Roland Boyes (12 February 1937 – 16 June 2006) was a British Labour Party politician, amateur photographer and, in retirement, a fundraiser for research into

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Early years

Boyes was born in

Holmfirth Holmfirth () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is located south of Huddersfield and west of Barnsley; the boundary of the Peak District National Park is to the south-west. The town is sited on t ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, the son of a lorry driver, and educated at Wooldale Infant and Junior School. A bout of spinal

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

caused him to miss the

11-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...

and he attended a year at a

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

before moving to

Penistone Grammar School Penistone Grammar School (PGS) is a large co-educational secondary school with a sixth form located in Penistone, South Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1392, it is amongst the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, oldest extant scho ...

. He attended the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

to study

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, but left after one year.

Teaching and marriage

He then attended Coventry Teachers Training College, where he met his future wife, and taught

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s for 13 years. Meanwhile, he took a part-time

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

, and married Patricia James (with whom he had two sons) in 1962. He was assistant director of

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

from 1975 to 1979.

Political life

Boyes began his political career by joining the Labour Party at age 20. He served as a

local councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a Municipality, muni ...

on Easington District Council from 1973 and then

Peterlee Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It is located south of Sunderland, north of Hartlepool, west of the Durham Coast and east of Durham. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68). The act als ...

Town Council. He was elected as MEP for

from 1979 to 1984. In the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general elec ...

, he was sponsored by the General, Municipal and Boilermakers' Union, and succeeded

Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It lies betw ...

MP Tom Urwin as Member of Parliament for the new Houghton and Washington constituency. An outspoken

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

er, he was a member of

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

and supported the protestors against

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

s at

Greenham Common Royal Air Force Greenham Common or more simply RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire. The airfield was southeast of Newbury, about west of Lo ...

. In Parliament, he joined the Tribune group and the Campaign group, and was noted for loud interjections in a broad Yorkshire accent from his seat. Nevertheless, he soon became a

frontbench In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

spokesman under

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 Labour Party le ...

, on environment from 1985 to 1988 and on defence from 1988 to 1992. He lost his front-bench position when John Smith became leader of the Labour Party, but then served on Select committees, on Environment from 1992 to 1994 and on National Heritage from 1994 to 1997. A keen

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, he produced a book in 1990, ''People in Parliament'', containing black-and-white photographs of MPs. He was also a member of the board of directors at

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

Alzheimer's Research Trust

Following a rapid deterioration in his mental abilities from 1993, Boyes was diagnosed with

in 1995 (in which year he turned only 58), and subsequently retired at the 1997 general election, reportedly never knowing that Labour won the election. He set up the Alzheimer's Research Trust to raise funding for research into Alzheimer's. The Trust raised much of the funding for a suite at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

General Hospital that opened in 2001 and was named in his honour. He died in 2006 in

, County Durham, aged 69.

References

Obituary
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 21 June 2006
Obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 22 June 2006
Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 23 June 2006
Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 27 June 2006

External links

*
Alzheimer's Research Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyes, Roland 1937 births 2006 deaths Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in England Deaths from dementia in England Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 People from Holmfirth People from Peterlee Alumni of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Bradford Councillors in County Durham Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 1979–1984 People educated at Penistone Grammar School