Lena May Jeger, Baroness Jeger (''née'' Chivers; 19 November 1915 – 26 February 2007) was a British

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP during two periods. She followed her husband as Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras South, holding the seat from 1953 to 1959. She retook the seat in 1964, retaining it until 1979, when she became 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 ...

Early life

She was born Lena May Chivers in Yorkley, Gloucestershire. Her father was a

postman A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

. She was educated at Southgate County School in north London, and read English and French at Birkbeck College,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. She was vice-president of the National Union of Students. She joined the civil service in 1936, initially in

HM Customs & Excise HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was th ...

. During the Second World War she worked at the Ministry of Information and the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

. A fluent Russian speaker, she edited the ''British Ally'', a newspaper published by the British government in the Soviet Union. She also worked at the British Embassy in Moscow. In 1948, she married Dr

Santo Jeger Santo Wayburn Jeger (20 May 1898 – 24 September 1953) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 until his death. Born in London, Jeger was educated at University College, Cardiff and the Londo ...

, a general practitioner by profession, who had been Member of Parliament for St Pancras South East since the 1945 UK general election. She left the civil service in 1949, and worked for ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' from 1951 to 1955.

Political career

Jeger was elected to the St. Pancras Borough Council (1945–59) and 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 ...

(1952–55), on which she represented Holborn and St Pancras South. Her husband died in 1953 and she was selected as Labour's candidate in the resultant by-election in Holborn and St Pancras South. She won the by-election, held on her birthday, by 1,976 votes, slightly increasing the Labour majority. She just retained her seat at the 1955 general election by 931 votes, but lost the seat to the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

in the 1959 general election by 656 votes, losing to

Geoffrey Johnson Smith Sir Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, (16 April 1924 – 11 August 2010) was a British Conservative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1959 to 2001, with only a brief interruption in the 1960s. He was also a television presenter. Earl ...

. After a period working for ''The Guardian'', she regained her seat in the 1964 general election. The seat was renamed Camden, Holborn and St Pancras South in 1974, and she retained it until the 1979 general election. Despite the Conservative election victory, her seat was retained by Labour's

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 t ...

. Jeger served on the Labour Party's

National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...

from 1968 until 1980, becoming chair in 1979. Following her retirement from the House of Commons she was created a

as Baroness Jeger, ''of St Pancras in

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 ...

'', on 11 July 1979. In the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, she served as opposition spokesman on health, and then on social security. She was chairman of the party in 1979 to 1980, and was the first peer to take the chair at the Labour party conference, at Blackpool in September 1980. She continued to write occasional pieces for ''The Guardian'' from 1964 to 2003, particularly obituaries. Frank Dobson said of her career, "She pursued causes which may have become fashionable now, but were highly controversial when she espoused them." Jeger believed that MPs should "give a lead to public opinion and not always follow it."

Death

Lena Jeger suffered from poor health in her last years. She was treated at the

Royal Marsden hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital (RM) is a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London based in Kensington and Chelsea, next to the Royal Brompton Hospital, in Fulham Road with a second site in Belmont, close to Sutton Hospital, High Down and D ...

for cancer, and was granted a

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they are ...

from the

. She died, aged 91, on 26 February 2007. She had no children.

References

External links

Catalogue of the Jeger 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:Jeger, Lena 1915 births 2007 deaths Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London British civil servants Civil servants in HM Customs and Excise Civil servants in the Ministry of Information (United Kingdom) Members of St Pancras Metropolitan Borough Council Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) life peers Members of London County Council Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People educated at Southgate School People from Forest of Dean District UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 Deaths from cancer in England Place of death missing Chairs of the Labour Party (UK) 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women councillors in England