Peggy Arline Middleton (3 January 1916 – 26 August 1974) was a British politician who served on 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 ...

(GLC). Born in Bristol as Peggy Loughman, she was educated at Kingswood Grammar School. She worked for the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

in its features department until 1940, then at Preston Record Office. After having children, she worked at Family Planning until 1950. She then qualified as a teacher at Borthwick College. She taught in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, where she led a campaign against comics, having found 11-year-olds in her class reading material she considered unsuitable. During this period, she also wrote for the New York-based ''

National Guardian ''The National Guardian'', later known as ''The Guardian'', was a left-wing independent weekly newspaper established in 1948 in New York City. The paper was founded by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage and John T. McManus in connection with the 194 ...

''. In 1952, Middleton was elected as a Labour Party member of

Greenwich Metropolitan Borough Council The Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich was a metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965. It bordered the boroughs of Woolwich, Lewisham and Deptford and, across the River Thames, the borough of Poplar and the County Borou ...

. At the

1955 London County Council election An election to the County Council of London took place on 31 March 1955. The council was elected by First Past the Post with each elector having three votes in the three-member seats. The Conservative Party made significant gains, but the Labo ...

, she was additionally elected as a councillor for

. In 1961/62, she served as Mayor of Greenwich, the youngest person at that time to have held the office. During that year, she was fined £1 for attending a

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

demonstration and refusing to move when asked by police, at which she claimed to have had her arm seized and twisted by the officers. At the

1966 UK general election The 1966 United Kingdom general election was held on 31 March 1966. The result was a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson decided to call a snap election since his government, elected a m ...

, Middleton stood in

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

, taking third place, with 20.2% of the vote. In 1965, the London County Council was replaced by the GLC. Middleton remained a councillor for

, and in 1973 she was appointed as chair of the council's finance board. She died the following year, while still in office. In 1977, Peggy Middleton House was completed, providing office space for staff at the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Peggy 1916 births 1974 deaths Labour Party (UK) councillors Mayors of places in Greater London Members of London County Council Members of the Greater London Council People from Bristol