Alice Bacon, Baroness Bacon

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Bacon
CBE PC
Bacon in 1945
Chair of the Labour Party
In office
1950–1951
Prime MinisterClement Attlee
Preceded bySam Watson
Succeeded byHarry Earnshaw
Member of Parliament
In office
26 May 1955 – 29 May 1970
Preceded byDenis Healey
Succeeded byStan Cohen
ConstituencyLeeds South East
In office
5 July 1945 – 6 May 1955
Preceded byJohn Craik-Henderson
Succeeded byOsbert Peake
ConstituencyLeeds North East
Personal details
BornAlice Martha Bacon
(1909-09-10)10 September 1909
Normanton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died24 March 1993(1993-03-24) (aged 83)
PartyLabour
EducationStockwell Teachers' Training College

Alice Martha Bacon, Baroness Bacon, CBE, PC (10 September 1909 – 24 March 1993) was a British Labour Party politician.[1] She served as a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1970, was appointed to the Privy Council in 1966 and was Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science.

Early life and education

Alice Martha Bacon was born on 10 September 1909 in Normanton, West Yorkshire.[2][3]

Bacon's father was secretary of the Whitwood branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the family joined in local campaigns to alleviate poverty.[4] She was educated at Normanton Girls' High School and Stockwell Teachers' Training College, before becoming a schoolteacher.[4]

Political career

At the age of 16, Bacon delivered her first political speech,[5] and she joined the Labour Party around the same time. In 1935, she became as Labour's League of Youth delegate to the Socialist Youth International Conference. Bacon was active in the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and became president of its West Yorkshire division in 1944.[4]

In 1938, Bacon was selected as the candidate for Leeds North East, for which she became the MP in the 1945 general election, as the city's first woman MP.[4][6][7]

Bacon focused on pay and workplace conditions, education and housing in Parliament.[8] She spoke of her hopes to "abolish poverty, but also the feeling of pauperism" in a speech on the 1947 National Assistance Bill.[8][9] She was an early proponent of abolishing the death penalty and introduced a Bill in 1956 against capital punishment.[6][8]

Bacon was on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee from 1941 until 1970, and chaired it in 1950–1951. In the 1953 Coronation Honours she was appointed a CBE.[2][10]

When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1955 general election, Bacon transferred from Leeds North East to Leeds South East constituency and served it as MP until she retired in 1970.[4]

When Labour returned to government under Harold Wilson's leadership in 1964, Bacon became a Minister of State at the Home Office up to 1967, serving under Frank Soskice and Roy Jenkins in a period of liberalising reforms. Bacon was appointed to the Privy Council in 1966. From 1967 to 1970 she was Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, where she campaigned for comprehensive education.[4]

On her retirement from the House of Commons, Bacon was created on 14 October 1970 Baroness Bacon of the City of Leeds and of Normanton in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[11]

Bacon died on 24 March 1993, aged 83.[2][12]

Remembrances

Leeds Civic Trust Blue Plaque for Alice Bacon at Leeds Corn Exchange, unveiled by her biographer Rachel Reeves MP (right)[3][7][13]
Segment of Ribbons sculpture, featuring names of Maria Fearne, Alice Bacon, Mel B and Kay Mellor

The Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves published Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon in 2019 (I.B. Tauris).[14][15][16] Reeves writes of Bacon that she "was a pioneer in the world of education and politics whose success was founded on her determination to stay true to her working-class roots and the people she came into politics to serve", and that her commitment to comprehensive education was especially praiseworthy.[15]

Since 2018 the University of Leeds holds an annual Alice Bacon Lecture to celebrate pioneering and strong women. These have been given by Harriet Harman (2018), Baroness Hale of Richmond (2019), (2020 not given due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Baroness Doreen Lawrence (2021), Mary Beard (2022), Dame Sharon White (2023). The lecture was set up and hosted by a collaboration of Rachel Reeves and the University's Centre for Democratic Politics (previously School of Politics and International Studies).[17][18]

In 2018, the 4.3% pale ale "Baroness Bacon Beer" was served on tap at Strangers' Bar in the Palace of Westminster for a week.[19][20]

Bacon's name is one of those featured on the sculpture Ribbons, unveiled in 2024.[21][22]

References

  1. ↑ Reeves, Rachel; Carr, Richard (2017), Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon, London: I. B. taurus & Co. Ltd, ISBN 978-1-78453-768-5
  2. 1 2 3 Symonds, Anne (28 March 1993). "Obituary: Baroness Bacon". The Independent. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Tribute is unveiled to Normanton born political pioneer Alice Bacon". Wakefield Express. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thornton, David (2021). Leeds: A Biographical Dictionary. Beecroft Publications. p. 15.
  5. ↑ Stead, Jean (16 November 1964). "Woman in Whitehall". The Guardian. p. 6.
  6. 1 2 Reeves, Rachel (7 March 2019). Women of Westminster: The MPs who Changed Politics. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 6, 104. ISBN 978-1-78831-676-7.
  7. 1 2 Johnson, Kristian (14 December 2018). "Leeds' first female MP to be recognised with symbolic blue plaque". Leeds Live. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 "Alice Bacon and Grace Colman". UK Vote 100: Looking forward to the centenary of Equal Franchise in 2028 in the UK Parliament. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "National Assistance Bill". Hansard. Archived from the original on 25 June 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "No. 39863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1953. p. 2953.
  11. ↑ "No. 45216". The London Gazette. 20 October 1970. pp. 11472–11473.
  12. ↑ "Bacon, Baroness, (Alice Martha Bacon) (10 Sept. 1909–24 March 1993)", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 1 December 2007, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U170936, retrieved 8 July 2026
  13. ↑ "Perfect day to remember Alice Bacon and her place in Leeds political history". Yorkshire Evening Post. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Rachel Reeves: On Alice Bacon - From mining community to Westminster". Yorkshire Post. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  15. 1 2 Reeves, Rachel (27 November 2016). "We owe a debt to Labour's bold, pioneering Alice Bacon". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  16. ↑ Bourke, India (16 December 2016). "Why the story of Alice Bacon still matters for today's politicians". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 18 February 2026. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Women and Power". University of Leeds. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  18. ↑ "'The Female Leader': The Alice Bacon Lecture 2023". University of Leeds. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Raising a glass to Baroness Bacon: Beer goes on tap in Parliament to celebrate Yorkshire's first female MP". Yorkshire Evening Post. National World Publishing Ltd. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  20. ↑ "BBC Two - Daily Politics, 21/06/2018, Cheers to Alice Bacon!". BBC. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "383 Inspirational Women of Leeds". Ribbons Sculpture Leeds. Archived from the original on 23 August 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  22. ↑ "Leeds: Ribbons sculpture celebrates city's inspiring women". BBC. 12 October 2024.


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