Elaine Burton, Baroness Burton of Coventry

Elaine Frances Burton, Baroness Burton of Coventry (2 March 1904 – 6 October 1991) was a politician in the United Kingdom.

Burton stood twice to become a Member of Parliament, before being elected on her third candidacy. She lost as a Common Wealth Party candidate in the 1943 Hartlepool by-election, before switching to the Labour Party and losing as a candidate in Hendon South in the 1945 general election. In the 1950 general election, she was elected for the newly created constituency of Coventry South, holding the seat until 1959, when it was gained by the Conservative candidate Philip Hocking.

Burton was elevated to the peerage in April 1962 as Baroness Burton of Coventry, of Coventry in the County of Warwick,^[1] where she spoke on topics including women's opportunities in business and public life, and campaigned for the creation of an independent grant-supported body for sport, leading to her appointment to the newly formed Sports Council in 1965. She was also appointed to the Independent Television Authority between 1964 and 1969.

Burton left the Labour Party in 1981 to join the newly formed Social Democratic Party, and became their spokesman in the Lords on civil aviation and consumer affairs.

Notes

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Sutherland, Duncan (January 2006). "Burton, (Frances) Elaine, Baroness Burton of Coventry (1904–1991)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2009-05-24.  (subscription or UK public library membership required)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Elaine Burton