1. Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree, was a British politician.
25 Facts About Jill Knight
1. 2.
Jill Knight was created a life peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire, in 1997 after she had stood down at that year's general election, and retired from the House of Lords in 2016.
3.
Joan Christabel Jill Christie was born in Bristol on 9 July 1923, although she later shaved several years off her age: when seeking election, she put her year of birth as 1930.
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Jill Knight's mother was a teacher and a graduate of Bristol University.
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Jill Knight's unit served in Amiens, moving later to Hamburg, following the British advance, performing ground control of aircraft.
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On 14 June 1947, she married James Montague "Monty" Jill Knight, and moved to Northampton.
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Jill Knight was elected as a councillor on Northampton Borough Council, serving from 1956 to 1966, and became a whip.
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Jill Knight unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Northampton at the 1959 and 1964 general elections for the Conservative Party.
9.
Jill Knight was elected Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston in the 1966 general election, and held that seat in successive elections for 31 years until she stood down at the 1997 election.
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Jill Knight was one of the longest serving female MPs in British history.
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Jill Knight was on the Select Committee for the Council of Europe from 1977, the Select Committee for Home Affairs from 1980 to 1983, Lady Chairman of the Lords and Commons All-Party Child and Family Protection Group from 1978, on the Conservative Back-bench Health and Social Services Committee from 1982 and Secretary to the 1922 Committee from 1983 to 1987.
12.
Jill Knight was President of the West Midlands Conservative Political Centre from 1980 to 1983, and Lady Chairman of the Western European Union Relations with Parliaments Committee from 1984 to 1988.
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Jill Knight served on the Council of Europe, and as Chairman of the British Inter-Parliamentary Union.
14.
Jill Knight was created a Life peer as Baroness Jill Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire in 1997 after standing down at that year's general election, and retired from the House of Lords on 24 March 2016, the week of the 50th anniversary of her first election to Parliament.
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Jill Knight was Vice-Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers from 2002 to 2005.
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Jill Knight was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.
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Jill Knight linked discussion of homosexuality in schools to the spread of AIDS, describing homosexuality as "perverted" and "desperately dangerous".
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From 1986 to 1995, Jill Knight was Vice-President of Townswomen's Guilds.
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Jill Knight was director of Computeach International plc from 1991 to 2006 and Heckett Multiserv from 1999 to 2006.
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Jill Knight has been President of Sulgrave Manor Trust since 2012; she was its Chairman from 2007 to 2012.
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Jill Knight was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1964, and elevated to a Dame Commander in 1985.
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Jill Knight was awarded an honorary DSc by Aston University in 1999.
23.
Jill Knight was made a Kentucky Colonel in 1973; a Nebraska Admiral in 1980; and was made an honorary Texas Ranger in 2014.
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Jill Knight's recreations were music, reading, tapestry work, theatre-going and antique-hunting.
25.
Jill Knight died in West Northamptonshire, on 6 April 2022, at the age of 98.