Alice Bacon, Baroness Bacon

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Bacon
CBE PC
The Right Honourable The Baroness Bacon CBE PC
Chair of the Labour Party
	In office; 1950–1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Sam Watson
Succeeded by	Harry Earnshaw
Member of Parliament; for Leeds South East
	In office; 26 May 1955 – 29 May 1970
Preceded by	Denis Healey
Succeeded by	Stan Cohen
Member of Parliament; for Leeds North East
	In office; 5 July 1945 – 6 May 1955
Preceded by	John Craik-Henderson
Succeeded by	Osbert Peake
Personal details
Born	10 September 1909; Normanton, West Yorkshire
Died	24 March 1993 (aged 83)
Political party	Labour

Alice Martha Bacon, Baroness Bacon, CBE, PC (10 September 1909 – 24 March 1993) was a British Labour Party politician born in Normanton, West Yorkshire.^[1]

Early life and education

Bacon's father was secretary of the Whitwood branch of the National Union of Mineworkers and the family joined in local campaigns to alleviate poverty.^[2] She was educated at Normanton Girls' High School and Stockwell Teachers' Training College, before becoming a schoolteacher.^[2]

Political career

Bacon delivered her first political speech at the age of 16,^[3] when she also joined the Labour Party. In 1935, she became as Labour's League of Youth delegate to the Socialist Youth International Conference. Bacon was active in the National Union of Teachers and became president of its West Yorkshire division in 1944.^[2]

In 1938, Bacon was selected as the candidate for Leeds North East, for which she became the MP in the 1945 general election, as the city's first woman MP.^[2] When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1955 general election, she transferred to Leeds South East constituency and served it as MP until she retired in 1970.^[2]

Bacon was on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee from 1941 until 1970, and chaired it in 1950–1951. In the 1953 Coronation Honours she was appointed a CBE.^[4]

When Labour returned to government in 1964, Bacon became a Minister of State at the Home Office up to 1967, serving 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, where she campaigned for comprehensive education.^[2]

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.^[5]

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

^ 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
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Thornton, David (2021). Leeds: A Biographical Dictionary. Beecroft Publications. p. 15.
^ Jean Stead. "Woman in Whitehall". The Guardian, 16 November 1964, p. 6.
^ "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2953.
^ "No. 45216". The London Gazette. 20 October 1970. pp. 11472–11473.

Alice Bacon Archived 24 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine at the Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]}^{[better source needed]}
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Alice Bacon

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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[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

[:0-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Thornton, David (2021). Leeds: A Biographical Dictionary. Beecroft Publications. p. 15.

[3] Jean Stead. "Woman in Whitehall". The Guardian, 16 November 1964, p. 6.

[4] "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2953.

[5] "No. 45216". The London Gazette. 20 October 1970. pp. 11472–11473.

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