Winnie Ewing was elected to the House of Commons in the 1967 Hamilton by-election and her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP.
23 Facts About Winnie Ewing
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2.
Winnie Ewing lost her seat in the 1979 election and, after making numerous attempts to seek re-election, failed to do so.
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Winnie Ewing was elected to the European Parliament in the 1979 elections, representing the Highlands and Islands.
4.
Winnie Ewing served as vice president of the European Radical Alliance and by 1995 had become Britain's longest serving MEP.
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Winnie Ewing was born Winifred Margaret Woodburn on 10 July 1929 in Glasgow, to Christina Bell Anderson and George Woodburn, a small business owner.
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Winnie Ewing was educated at Battlefield School and Queen's Park Secondary School.
7.
Winnie Ewing was Secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967.
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Winnie Ewing became active in campaigning for Scottish independence through her membership of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, and won the 1967 Hamilton by-election as the Scottish National Party candidate.
9.
Winnie Ewing was elected with the help of a team including her election agent, John McAteer.
10.
Winnie Ewing arrived at the parliament in a Scottish-built Hillman Imp and was greeted by a crowd and a pipe band.
11.
Winnie Ewing said at the time "stop the world, Scotland wants to get on", and her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP.
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Winnie Ewing first became an MEP in 1975, at a time when the European Parliament was still composed of representative delegations from national parliaments.
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Winnie Ewing lost her Westminster seat at the May 1979 election, but within weeks had gained a seat in the European Parliament at the first direct elections to the Parliament.
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Winnie Ewing was unsuccessful at seeking to return to Westminster as the SNP candidate for Orkney and Shetland in 1983, coming third.
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That sobriquet was first used by Le Monde and with Winnie Ewing using the term as a badge of pride, it stuck.
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Winnie Ewing served as Vice President of the European Radical Alliance, which in addition to the SNP included French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish MEPs.
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Winnie Ewing sat as a member on the European Committee and the Public Petitions Committee.
18.
In January 2003, her husband, Stewart Winnie Ewing, died from a heart attack after a fire at their home.
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Winnie Ewing was a vice president of equal rights charity Parity.
20.
Winnie and Stuart Ewing had three children, two of whom went on to a career in politics: their son, Fergus Ewing, was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and went on to hold several cabinet posts.
21.
Winnie Ewing died at her home in Bridge of Weir on 21 June 2023, at age 93.
22.
Winnie Ewing was awarded honorary LLD degrees from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and the University of Aberdeen in 2004.
23.
Winnie Ewing was awarded Doctor of the University degrees from the Open University in 1993 and the University of Stirling in 2012.