Nora David, Baroness David

Nora Ratcliff David, Baroness David (23 September 1913 – 29 November 2009) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer.

Born Nora Ratcliff Blakesley, the daughter of a merchant, she was educated at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Girls' Grammar School and at Saint Felix School, Southwold before going up to Newnham College, Cambridge to study English graduating in 1935. In the same year, she married Richard William David (died 1993) with whom she had two sons and two daughters.

She was a Councillor in the city of Cambridge from 1964–67, and from 1968–74, when she became a County Councillor in Cambridgeshire County Council. She was a Justice of the Peace in Cambridge from 1965 until her death.

She was raised to the life peerage as Baroness David, of Romsey in the City of Cambridge, in 1978. She was an opposition spokesperson on education from 1979 until 1985 and again from 1987 to 1997, and for the environment (1985–1987). She was also a government and opposition whip from 1978 to 1987. Her political interests included education, the environment, home affairs, and children. She was a fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.

Baroness David was an active member of the House of Lords. On Wednesday 31 January 2007, she slipped and fell down an escalator on the parliamentary estate, and was subsequently rushed to hospital.^[1] Shortly after the fall she retired to Cornwall.^[2] She died on 29 November 2009, aged 96, and was survived by two sons and two daughters.^[3]

References

1. ^ "Peer, 93, hurt in escalator fall". BBC News Online (British Broadcasting Corporation). 31 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6317147.stm. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
2. ^ Roth, Andrew (1 December 2009). "Lady David obituary". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News and Media). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/01/lady-david-obituary. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 
3. ^ "Baroness David: Labour peer". The Times (Times Newspapers). 15 December 2009. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6956407.ece. Retrieved 23 January 2010. 

External links

• Baroness David - Daily Telegraph obituary

Persondata
Name	David, Nora, Baroness David
Alternative names	Blakesley, Nora Ratcliff
Short description	British politician and life peer
Date of birth	23 September 1913
Place of birth
Date of death	29 November 2009
Place of death