Alice Bacon, Baroness Bacon

Alice Martha Bacon, Baroness Bacon, CBE, PC (10 September 1909 – 24 March 1993) was a British Labour Party politician. She was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire.[1] Her father was a miner and Labour county councillor. She was educated at Normanton Girls' High School and Stockwell Teachers' Training College before becoming a schoolteacher.

The Right Honourable

The Baroness Bacon

CBE PC
Chair of the Labour Party
In office
1950–1951
Prime MinisterClement Attlee
Preceded bySam Watson
Succeeded byHarry Earnshaw
Member of Parliament
for Leeds South East
In office
26 May 1955 – 29 May 1970
Preceded byDenis Healey
Succeeded byStan Cohen
Member of Parliament
for Leeds North East
In office
5 July 1945 – 6 May 1955
Preceded byJohn Craik-Henderson
Succeeded byOsbert Peake
Personal details
Born(1909-09-10)10 September 1909
Normanton, West Yorkshire
Died24 March 1993(1993-03-24) (aged 83)
Political partyLabour

Political career

Bacon delivered her first political speech at the age of 16.[2]

At the 1945 general election, she was elected as MP for Leeds North East. When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1955 general election, she transferred to the Leeds South East constituency, and served as that constituency's MP until she retired at the 1970 general election.

Bacon was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee from 1941 until 1970, and served as the party's chair from 1950 to 1951. In the 1953 Coronation Honours she was appointed a CBE.[3]

When Labour returned to government in 1964, Bacon became a Minister of State at the Home Office, remaining until 1967, and served under Frank Soskice and Roy Jenkins in a period of liberalising reforms. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1966. From 1967 to 1970 she was Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science.

On her retirement from the House of Commons, Bacon was created on 14 October 1970 Baroness Bacon of the City of Leeds and of Normanton in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[4]

Memorial

A Leeds Civic Trust Blue Plaque was unveiled by Rachel Reeves in 2019 in Leeds Corn Exchange.

Alice Bacon Blue Plaque at Leeds Corn Exchange, unveiled by her biographer Rachel Reeves MP (right)

References
  1. Reeves, Rachel; Carr, Richard (2017), Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon, London: I. B. taurus & Co. Ltd, ISBN 978-1-78453-768-5
  2. Stead, Jean. "Woman in Whitehall". The Guardian, 16 November 1964, p. 6.
  3. "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2953.
  4. "No. 45216". The London Gazette. 20 October 1970. pp. 11472–11473.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Craik-Henderson		 Member of Parliament for Leeds North East
1945–1955		 Succeeded by
Osbert Peake
Preceded by
Denis Healey		 Member of Parliament for Leeds South East
1955–1970		 Succeeded by
Stan Cohen
Party political offices
Preceded by
Sam Watson		 Chair of the Labour Party
1950–1951		 Succeeded by
Harry Earnshaw


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