends Sidney Webb and George Bernard Shaw. He planned to leave in 1904 in protest over Fabian backing for Joseph Chamberlain's tariff policies. On December 18, 1897, he married the novelist Ada Radford. The following year, they had a daughter, May Wallas, who overcame diphtheria and fever to attend Newnham College in Cambridge, like her mother. May planned to publish reprints of many of her father's works, including the 1940 book Men and Ideas: Essays by Graham Wallas. Wallas became chair of the board's school administration committee in 1897, and until his loss in 1907, his principal activities included encouraging educational reform and boosting academic standards in public schools. He was named a university extension lecturer in 1890 and began teaching at the newly created London School of Economics in 1895. See less