Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath

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Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath

DL (17 July 1931 – 16 December 2003) was a British Labour Party
politician.

Early life

The son of a

Sheffield University before rising to be head of English at Mexborough
County Secondary School.

Political career

While a local councillor, he stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate in several safe Conservative seats - in 1964 he contested Scarborough and Whitby, and in 1966 he fought Sheffield Hallam.

He entered parliament in

House of Commons in 1997
.

Never keen on the pursuit of high office, he was

Tony Crosland and David Owen. To his constituents he was a popular and hard-working constituency MP. This was reflected in the fact that, despite being identified with the right wing of the Labour party, in 1981 he survived a National Union of Mineworkers
-directed attempt to force the local party in his mining constituency to deselect him as its parliamentary candidate in favour of a more left-wing candidate.

His main interests were the lot of the classroom teacher, and wildlife, of which he had an encyclopaedic knowledge. He was a sponsor of much wildlife-related legislation in parliament, including the Badger Act (1973) and the Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act (1975). During an all-night reading of the Felixstowe Docks Bill he regaled the Commons with impressions of the song birds whose habitats were supposedly threatened by the development.

House of Lords

On 27 September 1997 he was made a life peer as Baron Hardy of Wath, of Wath-upon-Dearne in the County of South Yorkshire[2] and was an active member of the House of Lords until shortly before his death.

Coat of arms of Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath
Crest
A badger sejant erect proper supporting a miner’s safety lamp Or.
Escutcheon
Sable between ten piles wavy Argent issuant from the flanks three lady’s slipper orchids in pale Or.
Supporters
On either side a greyhound sable winged Or.
Motto
Observe Consider Respond [3]

Other interests

Outside parliament, he served on the council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the NSPCC. He is the author of "A Lifetime of Badgers" Newton Abbot: David & Charles: 1975

References

  1. ^ Dalyell, Tam. "Lord Hardy of Wath". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
  2. ^ "No. 54907". The London Gazette. 1 October 1997. p. 11063.
  3. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2000.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Rother Valley
19701983
Succeeded by
New constituency Member of Parliament for Wentworth
19831997
Succeeded by