Edith Summerskill was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949.
13 Facts About Edith Summerskill
2.
Edith Summerskill was one of the founders of the Socialist Health Association, which spearheaded the National Health Service.
3.
Edith Summerskill pressed for equal rights for women in the British Home Guard.
4.
Edith Summerskill entered politics at 32 when she was asked to fight the Green Lanes ward in Harringay in the Middlesex County Council elections.
5.
Edith Summerskill then served as a councillor on Middlesex County Council from 1934 until 1941.
6.
Edith Summerskill stood for a seat in the House of Commons unsuccessfully at the Putney byelection in 1934 and Bury at the 1935 general election, before becoming Labour Member of Parliament for Fulham West at a by-election in 1938 thanks to the working women's vote.
7.
Edith Summerskill caused some disquiet by taking the seat in her maiden name.
8.
Edith Summerskill was included in Clement Attlee's Labour government following the election victory in 1945.
9.
Edith Summerskill 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.
10.
Edith Summerskill served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food and as Minister of National Insurance.
11.
Edith Summerskill left the House of Commons in 1961 and was created a life peer as Baroness Summerskill, of Ken Wood in the County of London on 4 February 1961.
12.
Edith Summerskill appears in a specially selected list of Fabian Society members from 1942 to 1947, showing continuity and prestige.
13.
Edith Summerskill maintains that in spite of the difficulties and prejudices, women are making progress and have achievements in music, visual art, and literature as well as some advancement in science and technology.