Hart, Jenifer (Fischer) 1914–2005
HART, Jenifer (Fischer) 1914–2005
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 29, 1914, in London, England; died March 19, 2005, in Oxford, England. Civil servant, historian, educator, and author. Hart was a former history tutor at St. Anne's College, Oxford. After graduating from Somerville College, Oxford, with a first in history in 1935, she passed the civil service exam and joined the British Home Office in 1936. Here she enjoyed one of the most successful careers of any woman to have worked for the civil service, managing to do well even when she temporarily joined the Communist Party during the 1930s. When her husband was hired to teach philosophy at New College, Oxford, Hart left government work behind and was hired at the university. She filled various positions, such as extramural studies organizer and history and politics tutor for the Society of Oxford Home Students, before joining the St. Anne's faculty as a history teacher. Here she would remain until her 1981 retirement. During this period, she also published the well-received history books The British Police (1951) and Proportional Representation: Critics of the British Electoral System, 1820–1945 (1992). In 1998 Hart published her autobiography, Ask Me No More.
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
BOOKS
Hart, Jenifer, Ask Me No More, Peter Halban (London, England), 1998.
PERIODICALS
Independent (London, England), March 31, 2005, p. 35.
Times (London, England), March 31, 2005, p. 57.