Eileen Power
| Eileen Power | |
|---|---|
Eileen Power circa 1930.
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| Born |
9 January 1889 Altrincham |
| Died | 8 August 1940 (aged 51) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | Medieval History |
Eileen Edna LePoer Power (9 January 1889 – 8 August 1940) was a British economic historian and medievalist.
Eileen Power was the eldest daughter of a stockbroker and was born at Altrincham (now part of Greater Manchester) in 1889. She was a sister of Rhoda Power, the children's writer and broadcaster. She was educated at Oxford High School for Girls, Girton College, and the Sorbonne.
Power was Director of Studies in History at Girton College (1913–21), Lecturer in Political Science at the London School of Economics (1921–24), and Reader of the University of London (1924–31). In 1931 she became Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she remained until 1938 when she became Professor of Economic History at Cambridge University.
Her most famous book, Medieval People, was published in 1924. In 1927 Power founded the Economic History Review. In 1933 she joined the head of LSE, William Beveridge, in establishing the Academic Freedom Committee, an organization that helped academics fleeing from Nazi Germany. A critic of Britain's foreign policy, Power was an active member of the Union of Democratic Control.
In 1937 Power married the historian Michael Postan, having previously been engaged to Reginald Johnston, tutor to the last Emperor of China, Puyi. She died of heart failure in 1940.
Her book The Wool Trade in English Medieval History (1941) was published posthumously. Medieval Women was reissued in 1975.
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