Dame Mary Elaine Kellett-Bowman, DBE (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Kay; 8 July 1923 – 4 March 2014) was a British Conservative Party politician, serving as Member of Parliament ( MP) for the constituency of

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

for 27 years from 1970 to 1997.

Life and career

Born Mary Elaine Kay to Walter and Edith (née Leather) Kay, she was educated at

The Mount School, York The Mount School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom , private Quaker day and boarding school for girls ages 3–18, and a co-ed Junior School, located in York, York, England. The school was founded in 1785, and the current Head is Anna W ...

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...

, and Barnett House, Oxford, and became a barrister, called to the bar by

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1964. She served as a councillor on

Denbigh Denbigh ( ; ) is a market town and a community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. It was the original county town of the Denbighshire (historic), historic county of Denbighshire created in 1536. Denbigh's Welsh name () translates to ...

Borough Council, 1952–55, and the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

, 1968–74. She was also a governor of

Culford School Culford School, formerly the East Anglian School for Boys, is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils age 1–18 in the village of Culford, north of Bury St Edmunds in ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

from 1963 to 2003. As Mary Kellett, she contested

Nelson and Colne Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

South West Norfolk South West Norfolk is a Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 by Terr ...

twice in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

(including a by-election), and

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. She was MP for Lancaster from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

until her retirement in 1997. She also served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

in the British delegation from 1975, and was then elected for

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

in 1979. She remained an MEP until 1984, when she stepped down in order to concentrate on her seat in the British Parliament.

''Capital Gay'' arson attack

In 1987, the London paper '' Capital Gay''s offices were targeted in an

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

attack. Tony Banks MP said in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

, "On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I heard the honorable Member for Lancaster ellett-Bowmansay that it was quite right that Capital Gay should have been fire—", at which point he was interrupted by a point of order. Kellett-Bowman responded, "I am quite prepared to affirm that it is quite right that there should be an intolerance of evil."Andrew Pierc
"Cheers ring out as David Cameron lays Tory history of homophobia to rest"
''Daily Telegraph'', 2 July 2009

Personal life

She had four children with her first husband, Charles Norman Kellett, but was widowed in December 1959; her husband died in a car accident in which she suffered head injuries and memory loss. She married Edward Bowman in June 1971; the couple served alongside each other on Camden Borough Council (as Aldermen) and as Members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

; both took the shared surname of 'Kellett-Bowman'.

References

Sources

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', Times Newspapers Ltd, 1955, 1966, 1992 and 1997 editions. *''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

'', 2007 edition * Wikipedia article Capital Gay

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kellett-Bowman, Elaine 1923 births 2014 deaths Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Wales Councillors in the London Borough of Camden Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 20th-century women MEPs for England Conservative Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for the United Kingdom 1973–1979 MEPs for England 1979–1984 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire People educated at The Mount School, York Place of birth missing Place of death missing Women councillors in Wales