Barbara Brooke, Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte
Encyclopedia
Barbara Brooke, Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte and Baroness Brooke of Cumnor DBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (14 January 1908–1 September 2000) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician.

Personal life

Barbara Muriel Mathews was the youngest of five children of a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 minister, Rev. Alfred Augustus Mathews and his wife, Ethel Frances. She was educated at Queen Anne's School
Queen Anne's School
Queen Anne's School in Caversham, Berkshire is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, situated just north of the River Thames and Reading town centre and occupying a campus.There are around 330 pupils. Nearly half are boarders...

 in Caversham
Caversham, Berkshire
Caversham is a suburb and former village in the unitary authority of Reading, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, within the royal county of Berkshire, on the opposite bank from the rest of Reading...

, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

 and the Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

 Training College of Domestic Science.

On 22 April 1933, she married fellow Conservative, Henry Brooke
Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor
Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor CH, PC was a British Conservative Party politician.-Political career:...

 and they had four children:
  • Peter Leonard
    Peter Brooke
    Peter Leonard Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and was a Member of Parliament representing the Cities of London and Westminster from...

     (b. 1934), later Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville.
  • Henry
    Henry Brooke (judge)
    Sir Henry Brooke is a retired British judge. He became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1996, and became Vice-President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in 2003...

     (b. 1936), later Sir Henry.
  • Honor Leslie (b. 1941), married Dr. Thomas Nigel Miller.
  • Margaret Hilary Diana (b. 1944), married Dr. James Pulfer.

Career

After having started a family, Brooke entered politics in 1948, when she became a member of Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...

 Council, a seat she held until 1965; she also was a Joint Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1954-64. She had also been active in a number of health organisations in her lifetime, including being a member of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board from 1954–66, chair of The Queen's Institute of District Nursing from 1961–71 and the North London Hospital Management Committee from 1963-66.

Honours

She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 in 1960. In 1966, she was awarded a life peerage as Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte, of Ystradfellte in the County of Breconshire and two years later her husband was created Baron Brooke of Cumnor.
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