Joyce Shore Butler (née Wells; 13 December 1910 – 2 January 1992) was a British

Labour Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candida ...

politician. She was the long serving MP for

Wood Green Wood Green is a suburban district in the borough of Haringey in London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London, and today it forms a m ...

and was the first woman to chair an

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with '' a priori''.) C ...

committee.

Early life

Butler was educated at King Edward's School,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, and

Woodbrooke College Woodbrooke Study Centre is a Quaker college in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. The only Quaker Study Centre in Europe, it was founded by George Cadbury in 1903 and occupies his former home on the Bristol Road. Woodbrooke's first Director of Stud ...

Career

Butler became a councillor on

Wood Green Borough Council Wood Green was a local government district in south east Middlesex from 1888 to 1965. History Until 1888, Wood Green was part of Tottenham, and was included in the district of the Tottenham Local Board in 1850. Pressure from residents of the are ...

in 1947, serving until the borough's abolition in 1965. She was chairman of the Housing committee and Leader of the Labour Group on Wood Green Council. She was an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

and the first chairman of the new London Borough of Haringey in 1964. Butler was first elected to Parliament at the 1955 general election, for the

constituency. She served as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the Minister of Land and Natural Resources 1965-67 but held no front-bench position. She served as vice-chair of the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

and chair of the group of Co-operative Party MPs. She retired from Parliament at the 1979 general election.

Interests

Butler was an active back-bencher, frequently raising questions in parliament on environmental and consumer issues. She often spoke on a range of health issues and asked the first parliamentary questions about the thalidomide drug. In 1964 Butler founded the Women's Cervical Cancer Control Campaign (later the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign). In 1976, she introduced a Bill to create a statutory register of all osteopaths who followed a recognized course of study. Butler also served as President of the National Antivaccination League. Butler's "most important achievement" was introducing the first bill to Parliament seeking to outlaw discrimination against women "in education, employment, and social and public life". She raised the Bill four times - starting in 1967 - and whilst she failed to obtain a second reading, her Bill would form the basis of the Labour Government's ''Sex Discrimination Act'' (1975). Following her retirement in 1979, she remained a leading member in a number of organisations, such as the London Passenger Action Confederation, the Fawcett Society, the Hornsey Housing Trust, and Tottenham Hotspur ladies' football team.

Personal life

She married Vic Butler, a

Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party is a Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom, supporting Cooperative, co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operat ...

worker who became a councillor, the first mayor of the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation o ...

and a parliamentary candidate. They had two children.

References

1910 births 1992 deaths Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Councillors in Greater London UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women councillors in England {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub