Ann Spokes Symonds

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Ann Hazel Spokes Symonds (10 November 1925 – 27 December 2019) was a British author and former Lord Mayor of Oxford.{{cite news| url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18146118.obituary-former-lord-mayor-ann-spokes-symonds/ | title=OBITUARY: Former Lord Mayor Ann Spokes Symonds | first=John | last=Chipperfield | newspaper=Oxford Mail | date=9 January 2020 | accessdate=5 April 2020 }}

Spokes was born in November 1925, the daughter of Peter Spencer Spokes and Lilla Clayton. Her father founded the Museum of Oxford in 1974.[http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/13319636.Why_a_bit_of_brick_is_an_iconic_symbol_of_Oxford___s_social_history/ This is Oxfordshire] She was a writer on the history of Oxford.

She entered St Anne's College, Oxford in 1944, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics,{{Cite web|title = symonds|url = http://pstalker6.wix.com/symonds#!biography/c1ktj|website = symonds|accessdate = 2015-10-12}} obtaining her B.A. and Master of Arts.{{Cite web| title = Trustees – About Us – Oxford Preservation Trust | url = http://www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk/about/trustees.php|website = www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk|accessdate = 2015-10-12|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151005075116/http://www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk/about/trustees.php|archive-date = 2015-10-05|url-status = dead}} She was a trustee of the Oxford Preservation Trust, having first become a trustee in 1959.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk/about/trustees.php |title=Oxford Preservation Trust website |access-date=2015-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005075116/http://www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk/about/trustees.php |archive-date=2015-10-05 |url-status=dead }} She served as Lord Mayor of Oxford in 1976/77 and also as the Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council between 1981 and 1983.{{Cite web| title = More about us | url = http://ocva.org.uk/more/|website = ocva | accessdate = 2015-10-12|language = en}} Spokes-Symonds chaired Age Concern England from 1983 to 1986.{{cite web | url = https://ocva.org.uk/about/ | title = Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action – about us | publisher = Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action | access-date = 2018-05-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170413011556/https://ocva.org.uk/about/ | archive-date = 2017-04-13}} She made a donation towards a statue of Alfred Russel Wallace which has been erected at the Natural History Museum.[http://wallacefund.info/donors Wallace Fund website]

In 1980 she married the United Nations official and historian Richard Symonds (1918–2006)[https://web.archive.org/web/20060621103325/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060520/asp/opinion/story_6244244.asp The Telegraph][https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/richard-symonds-409309.html Obituary of Richard Symonds] and was henceforth known as Ann Spokes Symonds.

She died in December 2019 at the age of 94.{{cite web| url=https://ann-spokessymonds.muchloved.com/ | title=Tribute to Ann Spokes Symonds, 1925 – 2019 | website=ann-spokessymonds.muchloved.com | accessdate=5 April 2020 }}