Edith Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill

Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill CH PC (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's College London and trained as a doctor at Charing Cross Hospital. She was one of the founders of the Socialist Health Association which spearheaded the National Health Service (1948). She pressed for equal rights for women in the British Home Guard. In 1938 she initiated the Married Women's Association to promote equality in marriage and became its first president.

Parliament

Summerskill served as a councillor on Middlesex County Council from 1934 until 1941. She stood for a seat in the House of Commons unsuccessfully in Putney in 1934 and Bury in 1935, before becoming Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Fulham West thanks to the working women's vote. She caused some disquiet by taking the seat in her maiden name. When the Fulham West constituency was abolished for the 1955 general election, she was returned to the House of Commons as MP for Warrington.

Summerskill was included in Clement Attlee's Labour government following the election victory in 1945. She served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Food, and was later promoted to the Ministry of Social and National Insurance, heading the department she was profiled as the Minister of National insurance, however she was not a cabinet minister.

As well as her service in government, Summerskill also served on the House of Commons Political Honours Scrutiny Committee from 1967 to 1976.

Summerskill served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food (1945-50) and as Minister of National Insurance (1950-51). She was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee from 1944 to 1958 and served as Chair of the Labour Party 1954-5). She left the House of Commons in 1961 and was made a life peer as Baroness Summerskill, of Kenwood in the County of London. Furthermore she was awarded an additional honour being initiated into the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1966.

Summerskill appears in a specially selected list of Fabian Society members from 1942 to 1947, showing continuity and prestige.

Personal life

Summerskill was married in 1925 to Dr Jeffrey Samuel. Their children took their mother's surname. Her daughter, Dr Shirley Summerskill, also served as a Member of Parliament and government minister. Her grandson Ben Summerskill became Chief Executive of the British gay equality charity Stonewall, the largest such organisation in Europe, in 2003.

Publications

• Babies without Tears, (1941)
• Wanted—babies: A trenchant examination of a grave national problem, (1943)
• Letters to my Daughter, (1957)
• The Ignoble Art, (1957)
• A Woman’s World: Memoirs, (1967)

External links

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edith Summerskill
• Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics profile

v • d • e Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions of the United Kingdom Ministers of Pensions Barnes · Hodge · Worthington-Evans · Macpherson · Tryon · Roberts · Tryon · Roberts · Tryon · Hudson · Ramsbotham · Womersley · Paling · Hynd · Buchanan · Marquand · Isaacs · Heathcoat-Amory Ministers of Social Insurance/National Insurance Jowitt · Hore-Belisha · Griffiths · Summerskill · Peake Ministers of Pensions and National Insurance Peake · Boyd-Carpenter · Macpherson · Wood · Herbison Ministers of Social Security Herbison · Hart Secretaries of State for Social Services Crossman · Joseph · Castle · Ennals · Jenkin · Fowler · Moore Secretaries of State for Social Security Moore · Newton · Lilley · Harman · Darling Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions Darling · Smith · Johnson · Blunkett · Hutton · Hain · Purnell · Cooper