Beatrice Serota, Baroness Serota, DBE (''née'' Katz; 15 October 1919 – 21 October 2002) was a

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Government minister and a Deputy Speaker of the

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Early life

Beatrice Katz was brought up in the

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of London, the daughter of Jewish refugees from central Europe. She was nicknamed "Bea" or "Bee" from an early age.

Career

She joined the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in 1941 and worked in the crucial Ministry of Fuel and Power through the difficult years of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

until 1946.

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

appointed her as a Government

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

almost immediately and then proposed her for the sensitive post of deputy to

Richard Crossman Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...

, having refused to promote

Roy Hattersley Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, (born 28 December 1932) is a British Labour Party politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served as Depu ...

, whom he suspected of disloyalty. She had never been an MP herself, but became a thoroughly competent administrator. She had been a member of the old

Hampstead Borough Council Hampstead was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boa ...

immediately after the Second World War and subsequently served successively on the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

, as a member for

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, and the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

, as the member for

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

. Until the end of her life she was devoted to

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.Obituary
telegraph.co.uk; accessed 4 March 2019. She became a

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when she was on the GLC, a post that would stand her in good stead later. She was vice-chairwoman of the

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was an ad hoc local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. The authority was reconstituted as a directly elected body corpor ...

, holding this post for three years until 1967. It was her distinguished career in local government and the work that she did for children which brought her the recognition of a seat in the

as a recognised authority on the subject. Serota chaired the LCC children's committee for seven years, and was a member of the Central Training Council for Child Care for a least nine years. Serota was chair of the advisory council on the penal system, and the first

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for local government. She was a member of the Community Relations Commission and the BBC Complaints Commission and a

BBC Governor The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced ...

. She served on the Longford Committee on Crime and on the Latey Committee, which led to the lowering of the

age of majority The age of majority is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. It is the moment when minors cease to be considered such and assume legal control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the contr ...

to 18. In the House of Lords, she became a Deputy Speaker in 1985, and then the principal deputy chairwoman of committees.

Education

Serota was educated at John Howard Grammar School for Girls and at the

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used on ...

, where she read economics and in 1976 she became an honorary fellow.

Personal life

Her future husband, Stanley Serota, whose family had come from Russia, lived next door; they were married in 1942. He qualified as a civil engineer. Serota had two children. Her son,

Sir Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota, (born 27 April 1946) is an English art historian and curator, who served as the Director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017. He is currently Chair of Arts Council England, a role which he has held since February 2017. Se ...

, was born in 1946. He later became the director of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

. Her daughter, Judith, was born in 1948 and later pursued a career in the arts.

Honours

On 20 January 1967, she was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

as Baroness Serota, of

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

. In 1992 Baroness Serota was appointed a

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE).

References

External links

Oxford Index #101077350Catalogue of the Serota papers
at th

of the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Serota, Beatrice 1919 births 2002 deaths 20th-century British women politicians Alumni of the London School of Economics BBC Governors British Jews Civil servants from London Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Jewish British politicians Labour Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Serota Members of Hampstead Metropolitan Borough Council Members of London County Council Members of the Greater London Council Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970 Women councillors in England