Dame Sara Elizabeth Barker (15 February 1904 – 19 September 1973) was a
British
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Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
political administrator, prominent in the Labour Party.
Early life
Born in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, Barker's father was an
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...
Workers Educational Association
The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...
, and became active in the Labour Party. At the age of sixteen, she became the women's officer for the local branch of the party.Dame Sara Elizabeth Barker profile ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''; accessed 30 March 2014.
In 1935, Barker was appointed as secretary and agent for the Halifax branch of the Labour Party, and she gradually rose to prominence, becoming the party's Yorkshire women's officer in 1942, assistant national agent in 1951, and Chief Women's Officer in 1960. In 1962, she became National Agent for the party, the first women to hold this post.
In 1968, she served as Acting General Secretary, following the resignation of Len Williams, and until
Harry Nicholas
Sir Herbert Richard Nicholas OBE (13 March 1905 – 15 April 1997) was a trade unionist and political organiser.
Early life
Born in Bristol, Nicholas worked for the Port of Bristol Authority until 1936, when he took a full-time post in the T ...
was appointed.
Lucy Middleton
Lucy Annie Middleton (née Cox; 9 May 1894 – 20 November 1983) was a Labour politician in the United Kingdom.
Personal life
In 1936, she married James Middleton, General Secretary of the Labour Party.Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire the following year.