Audrey Wise
Audrey Wise | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Preston | |
In office 11 June 1987 – 2 September 2000 | |
Preceded by | Stan Thorne |
Succeeded by | Mark Hendrick |
Member of Parliament for Coventry South West | |
In office 28 February 1974 – 7 April 1979 | |
Preceded by | Constituency created |
Succeeded by | John Butcher |
Personal details | |
Born | Audrey Brown 4 January 1932 Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
Died | 2 September 2000 Stafford, England | (aged 68)
Political party | Labour |
Spouse |
John Wise (m. 1953) |
Children | 2 (including Valerie) |
Audrey Wise (
Early life
Audrey Wise was born Audrey Brown in Newcastle upon Tyne, the daughter of a former Labour councillor. She married her husband John, a dispensing optician, in 1953, and they two children: Valerie, who is also a political activist, and a son, Ian.[1]
Political career
At the age of 21 she became a
She visited Portugal in 1974 to report on and participate in the Carnation Revolution that overthrew the fascist dictatorship, recording her experiences and analysis in Eyewitness in Revolutionary Portugal.[5] She was famously arrested on the picket line during the Grunwick dispute where Asian women workers were striking for union recognition.[6]
With
Losing her seat in the
As a member of the health select committee, she persuaded the committee to hold an inquiry into maternity services. The report,[7] endorsed by the Conservative government, called for services to become more woman-centred, and recommended increased access to home births and water births.[citation needed]
The conflict between Wise and the Labour Whips was highlighted in the National Theatre play This House by James Graham in 2012.[citation needed]
Death
On 2 September 2000, Wise died at her home in Stafford from a brain tumour, which had been diagnosed some five months earlier.[1] Her family described her death as "one fight she did not win".[8]
Notes
- ^ Wise gave her age as thirty-nine when nominated for the Coventry parliamentary seat, though she had just turned forty-two when she was elected in February 1974. Her date of birth was routinely reported as 1935 after this date, which often caused her "enormous difficulty" when asked in later years.[1][2]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74643. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Chris Mullin in A View from the Foothills: The Diaries of Chris Mullin (Profile Books, 2009, p127)
- ^ a b c Langdon, Julia; Wainwright, Hilary (5 September 2000). "Obituary: Audrey Wise". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
- ^ a b Macfarlane, Alison. "Obituary: Audrey Wise". Radstats Journal (75). Retrieved 17 January 2009.
- ISBN 0851241336.
- ^ "Obituary: Audrey Wise". The Daily Telegraph. 5 September 2000. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
- ^ House of Commons Health Committee (1992) Second Report on the Maternity Services (Winterton report). HMSO: London
- ^ Langdon, Julia (5 September 2000). "Obituary: Audrey Wise". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2018.