Harriet Slater

Harriet Slater CBE (née Evans; 1903 – 12 October 1976) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician.

Harriet Slater

CBE
Member of Parliament
for Stoke-on-Trent North
In office
31 March 1953 – 30 March 1966
Prime MinisterWinston Churchill
Preceded byAlbert Davies
Succeeded byJohn Forrester
Personal details
Born
Harriet Evans

1903 (1903)
Died12 October 1976(1976-10-12) (aged 72–73)
Political partyLabour

Life and career

Slater, née Evans, was born in Tunstall, Staffordshire on 3 July 1903.[1] Educated at Hanley High School and Dudley Teachers’ Training College, she was National Organiser for the Cooperative Party from 1942 to 1953, and a local councillor in Stoke-on-Trent from 1933 to 1965.[1]

Slater was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North at a by-election in 1953, and served until her retirement at the 1966 general election.[2][3] From 1964 to 1966, she was a Government whip, the first woman to become one, with the formal title of Lord of the Treasury.[4]

Ruth Smeeth writes that Slater saw her role in Parliament as "being a practical advocate for the working-class, especially working-class women ... As her parliamentary colleague Laurie Pavitt MP once wrote of her, Harriet was Stoke-on-Trent. She knew what mattered to the people she represented, because she was one of them.".[1] Slater's maiden speech was about racial justice, made spontaneously because of her strong feelings about equality.[1]

She was married to Frederick Slater, whom she met through the Co-operative movement.[1]

Slater was granted a life peerage on her retirement from Parliament.[5]

References
  1. Dale, Iain; Smith, Jacqui; Smeeth, Ruth (4 September 2018). "Harriet Slater". The Honourable Ladies: Volume I: Profiles of Women MPs 1918–1996. Biteback Publishing. pp. 227–. ISBN 978-1-78590-449-3. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  2. "Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics". www.qub.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  3. "Labour Women in Parliament". Labour Women's Network. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  4. "The role of the Whips in Parliament". UK Parliament. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  5. Edward Short (1989). Whip to Wilson. Macdonald. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-356-17615-4. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Albert Davies		 Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent North
1953–1966		 Succeeded by
John Forrester


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