The Baroness Seear | |
|---|---|
 Seear in Parliament in 1985 | |
| Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords | |
| In office 1984–1988 | |
| Preceded by | The Lord Byers |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 August 1913 |
| Died | 23 April 1997 (aged 83) |
Beatrice Nancy Seear, Baroness SeearPC (7 August 1913 – 23 April 1997) was a British social scientist and politician. She was leader of theLiberal Party in theHouse of Lords from 1984 to 1988, and Deputy Leader of theLiberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 1988 to 1997. She was also appointed aPrivy Counsellor in 1985.
Born inEpsom, Surrey, Seear was educated atCroydon High School,Newnham College, Cambridge, and theLondon School of Economics.[1] She became Personnel Officer at C & J Clark Ltd in 1935, staying until 1946. During this period she was seconded as a part-time member of staff at the Production Efficiency Board for theMinistry of Aircraft Production, a post she held from 1943 to 1945.[1]
In 1946, she became a teacher of, and reader in, Personnel Management at theLondon School of Economics, where she would remain until 1978.[1]
As a member of theLiberal Party, Seear contested every UK general election from 1950 to 1970, coming third behind theConservative andLabour candidates on each occasion.[1] She initially stood forHornchurch in1950 and1951, before attemptingTruro in1955 and1959. In1964, she stood forEpping, and tried constituencies in northern England at the following two general elections –Rochdale, in1966, andWakefield in1970. The latter would be her last candidature at a general election, although she stood as the Liberal candidate forWight and Hampshire East in the1979 European Parliament election, coming second to the Conservative candidate.[2]
Seear wasPresident of the Liberal Party from 1964 to 1965, and of theFawcett Society from 1970 to 1985. From 1971 to 1984, she sat on the Top Salaries Review Board. She was created aLife Peer on 18 May 1971 asBaroness Seear, ofPaddington in theCity of Westminster.[3]
Following her elevation to theHouse of Lords, she was a Member of the Council at theIndustrial Society from 1972 to 1984, and President of theBritish Standards Institution from 1974 to 1977. She was also President of theWomen's Liberal Federation in 1974. From 1975 to 1976, Seear was on the Hansard Social Commission for Electoral Reform, before becoming president at theInstitute of Personnel Management, a role she held from 1977 to 1979.
In 1980, she became visiting professor of Personnel Management atCity University, London, continuing until 1987. Meanwhile, Seear was Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords from 1984 to 1988 – the year in which the Liberals merged with theSocial Democratic Party to form theLiberal Democrats. Seear duly became Deputy Leader of the new Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, holding this office from 1988 to 1997. From 1991 to 1997, she was also Honorary President of theNational Postgraduate Committee.
Baroness Seear was also remembered as a pioneer forcarers andwomen's rights. In 1963, as a Reader in Personnel Management at theLSE, she was approached by the Rev. Mary Webster, who had given up her work as a Minister to care for her aged parents, and hit the UK headlines with her highly effective campaigning work. Seear said that within five minutes of meeting Mary Webster, "I knew that she was someone quite exceptional".[4]
Seear became one of twelve founder members of the NCSWD – the National Council for Single Woman and Her Dependants – on 15 December 1965; another prominent member wasSir Keith Joseph. She continued working for the movement and eventually became a Patron of theCarers National Association, when it was formed by a merger with the Association of Carers on 14 May 1988.
Seear was a Christian.[1] She was unmarried, and stated herself to be arepublican. She died from cancer in London on 23 April 1997, aged 83.[1]
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of the Liberal Party 1965–1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Women's Liberal Federation 1974–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Liberals in theHouse of Lords 1984–1988 | Succeeded by |
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