(Not to be confused with Barbara Davies, mother of television writer Russell T Davies.)
Barbara Davies ( née Eggleston, 30 December 1955 – 1 March 2002), was an English teacher and peace campaigner. She was the national organiser of the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND) for a decade.
Davies was born Barbara Eggleston in London in 1955. [1] She was educated at Brighton and Hove School for Girls then studied London School of Economics (LSE). As a student at the LSE, she became involved with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Young Liberals, the youth wing of the Liberal Party. [1]
After graduating, she taught humanities at a comprehensive school in London for three years, before giving up her job to become a full-time anti-nuclear weapons activist. [2]
Davies became the first paid worker of Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND) and was its national organiser between 1982 and 1992. [1] In 1989, she founded Dominican Peace Action and after CND worked part time for the Conference of Religious and the Dominican Justice and Peace Commission. In 1996, she organised a pilgrimage from Canterbury to the village of St Radegund (home of the conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter), Prague, Dresden and Cologne. [1]
Davies died from breast cancer on 1 March 2002, and was survived by her husband Roger Davies and their two sons. [1] She is commemorated on a memorial bench at the St. John Baptist churchyard in Cirencester. [3]
Oxford's Quaker House hosts the annual multi-faith "Building Bridges for Peace" event, which is organised by the CCND in Davies' memory. [4] Vigils and memorial lectures are also held in her honour by pacifist groups on the anniversary of her death. [2] [5] [6]
Davies' correspondence in relation the CCND is held in the collect of the LSE. [7] The Thames TV/Channel 4 series A People’s War featured transcripts of pacifist activists, including Davies. [8]