From Sunderland to Zambia and back - the Wearside man who championed fairness in the workplace

Robert Oakeshott’s life is spotlighted by author Kevin Shillington in his new 256-page read called The Quintessential English Eccentric.

It tells of a man who learned the ropes of journalism at the Sunderland Echo in 1958, and returned to Wearside in the 1970s to found a Builders’ Co-op, called Sunderlandia.

He was a champion of employee ownership in the UK and internationally.

Recognition at last for a Wearside hero

Kevin has added Robert to his list of biographies on ‘people who have not received the wide recognition they deserve’.

Kevin described Robert as ‘a man of humorous eccentricity and intoxicating discourse who used his privileged background and education to prove himself a man of many lives’.

Robert did a journalistic apprenticeship at the Sunderland Echo and later became foreign correspondent for the Financial Times.

He became a key development officer in Zambia at the time of independence, and then an alternative educationist in Botswana where he was introduced to the concept of cooperatives and cooperative production.

A pioneer in 1970s Sunderland

Kevin said: “He took the concept to Sunderland in the 1970s where he founded a Builders’ Cooperative called ‘Sunderlandia’.

"Learning from this experience, he went on to found a think tank in the UK to promote justice and fairness in the workplace through employee ownership, an economic model that he took to Eastern Europe following the fall of communism.”

But Robert’s achievements went much further than that. He played a leading role in the founding of pioneering charities. He lived from 1933 to 2011.

Kevin said: “Despite this extraordinary contribution to the betterment of his fellow men, Robert Oakeshott received no recognition from the British State.”

The author’s study of Robert started when he was researching another unsung hero – the alternative educationist Patrick van Rensburg.

It was van Rensburg who developed ‘Education with Production’ in Botswana in the 1960s.

How to buy the book

Kevin said: “I am a historian and biographer whose writing has been mainly related to Africa where I spent a number of years teaching at secondary school and university.”

His book costs £25 and available from all good bookshops and online retailers, or by visiting https://www.browndogbooks.uk/products/robert-oakeshott-by-kevin-shillington