Anne Kerr (politician)
Anne Patricia Kerr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament for Rochester and Chatham | |
| In office 15 October 1964 – 29 May 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Julian Critchley |
| Succeeded by | Peggy Fenner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anne Patricia Bersey 24 March 1925 Putney, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 29 July 1973 (aged 48) London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 1 |
Anne Patricia Kerr (née Bersey; 24 March 1925 – 29 July 1973) was a British Labour Party politician who was elected for two successive terms as a Member of Parliament.
Early life
Born in Putney into a Methodist family, she spent most of her childhood in west London, attending
Before entering politics she was an actress and television interviewer, using the name Anne Doran.[1] She was elected in Putney at the 1958 London County Council election as Anne Clark, and held her seat until the council was abolished in 1965.[1] She was an ardent opponent of capital punishment, a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and was on the Committee of 100 set up by Bertrand Russell in 1960 to oppose nuclear weapons. She was married again in 1960 to fellow Labour politician Russell Kerr, who became MP for Feltham in 1966.
Parliamentary career
She won the Rochester and Chatham seat at the 1964 general election, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Julian Critchley with a majority of 1,013 votes.[2]
She defeated Critchley again at the 1966 general election, with an increased majority,[3] but lost by over 5,000 votes at the 1970 election to Conservative Peggy Fenner.[4]
Always passionately interested in human rights issues, Kerr was vocal in protesting against the executions of three black Rhodesians in 1968, the first since
Post-Parliamentary career and opposition to the Common Market
She was a staunch opponent of Britain's entry into Europe's Common Market, and after her 1970 defeat, she was a founder of Women Against the Common Market. In April 1972, she joined Women Against the Common Market in an anti-Europe protest on a ferry to Calais. When French riot police boarded the ferry, Kerr reportedly had to be pulled away from them, shouting "Let's have your gas."[8]
Death
Kerr died at her home at Twickenham of acute alcoholic poisoning on 29 July 1973, aged 48.[1][6] At the inquest into her death, Russell Kerr said that she had never really recovered from being beaten by police at Chicago five years earlier.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d "Mrs Anne Kerr". The Guardian. 30 July 1973. p. 5. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ General election results 1964, Rochester & Chatham
- ^ "General election results 1966, Rochester & Chatham". Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2006.
- ^ General election results 1970, Rochester & Chatham
- ^ "1968: Three blacks in Rhodesia, notwithstanding Queen Elizabeth II". ExecutedToday.com. 6 March 2011.
- ^ a b c "Chicago left a scar, says MP's husband". The Guardian. 9 August 1973. p. 5. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The Day the Troubles Began Part 5. YouTube.
- ISBN 9781108442244.
