Jean Denton, Baroness Denton of Wakefield
{{Short description|British businesswoman, racing driver and Conservative Party politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = The Baroness Denton of Wakefield
| honorific-suffix =CBE
| image = File:Jean Denton.jpg
| caption = Portrait by Nick Sinclair, 1992
|office = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
|monarch = Elizabeth II
|primeminister = John Major
|term_start = 20 July 1994
|term_end = 2 May 1997
|predecessor = The Earl of Arran
|successor = The Lord Dubs
|office1 = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment
|monarch1 = Elizabeth II
|primeminister1 = John Major
|term_start1 = 16 September 1993
|term_end1 = 11 January 1994
|predecessor1 = The Lord Strathclyde
|successor1 = The Earl of Arran
|office2 = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
|monarch2 = Elizabeth II
|primeminister2 = John Major
|term_start2 = 14 April 1992
|term_end2 = 16 September 1993
|predecessor2 = The Lord Reay
|successor2 = The Lord Strathclyde
|office3 = Baroness-in-waiting
Government Whip
|monarch3 = Elizabeth II
|primeminister3 = John Major
|term_start3 = January 1992
|term_end3 = 15 April 1992
|predecessor3 = new appointment
|successor3 = The Baroness Trumpington
| office4 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
| term_start4 = 11 June 1991
| term_end4 = 5 February 2001
Life Peerage
| birth_date = {{birth date|1935|12|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Wakefield, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2001|2|5|1935|12|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = London, England
| birthname =
| nationality =
| party = Conservative
| spouse = {{marriage|Tony Denton|1959|1974|end = divorced}}
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater =London School of Economics
}}
Jean Denton, Baroness Denton of Wakefield, CBE (29 December 1935 – 5 February 2001) was a British businesswoman, racing driver and Conservative Party politician.
Background
Jean Moss was born in Wakefield on 1935, the daughter of Charles and Kathleen Moss (born Tuke).{{Cite ODNB|id = 75414|title = Denton [née Moss], Jean, Baroness Denton of Wakefield (1935–2001)}} Her father worked at a hospital and her mother was a school cook. When she was 8 she represented Yorkshire in a child's version of the radio programme Round Britain Quiz. Moss attended Rothwell Grammar School near Leeds. When she was fourteen she had to take bed rest for a year to cure a kidney infection, despite this she became head girl and won a scholarship to attend the London School of Economics. She gained a BSc in Economics in 1958. Having earned her Economics degree she joined the marketing department of the consumer company Procter & Gamble.
Career
From 1961 to 1964 she was in the marketing department of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which was part of The Economist group of companies. At about this time she became interested in motor-racing. She learnt to drive late at the age of 26.{{Cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1321432/Lady-Denton-of-Wakefield.html|title = Lady Denton of Wakefield|date = 7 February 2001|accessdate = 13 December 2015|newspaper = The Daily Telegraph}} Until 1966 she worked for IPC Media and until 1969 she led the Hotel and Catering Department of the University of Surrey. In her spare time she won the 1967 and 1968 title of Britain's Woman Racing Champion.
In 1969 she gave up work in marketing and management and devoted her time to driving. She took part and was the only woman to complete in a sports car the London-Sydney Marathon. The following year she was sponsored by Woman magazine to drive an Austin Maxi in the World Cup rally through Europe and South America.
She combined her interests and skills and took work as a senior manager in the British automotive industry. She was Marketing Director for the Hampstead Huxford Garage Group from 1972 and in 1978 she moved to the Heron Motor Group at the invitation of Gerald Ronson. From 1980 she became the managing director of a car rental company until she became the most powerful female in the British car industry when she became the director of public relations for the Austin Rover group. In 1987, she was Director of the public relations company Burson-Marsteller.
In 1991 she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1992 she was created a life peeress, as Baroness Denton of Wakefield, of Wakefield in the County of West Yorkshire.{{London Gazette |issue = 52560|date = 14 June 1991|page=9185}} She served as a Baroness-in-Waiting from 1991–2. She was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry from 1992–3, at the Department of Energy from 1993–4, and at the Northern Ireland Office from 1994–7. After the 1997 general election, she served as the Conservative opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in the House of Lords.
She was co-founder of Forum UK, the British section of the International Forum for Women and President (President) of the organization Women on the Move against Cancer.[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/feb/07/guardianobituaries1 Lady Denton of Wakefield], Obituary, The Guardian, Retrieved 26 November 2015
Personal life and death
In 1959, Jean Moss married Tony Denton, an engineer; they divorced in 1974.
Denton was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989, which was treated at the time with a lumpectomy. In 1998, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and she died at a care home in London on 5 February 2001, at the age of 65.
References
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Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics
Category:British sportsperson-politicians
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Conservative Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting
Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Category:20th-century British women politicians
Category:Northern Ireland Office junior ministers
Category:People from Wakefield
Category:Deaths from brain cancer in England
Category:English racing drivers
Category:Racing drivers from Yorkshire