Mary Ethel Salisbury (1917 – 27 October 2008), previously Mary Ethel Wilkinson, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

politician in

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county. As a result of the 2009 restructur ...

, serving for three years as its first woman Chairman.

Life

Born in 1917 in a mining village in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, one of six children, she began life as Mary Wilkinson and in 1928 won a scholarship to

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

County School for Girls. She later trained as a nurse.OBITUARY: Mrs Mary Salisbury
''Wiltshire Times'', 6 November 2008 During the Second World War she was a nurse at Battle Hospital in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, where she met and in 1942 married Bob Salisbury. They moved to

Melksham Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement af ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, in 1947 and joined the local Labour Party soon after that. In 1954, Salisbury was elected to Melksham Urban District Council, and later to

. In 1960 she became a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Wiltshire. In 1982 she was appointed a

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 ...

for services to local government, and in January 1983 was

Gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

a Deputy Lieutenant for

, together with Lord Margadale. She was also a member of the Wiltshire Victoria County History Committee. When the Conservatives lost control of Wiltshire County Council at the 1985 elections, resulting in a hung council, Salisbury commented to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' that there was virtually nothing which she opposed in

Jack Ainslie John Bernard Ainslie OBE (2 August 1921 – 5 January 2007), known as Jack Ainslie, was a Wiltshire farmer and Liberal politician, Chairman of Wiltshire County Council from 1986 to 1990. Early life Born at Stanmore, Middlesex, on 2 August 1921 ...

's plan for a new Liberal-SDP administration and almost nothing on which she agreed with the defeated Conservatives. "Where the Liberals put forward measures which seem to be beneficial to the people of Wiltshire, we will support them", she said. With the council remaining hung, she went on to become the first woman Chairman of Council, holding that office from 1989 until 1992. She was a member of the county council for thirty-eight years, and was also a member of the Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority, standing down from both in 2001. She died at the age of ninety on 27 October 2008, and a service of thanksgiving for her life was held at St Michael and All Angels Church, Melksham, in December 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salisbury, Mary 1917 births 2008 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Wiltshire English justices of the peace English nurses Labour Party (UK) councillors People from County Durham (district) People from Melksham Female wartime nurses Members of Wiltshire County Council World War II nurses Women councillors in England

Life

See also

References