Shirley Catherine Wynne Summerskill (born 9 September 1931) is a British Labour Party politician and former government minister, who served as the Member of Parliament for Halifax from 1964 to 1983.

Early life

Summerskill was born in London, the daughter of Dr E. Jeffrey Samuel and

Edith Summerskill Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill, (19 April 1901 – 4 February 1980) was a British physician, feminist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949. Early life Summerskill was educated at King' ...

, the latter of whom became a Labour MP and a minister in Clement Attlee's government. Shirley was educated at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

and

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, and trained as a doctor at St. Thomas's Hospital. She was a member of the executives of the

Socialist Medical Association The Socialist Health Association (SHA, called the Socialist Medical Association before May 1981) is a socialist medical association based in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the Labour Party as a socialist society. History The Social ...

and of the

Medical Practitioners' Union Doctors in Unite is a trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. It was formerly known as the Medical Practitioners' Union (MPU) before its affiliation with Unite. Origin The union was founded as the Panel Medical Practitioners' Union in 191 ...

. In the 1950s, Edith wrote a series of letters to her young daughter Shirley, ''Letters to My Daughter'' (1957), primarily concerned with their shared interest in women's rights.

Parliamentary career

After unsuccessfully contesting the

1962 Blackpool North by-election The by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Blackpool North, in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, was held on 13 March 1962. This was the last parliamentary by-election in England to be held on a day other than Thursday. ...

, Summerskill was elected as Member of Parliament for Halifax in the 1964 general election. After being a Labour shadow minister for Health from 1970 to 1974, she served as a junior minister in the Home Office throughout the 1974–79 Labour government, under two Home Secretaries,

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

and

Merlyn Rees Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, (né Merlyn Rees; 18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. He served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–197 ...

. In 1980, she was interviewed by the BBC's ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' current affairs programme about Britain's preparations for a

nuclear attack Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

. When Labour returned to opposition after the

Conservative 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 i ...

victory at the 1979 general election, Summerskill became an opposition spokesperson on Home Affairs. She lost her seat at the 1983 general election to the Conservative Roy Galley.

Outside Parliament

Summerskill authored two novels, ''A Surgical Affair'' (1963) and ''Destined to Love'' (1986). In ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'', she listed her recreations as music, reading and attending literature classes. She was Medical Officer for the

Blood Transfusion Service NHS Blood and Transplant is an executive non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom's Department of Health and Social Care. It was established on 1 October 2005 to take over the responsibilities of two separate NHS agencies: UK Transplan ...

from 1983 to 1991.

Personal life

Sumerskill married lawyer and future Labour MP

John Ryman John Ryman QC (7 November 1930 – 3 May 2009) was a British Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) who sat as an independent MP for his last year in the House of Commons. Ryman was educated at Leighton Park School, Reading, and Pembroke Coll ...

in 1957; they divorced in 1971. Her nephew,

Ben Summerskill Ben Jeffrey Peter Summerskill (born 6 October 1961 in Kent) is chair of The Silver Line and director of the Criminal Justice Alliance, a consortium of 135 charities working across the GB criminal justice pathway. He was the chief executive of th ...

, was chief executive of the UK gay equality charity

Stonewall Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to: * Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction * Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics * Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...

from 2003 to 2014.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Summerskill, Shirley 1931 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 20th-century English medical doctors 20th-century British women politicians Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Daughters of life peers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Spouses of British politicians