Betty Boothroyd
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| The Rt Hon. Baroness Boothroyd | |
| Born | 8 October 1929 Dewsbury, England |
|---|---|
Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC (born October 8, 1929 in Dewsbury, England), is a British politician and was the first female Speaker of the House of Commons.
Boothroyd was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, in 1929, to Archibald and Mary Boothroyd, textile workers. She was educated at council schools[citation needed] and went on to study at Dewsbury College of Commerce and Art. In the 1940s, she enjoyed a career as a dancer, as a member of the Tiller Girls dancing troupe in her younger years.
Boothroyd contested parliamentary seats at Leicester South East (1957) and Peterborough (1959) before travelling to the United States in 1960 to witness the Kennedy campaign. She subsequently began work in Washington as a legislative assistant for an American Congressman, Silvio Conte, between 1960 and 1962. When she returned to London she continued her work as secretary and political assistant to various senior Labour politicians. In 1964 she was elected to a seat on Hammersmith Borough Council, in Gibbs Green ward, where she remained until 1968.
She entered Parliament as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich in a by-election in 1973. Boothroyd's career then flourished. In 1974 she was appointed an assistant Government Whip and she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1975-1977. In 1979 she became a member of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, until 1981, and of the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen, until 1987. She was also a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1981-1987 and the House of Commons Commission from 1983-1987. She became a deputy Speaker in 1987. In 1992 she was elected Speaker, being the first woman ever to hold the position. There was some debate as to whether or not she should wear the traditional speaker's wig. In the end she did not, and the tradition was abolished as a result.
Boothroyd stepped down in 2000, and resigned as an MP, being succeeded by Michael Martin as Speaker.
Boothroyd was Chancellor of the Open University from 1994 until October 2006 and has donated some of her personal papers to the University's archives.
In 2001 she was created a Life Peer, taking as her title Baroness Boothroyd, of Sandwell in the West Midlands. Her autobiography was published in 2001. In April 2005 she was appointed to the Order of Merit, an honour which is still in the personal gift of the Queen.
She is unmarried and has no children.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Constituency Created | Member of Parliament for West Bromwich West 1973–2000 | Succeeded by: Adrian Bailey |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by: Bernard Weatherill | Speaker of the House of Commons 1992 – 2000 | Succeeded by: Michael Martin |
| Speakers of the House of Commons (20th Century)
<td style="vertical-align: middle; width: 1px" rowspan="2"> Image:Portcullis parliament.JPG </td> |
|---|
| William Court Gully | James William Lowther | John Henry Whitley | Edward FitzRoy | Douglas Clifton Brown | William Morrison | Harry Hylton-Foster | Horace King | Selwyn Lloyd | George Thomas | Bernard Weatherill | Betty Boothroyd |
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1929 births | Living people | Speakers of the British House of Commons | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | British female MPs | Labour MPs (UK) | Members of the Order of Merit | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom | Female life peers | Life peers | UK MPs 1970-1974 | UK MPs 1974 | UK MPs 1974-1979 | UK MPs 1979-1983 | UK MPs 1983-1987 | UK MPs 1987-1992 | UK MPs 1992-1997 | UK MPs 1997-2001 | People associated with the Open University
