Rachel Squire
Rachel Squire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife Dunfermline West (1992–2005) | |
| In office 9 April 1992 – 5 January 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Dick Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Willie Rennie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rachel Anne Squire 13 July 1954 Carshalton, Surrey, England |
| Died | 5 January 2006 (aged 51) Saline, Fife, Scotland |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse |
Allan Mason (m. 1984) |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Godolphin and Latymer School |
| Alma mater | |
| Profession | Social worker |
Rachel Anne Squire (13 July 1954 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline West in Scotland from 1992 general election to 2005, and then for Dunfermline and West Fife from 2005 until her death after a long series of illnesses.
Background
[edit]Squire was born in Carshalton, Surrey.[1] She attended the all-female Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith and then proceeded to a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University, and a social work qualification at Birmingham University.[1][2]
After university, Squire became a social worker, also working in factories and other manual jobs. She became a full-time official with National Union of Public Employees, the public sector union, later part of UNISON.[3] Working for the union took her to Merseyside and then to Scotland, where she became the union's education officer. She served on the Labour Scottish Executive Committee, and was chair of the Linlithgow Constituency Labour Party.[3]
In 1984, Squire married Allan Mason, and they had two children.[3]
Member of Parliament
[edit]Squire was elected MP for Dunfermline West in 1992, defeating Dick Douglas, who had defected to the SNP.[3] According to a profile on the BBC website, Rachel Squire was "one of the most committed and successful constituency advocates in Parliament".[4] She worked to get regeneration funds for her constituency, campaigned for the Rosyth Dockyard and secured funds to put off the closure of the Longannet coal mine.
In Parliament, Squire was a member of the Defence Select Committee and served as PPS to Education ministers Stephen Byers and Estelle Morris from 1997 to 2001.
Squire was a patron for Brain Tumour Action, a cancer charity. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1993, and a second one in 2003.[3] On 2 June 2005, she was admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke, thought to have been caused by bleeding stemming from the second brain tumour. She did not recover, and died from cancer at her home in Saline, Fife, on 5 January 2006.[3][5]
Her death prompted the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, held on 9 February 2006, in which her former seat was won by Willie Rennie for the Liberal Democrats.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Rachel Squire". The Telegraph (Obituary). London. 7 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ "Rachel Squire: Social worker who became the fair-minded and popular MP for Dunfermline West". The Independent (Obituary). 7 January 2006. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Gay, Oonagh (2010). "Squire, Rachel Anne (1954–2006), politician and trade unionist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.97027. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Rachel Squire". BBC News (Political Profile). 17 October 2002. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ "Labour MP dies after long illness". BBC News. 6 January 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
External links
[edit]- 1954 births
- 2006 deaths
- 20th-century Scottish politicians
- 20th-century Scottish women politicians
- 21st-century Scottish politicians
- 21st-century Scottish women politicians
- Alumni of Trevelyan College, Durham
- Alumni of the University of Birmingham
- British social workers
- Deaths from brain cancer in Scotland
- Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fife constituencies
- People educated at Godolphin and Latymer School
- People from Carshalton
- Politicians from the London Borough of Sutton
- Scottish Labour MPs
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- Unison (trade union)