Mervyn Pike

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Baroness Pike

| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE}}

| image = Mervyn Pike.jpg

| caption = Pike in 1959

| office = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs

| primeminister = {{ubl|Harold Macmillan|Alec Douglas-Home}}

| term_start = 1 March 1963

| term_end = 16 October 1964

| predecessor = Charles Fletcher-Cooke

| successor = George Thomas

| office1 = Assistant Postmaster-General

| primeminister1 = Harold Macmillan

| term_start1 = 22 October 1959

| term_end1 = 1 March 1963

| predecessor1 = Kenneth Thompson

| successor1 = Ray Mawby

| office2 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal

| term_start2 = 15 May 1974

| term_end2 = 11 January 2004
Life peerage

| parliament3 = United Kingdom

| constituency_MP3 = Melton

| term_start3 = 19 December 1956

| term_end3 = 8 February 1974

| predecessor3 = Anthony Nutting

| successor3 = Michael Latham

| birth_name = Irene Mervyn Parnicott Pike

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|09|16|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Castleford, Yorkshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|01|11|1918|09|16|df=yes}}

| death_place = Kelso, Scottish Borders

| party = Conservative

| alma_mater = University of Reading

| allegiance = United Kingdom

| branch = {{air force|UK}}

| unit = Women's Auxiliary Air Force

}}

Irene Mervyn Parnicott Pike, Baroness Pike, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE}} (16 September 1918 – 11 January 2004) was a British Conservative politician. The name by which she came to be known, Mervyn, had been the name of her father's best friend, who was to have been her godfather; when he was killed in action, a few days before she was born, her father decided that the baby would take his name.{{cite news |last1=Roth |first1=Andrew |authorlink1=Andrew Roth |title=Obituary: Baroness Pike of Melton |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jan/16/guardianobituaries.conservatives |accessdate=11 May 2015 |work=The Guardian |date=16 January 2004}}

Early life

Born in Castleford, Yorkshire, into a family of Castleford pottery manufacturers, Pike was educated at Hunmanby Hall (East Riding of Yorkshire) and at Reading University and served with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II. She was managing director of a firm of pottery manufacturers.

Career

Pike contested Pontefract in 1951 and Leek in 1955 without success. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Melton at a by-election in December 1956. She held several positions including Assistant Postmaster-General from 1959 to 1963, joint Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1963 to 1964 and Chair of the WRVS from 1974 to 1981 and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission from 1981 to 1985.

Awards

Pike was created a life peer on 15 May 1974 as Baroness Pike, of Melton in Leicestershire,{{London Gazette|issue=46292|date=17 May 1974|page=6033}} and was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1981 Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette|issue=48639|date=13 June 1981|page=8|supp=y|nolink=y}}

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = Pike Achievement.png

|escutcheon = Or on a cross Gules a churchwarden's staff headed of a mitre Or on a chief Sable a castleford fine stoneware teapot Proper.

|supporters = On either side a fox that on the dexter gorged with a wreath of ivy and that on the sinister with a wreath of rosemary Proper and each resting the interior hind foot on a portcullis Or.

|compartment = A grassy mount Proper.

|motto = Faithful Endeavour

|orders=Order of the British Empire{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage |title-link=Debrett's |date=2000}}}}

Death

She died in 2004, unmarried, at a nursing home in Kelso, Scottish Borders, aged 85, from pneumonia following a stroke.

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite ODNB

| doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/93152

| title = Pike, (Irene) Mervyn Parnicott, Baroness Pike (1918–2004), businesswoman, politician, and voluntary worker

| first = Duncan

| last = Sutherland

| date = 2008-05-24

}}

External links

[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/minutes/040113/ldminute.htm Announcement of Pike's death in the House of Lords] – minutes of proceedings, 13 January 2004

{{succession box

| title = Member of Parliament for Melton

| years = 1956 – February 1974

| before = Anthony Nutting

| after = Michael Latham}}

Category:1918 births

Category:2004 deaths

Category:Alumni of the University of Reading

Category:British women in World War II

Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies

Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers