| Admin History | Annie Phoebe Ellen Cusden (nee. Blackall) was born in Reading in 1887. Her parents were William Bilson Blackall (1851-1937) and Ellen A. Blackall (nee Gurdon, 1854-1926). She had two brothers, Harold Blackall and Ernest William Blackall. She was known to her family as Nell/Nellie and to some friends as 'Bepa' (her initials backwards), and publicly as Annie until her marriage, when she started using the name of Phoebe. She was educated at Bishop Fox's High School, Taunton, Somerset. The family returned to Berkshire when Phoebe was 16, initially living in Windsor but later moving to Cane End, near Caversham.
When Phoebe left home she worked for the Post Office until she married in 1922. While employed there she gained qualifications in telegraphy and telephony, and became supervisor of the female staff. In 1928 she started a small private nursery school in Blagdon Road, Reading, and in 1934 she resumed paid employment as Organising Secretary of the Nursery School Association of Great Britain. She was a freelance journalist and writer and in 1937 published a book on 'The English Nursery School'.
During her time at the Post Office Phoebe became a socialist and an active trade unionist. Her many interests included early childhood education and international relations, and she was an ardent pacifist. She organised clubs and holidays for poor children. She served as a member of Reading Board of Guardians, 1919-1922. She was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for South Oxfordshire in 1928, but was forced to resign her candidacy before the 1929 election. She was a Justice of the Peace for Reading Borough, 1931-1963, a Reading Borough Councillor, 1931-1949, and Alderman, 1938-1950, serving as Mayor of Reading 1946-1947, when she was instrumental in starting the Reading-Dusseldorf Association. She was awarded an MBE in 1951.
Albert Ernest Cusden was born to parents James and Elizabeth Cusden in 1891. His father was a printer, and owner of J. Cusden and Co in Castle Street, Reading. Albert was one of nine children: James (born in 1882), Edith (born in 1884), Archibald (born in 1886), Lucy (born in 1888), Victor (born in 1893), Ruby (born in 1897), Leonard (born in 1899) and Iris (born in 1907).
Albert Cusden travelled to Germany in 1912 as an English teacher. After the outbreak of the First World War he and his brothers Archibald and Victor Cusden were detained in the Ruhleben internment camp. Albert occupied a lot of his time in Ruhleben producing sketches and paintings of the camp and his fellow prisoners. The three brothers returned to Britain in 1918 when the camp was liberated. Albert remained in Reading, and took over the family printing business when his father retired to live in Geneva.
Phoebe Blackall met Albert Ernest Cusden through their association with the Independent Labour Party and they married in 1922. Their only daughter Barbara Phoebe was born in 1924. Albert Cusden died in 1953 aged 62. Phoebe Cusden died in 1981 aged 93.
For a biography of Phoebe, see Adam Stout, 'A Bigness Of Heart' (1997); a copy is in the BRO library. An earlier unpublished biography by Winifred Darter ('The Honoourable Feeb') is part of the archive: D/EX1485/27/1. |
| Acquisition | Deposited in February 1981 (acc. 2646); May 1981 (acc. 2894); September 1981 (accs. 2933, 2934 and 2935); October 1981 (acc. 2944); October 1997 (acc. 6109)
Schedule of accessions
Acc. 2646: 1/1-43, 47; 2/1-4, 6-10, 13-21, 23-45, 47-52, 54-63, 65, 67-72, 78, 85, 87, 91, 93, 99, 102, 104-105; 3/1-15; 4/1-18; 5/1-8; 6/1, 3-26; 7/1-13; 8/1-3, 5-6; 9/1-4; 9/5/2-11; 9/8-9; 9/21/3; 9/22-23, 25-49, 51-54; 9/55/2; 9/56-104, 107-108; 10/1-12; 11/1-33; 12/1-3; 13/1-26; 14/1 (part), 3-9, 16-18, 20-25; 14/26/2-3; 14/27-36; 15/1-3, 30, 44, 53-54; 15/57/2; 15/75/5; 15/82, 87-89; 16/1, 3, 5-29, 31, 33-39; 17/1-3, 5, 8, 10, 12-13, 15-18, 20-100, 102-106; 18/1-26; 19/1-12, 15-17; 20/1-19; 21/1-18; 22/1-9; 23/1, 3-7, 9-15, 18-22; 24/1-3, 5-10, 17-20, 23, 25, 27-52, 54-55; 25/1-23, 25-37, 43-53, 55-77; 26/1-18, 20-24, 26-27; 28/2-3, 5-6, 9-20, 22-34
Acc. 2894: 4/19; 15/4-9, 11-17, 19-29, 31, 33-43, 45-47, 49-52, 55-56; 15/57/1; 15/58-65, 67-72, 76-77, 81, 83, 85
Acc. 2933: 14/2, 10-11
Acc. 2934: 15/10, 18, 32, 48, 66, 75/1-4
Acc. 2935: 28/1, 4
Acc. 2944: 14/26/1; 17/9; 19/13-14; 23/16-17; 24/22
Acc. 6109: 1/44-46; 2/5, 11-12, 22, 34, 46, 53, 64, 66, 73-77, 79-84, 86, 88-90, 92, 94-98, 100-101, 103; 6/2; 8/4; 9/5/1; 9/6-7, 10-20; 9/21/1-2; 9/24, 50; 9/55/1; 9/105-106, 109-112; 11/34; 14/1 (part), 12-15, 19; 15/73-74, 78-80, 84, 86; 16/2, 4, 30, 32; 17/4, 6-7, 11, 14, 19, 101; 23/2, 8; 24/4, 11-16, 21, 24, 26; 25/24, 38-42, 54; 26/19, 25; 27/1-5; 28/7-8, 21, 35 |