Nancy Seear, Baroness Seear

Beatrice Nancy Seear, Baroness SeearPC(7 August 1913 – 23 April 1997) was a British social scientist and politician. She was leader of theLiberal Partyin theHouse of Lordsfrom 1984 to 1988, and Deputy Leader of theLiberal Democratsin the House of Lords from 1988 to 1997. She was also appointed aPrivy Counsellorin 1985.

Career

Born inEpsom,Surrey, Seear was educated atCroydon High School,Newnham College, Cambridge,and theLondon School of Economics.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.

In 1946, she became a teacher of, and reader in, Personnel Management at theLondon School of Economics,where she would remain until 1978.

As a member of theLiberal Party,Seear contested every UK general election from 1950 to 1970, coming third behind theConservativeandLabourcandidates on each occasion.She initially stood forHornchurchin1950and1951,before attemptingTruroin1955and1959.In1964,she stood forEpping,and tried constituencies in northern England at the following two general elections –Rochdale,in1966,andWakefieldin1970.The latter would be her last candidature at a general election, although she stood as the Liberal candidate forWight and Hampshire Eastin the1979 European Parliament election,coming second to the Conservative candidate.

Seear wasPresident of the Liberal Partyfrom 1964 to 1965, and of theFawcett Societyfrom 1970 to 1985. From 1971 to 1984, she sat on the Top Salaries Review Board. She was created aLife Peeron 18 May 1971 asBaroness Seear,ofPaddingtonin theCity of Westminster.

Following her elevation to theHouse of Lords,she was a Member of the Council at theIndustrial Societyfrom 1972 to 1984, and President of theBritish Standards Institutionfrom 1974 to 1977. She was also President of theWomen's Liberal Federationin 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 Partyto 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.

Carers champion

Baroness Seear was also remembered as a pioneer forcarersandwomen'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".

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.

Personal life

Seear was a Christian.She was unmarried, and stated herself to be arepublican.She died from cancer in London on 23 April 1997, aged 83.

Archives

• Papers of Baroness Beatrice Nancy Seear are held atThe Women's Libraryat the Library of the London School of Economics, ref7BNS
• Catalogue of the papers of Baroness Seear held at LSE Archives

Publications

• A career for women in industry (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1964);
• Policies for incomes (Liberal Publication Department, London, 1967);
• Training: the fulcrum of change (British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education, London, 1976);
• Interdependence and survival: population policies and environmental control (Wyndham Place Trust, London, 1976);
• Women in the penal system (Report for the Howard League for Penal Reform, 1986);
• Education: a quantum leap? (Hebden Royd Publications, Hebden Bridge, 1988).

References

• Tim Cook, 2007,"The History of the Carers Movement"ISBN978-1-873747-36-0
• David Steel (Lord Steel of Aikwood),Nancy SeearinDictionary of National Biography;OUP 2004–08
• Mark Egan,Nancy Seearin Brack et al. (eds.)Dictionary of Liberal Biography;Politico's Publishing, 1998 pp324–325

External links

• Biography: Centre for advancement of Women in Politics
• House of Lords Hansard text: 1997 Tributes to the late Lady Seear