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
Fred Blackburn Fred Blackburn Fred Blackburn (29 July 1902 – 1 May 1990) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stalybridge and Hyde from the 1951 general election until 1970. Blackburn was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, St. John's College, Battersea and Manchester University. He became a teacher of modern languages and careers master at North Manchester High School. He served as a councillor on Middleton town council for ten years and published books on local government reform. Blackburn stood for Parliament at the 1950 election in Macclesfield without success, but was elected