Ashok Kumar (28 May 1956 – 15 March 2010) 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 ...

politician who served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

until his death shortly before the 2010 general election.

Early life

Kumar was born in

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the ri ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, to Jagat Ram Saini and Santosh Kumari, who emigrated to

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

when Kumar was twelve years of age. He attended Rykneld Secondary Modern School in Derby and left aged 15 to study for

O-level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-dept ...

s at

Wilmorton College Wilmorton is a suburb of the city of Derby, England. It is situated between Alvaston and Osmaston, to the south of the city centre on the A6 from Deadman's Lane to the Canal Bridge; the former is aligned to the old town boundary and named fro ...

, before attending Derby & District College of Art & Technology for his A-Levels. He then studied

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

where he was awarded a BSc in 1978, and an MSc in Process Analysis and Control Theory in 1980, and a PhD in

Fluid Mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and ...

in 1982. The thesis title was ''Velocity distributions in a

plate heat exchanger A plate heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that uses metal plates to transfer heat between two fluids. This has a major advantage over a conventional heat exchanger in that the fluids are exposed to a much larger surface area because the fl ...

''. He was a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, a

Chartered Engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thr ...

and a Member of the

Energy Institute The Energy Institute (EI) is a professional organization for engineers and other professionals in energy-related fields. The EI was formed in 2003 by the merger of the Institute of Petroleum (dating back to 1913) and the Institute of Energy (d ...

. Kumar was a Research Fellow at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

(1982–5) and worked as a research scientist for

British Steel Corporation British may refer to: 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, ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

from 1985 to 1997.

Political career

He began his political career as a local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

for

Borough Council A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

(1987–97). He became the MP for Langbaurgh at the

1991 Langbaurgh by-election The 1991 Langbaurgh by-election was a by-election held on 7 November 1991 for the British House of Commons constituency of Langbaurgh, in the former county of Cleveland in North East England. It was the final by-election of the 1987-1992 parlia ...

defeating

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 in ...

candidate Michael Bates, but lost the seat to Bates in the 1992 election. He won Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland at the 1997 election, again defeating Bates, and held it until his death in 2010. He was a Member of the

Parliamentary and Scientific Committee The UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (P&SC) is a United Kingdom parliamentary organization established in 1939. It is an all-party parliamentary group. Overview The P&SC provides a forum for scientific and technological issues in the UK. ...

; Vice-Chair of Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies; Chair of the

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. POST serves both Hous ...

(POST); and Chair of Northern Group of Labour MPs. In June 2010 IChemE (the Institution of Chemical Engineers) and NEPIC (the

Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster The North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) is an economic cluster created following the industrial cluster ideas and strategy of Michael Porter. This Process Industry Cluster has been created by the chemistry using industries ...

) launched the Ashok Kumar fellowship at POST in memory of Kumar. The annual fellowship will see the successful candidate spend three months at the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST). By 2017 the 6th Ashok Kumar Fellow had been appointed to work with POST she was a postgraduate engineering student, Erin Johnson, from Imperial College, London. Ashok Kumar MP was a supporter of industrial engagement and the concepts of economic clusters. He regularly chaired the NEPIC MP/Industry meetings and contributed to the growth and innovation agenda of the Cluster. Tributes for his work came after his untimely death.

Personal life

Ashok Kumar was a Distinguished Supporter of the

British Humanist Association Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

. Of Hindu and Sikh descent, he described himself as a lifelong "liberal humanist".

gave him an honorary degree in July 1997. Kumar never married. He lived in

Marton, Middlesbrough Marton (officially Marton-in-Cleveland) is an area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Until the 1950s, it was a small village next to the hamlet of Tollesby in Yorkshire's North Riding. The Marton parish originally stretched north to ...

Death

Kumar was found dead by police in his constituency home in Canberra Road, Marton, on 15 March 2010. Police announced that he had died from natural causes.

References

External links

Personal website

TheyWorkForYou.com – Ashok Kumar MP

BBC Politics

The Ashok Kumar Fellowship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Ashok 1956 births 2010 deaths 20th-century English scientists Alumni of Aston University Alumni of the University of Derby British politicians of Indian descent British chemical engineers Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union-sponsored MPs English humanists English socialists Councillors in North East England Indian emigrants to England Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom People from Derby UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 20th-century British engineers