Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx

Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx
Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 4 March 1974 – 5 April 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Vacant
Succeeded by	Audrey Callaghan
In office 16 October 1964 – 19 June 1970
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Elizabeth Douglas-Home
Succeeded by	Vacant
Personal details
Born	12 January 1916 (1916-01-12) (age 95) Diss, Norfolk, UK
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Harold Wilson (m. 1940–1995)
Children	Robin, Giles

Gladys Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx (born 12 January 1916) is an English poet, best known as the widow of former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

She was born Gladys Mary Baldwin in Diss, Norfolk, the daughter of Rev Daniel Baldwin, who was a Congregationalist minister. She attended boarding school at Milton Mount College near Crawley, leaving in 1932 to attend a secretarial course in Cumbria for two years. She was employed as a shorthand typist at Lever Brothers in Port Sunlight before marrying Harold Wilson on New Year's Day, 1940. She and Wilson had two sons, Robin (born 1943) and Giles (born 1948).^[1]

In 1970 her volume of poetry, Selected Poems, was published. It was generally assumed that she owed her subsequent success as a poet to her position as the Prime Minister's wife. Nevertheless, her name was at one time mentioned as a possibility for the next Poet Laureate.

In 1976 Wilson was one of three judges for the of the Man Booker Prize, the other judges being Walter Allen and Francis King.^[2]

According to the DNB entry for Harold Wilson, written by Roy Jenkins,^[3] Mary Wilson was not too happy with life as a "political" wife. It was this detachment which gave the Private Eye spoof Mrs Wilson's Diary, the supposed diary of Mary Wilson, written in the style of the BBC's daily radio serial Mrs Dale's Diary, a spurious look of authenticity.

Mary was widowed on 24 May 1995 when Harold Wilson died of colorectal cancer and Alzheimer's disease after 10 years of illness. They had been married for 55 years.

Now in her nineties, she still lives in Westminster, a short distance away from Downing Street.^[4] She also retains the couple's holiday home in the Isles of Scilly.^[5]

Bibliography

Selected Poems (1970) ISBN 0-09-105010-3
New Poems (1979) ISBN 0-09-139460-0

References

1. ^ Dermot Englefield, Janet Seaton, Isobel White, "Facts About the British Prime Ministers", Cassell, 1995, p. 314.
2. ^ "Tears, tiffs and triumphs". The Guardian (UK). Saturday 6 September 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/06/bookerprize.40year. Retrieved 7 September 2011. 
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ The truth about Harold Wilson
5. ^ Objective One Media Release 7 October 2005

External links

• Mary Wilson Selected Poems
• Roy Hattersley, The truth about Harold Wilson – after 30 years of scandalous rumours, Daily Mail, 24 June 2007 [2]
• In praise of … Mary Wilson Mrs Wilson was and remains a lady of firm convictions, and at 94 is as alert as ever, Guardian 17 Mar 2010 [3]

Honorary titles
Preceded by Elizabeth Douglas-Home	Spouse of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1964–1970	Vacant Title next held by Herself (Edward Heath was a bachelor)
Vacant Title last held by Herself (Edward Heath was a bachelor)	Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1974–1976	Succeeded by Audrey Callaghan

Persondata
Name	Wilson of Rievaulx, Mary Wilson, Baroness
Alternative names	Gladys Mary Baldwin
Short description	Widow of Harold Wilson
Date of birth	12 January 1916
Place of birth	Diss, Norfolk
Date of death
Place of death