Barbara Castle Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, PC, GCOT ("née" Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Blackburn from 1945 to 1979, making her the longest-serving female MP in the history of the House of Commons until that record was broken in 2007 by Gwyneth Dunwoody. She later became the Member of the European Parliament for Greater Manchester from 1979 to 1989 and subsequently a member of the House of Lords, having been granted a life peerage in 1990. One of the most significant
Beatrice Seear, Baroness Seear Beatrice Seear, Baroness Seear (Beatrice) Nancy Seear, Baroness Seear PC (7 August 1913 – 23 April 1997) was a British social scientist and politician. She was leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords from 1984 to 1988, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 1988 to 1997. She was also appointed Privy Councillor in 1985. Baroness Seear was also remembered as a pioneer for Carers and women's rights. As a Reader in Personnel Management at the LSE in 1963 she was approached by the Rev. Mary Webster, who had given up