Dame Helen Metcalf, DBE,

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Pitt; 7 October 1946 – 3 December 2003) was a British academic, educator, and politician.

Biography

Born as Helen Pitt in

Enfield, Middlesex Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highw ...

, she attended Enfield Grammar School and

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and earned a teaching diploma at

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

. Later she earned her Master's in Economic History at 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 ...

(LSE). In 1968 she married David Metcalf, a fellow student at Manchester University, and later a professor of economics at the LSE; they had one child, a son, Tom. Among the schools at which she taught were Dame Alice Owens from 1972; Islington Green Comprehensive from 1974; and Acland Burghley Comprehensive from 1982. She took a hiatus from teaching after being elected as a Labour councillor in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

in 1971. She resigned from local politics in 1978 and returned to teaching. She became headteacher at Chiswick Community School in 1988. For most of her time as head of

Chiswick Community School Chiswick School is an English secondary school with academy status in Chiswick, West London. It educates more than 1,200 pupils, aged 11 to 18 years. This number includes 200 pupils studying at the upper school sixth form within the school grou ...

(1988–2001) she was ill, battling the

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

which had been initially diagnosed in 1991. She died in 2003, aged 57, in London. In recognition of her achievements, Helen Metcalf 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 ...

for her "services to education" in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalf, Helen 1946 births 2003 deaths Alumni of the London School of Economics Heads of schools in London Deaths from cancer in England Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from breast cancer Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Labour Party (UK) councillors People from Enfield, London People educated at Enfield Grammar School Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Roehampton Women councillors in England