G D H Cole
| G. D. H. Cole | |
|---|---|
G. D. H. Cole
|
|
| Born |
25 September 1889 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK |
| Died | 14 January 1959 (aged 69) London, England, UK |
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Isabel Postgate (1918-1959) |
| Field | Co-operative economics |
| School or tradition |
Libertarian socialism |
| Influences | Sidney Webb |
George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. As a libertarian socialist he was a long-time member of the Fabian Society and an advocate for the co-operative movement.
Cole was born in Cambridge, to George Cole, a jeweller who later became a surveyor, and his wife, Jessie Knowles.
Cole was educated at St Paul's School and Balliol College, Oxford where he achieved double firsts.
As a conscientious objector during the First World War, Cole's involvement in the campaign against conscription introduced him to a co-worker, Margaret Postgate, whom he married in 1918. The couple both worked for the Fabian Society for the next six years before moving to Oxford, where Cole started writing for the Manchester Guardian.
In 1915 Cole became an unpaid research officer at the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. He advised the union on how to respond to wartime legislation including the Munitions Act. This role enabled him to escape conscription on the grounds that he was conducting work of ‘national importance’.
Having secured exemption from military service, during the war years Cole developed a political theory of guild socialism.
Cole authored several economic and historical works including biographies of William Cobbett and Robert Owen.
In 1925, he became reader in economics at University College, Oxford.
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