Irene Ward was the Member of Parliament successively for Wallsend and for Tynemouth for over three decades, being the longest serving female Conservative MP in history.
20 Facts About Irene Ward
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Irene Ward later became a life peeress in the House of Lords, spending a total of 43 years in Parliament.
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Irene Ward was an outspoken advocate of the rights of women and the elderly.
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Irene Ward advocated, with success, for the publication of an official history of the clandestine Special Operations Executive in the Second World War.
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Irene Ward contested Morpeth in 1924 and 1929 without success and was elected to the House of Commons in 1931 for Wallsend, defeating Labour's Margaret Bondfield.
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In 1950, Irene Ward returned to Parliament for Tynemouth, again defeating a female incumbent, Grace Colman.
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Irene Ward promoted a Bill to pay pocket money to the elderly living in institutions.
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Irene Ward campaigned for Equal Pay for women in general, and for Florence 'Jean' Winder, the only woman reporter for Hansard, in particular.
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Irene Ward worked with Charlotte Bentley who led the "National Association of State Enrolled Assistant Nurses".
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Irene Ward served on the Public Accounts Committee from 1964.
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Irene Ward was inspired to make the demand by a number of published, but unauthorized accounts of SOE, many of them critical of the British government and the SOE and describing the fate of female SOE agents who were captured and executed by Nazi Germany.
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Irene Ward's interest was stimulated by books by Jean Overton Fuller and Elizabeth Nichols describing SOE disasters in France resulting in the death of SOE agents.
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In 1962, Irene Ward complained to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan that the publication of an official history was being blocked by a reluctant government.
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Irene Ward is remembered for being a fierce character in the House of Commons who was not shy of argument, openly expressing strong disagreements with ministers in her own party when she felt it necessary.
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Irene Ward is remembered in some quarters for an incident which caused amusement on both sides of the House when she threatened to "poke" the then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
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Irene Ward retired from the Commons in February 1974, having served a total of almost 38 years.
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Irene Ward was the longest-serving female MP until that record was broken by Gwyneth Dunwoody in 2007.
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Aged 79 at her retirement, Irene Ward was at that time the oldest-ever serving female Member of Parliament and the oldest-ever woman to be re-elected, records not broken until Ann Clwyd achieved both in 2017.
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Irene Ward was created a life peer as Baroness Ward of North Tyneside, of North Tyneside in the County of Tyne and Wear, on 23 January 1975.
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Irene Ward was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1929 and promoted to Dame Commander in 1955, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1973.