Rima Horton
{{short description|English former councillor and economics lecturer (born 1947)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{use British English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox politician
| name = Rima Horton
| image = Rima Horton, outside the Seminar stage door, 2011-11-09 (6344469612).jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| office = Member of the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council
| term_start = 1986
| term_end = 4 May 2006
| birth_name = Rima Elizabeth Horton
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1947|1|31|df=yes}}
| birth_place = {{flagicon|London}} London, England
| party = Labour
| occupation = Lecturer
| education = University of Southampton
| spouse = {{marriage|Alan Rickman|2012|2016|reason=died}}
}}
Rima Elizabeth Horton (born 31 January 1947){{sfn|Wood|1992|p=76}} is a retired English academic and former Labour Party politician. She was a member of the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council from 1986 to 2006, and worked as a senior lecturer at Kingston University.
Early life
Rima Elizabeth Horton was born in the Bayswater neighbourhood of London, the third of four children of Elice Irene (née Frame) and Wilfred Stewart Horton.England & Wales, Death Index, 1916-2007. General Register Office.{{indent|3}}England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. Vol. 12. p. 1804. Print. Her mother was from Wales while her father was London-born.Birth Certificate for Rima E. Horton. 31 January 1947. File No. 7221822-1. London, England: General Register Office.{{indent|3}}England & Wales births 1837-2006. Vol. 5D, p. 406. Print.{{indent|3}}England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915. Vol. 2A, p. 337. Print. Horton attended the co-Ed private St. Vincent's primary school, City of London School for Girls{{Cite book|last=Wood|first=Alan A|title=The Times Guide to the House of Commons, April 1992|pages=80}} and later the University of Southampton.{{sfn|Wood|1992|p=76}}
She performed in theatre at school and then in several amateur groups, such as the Brook Drama Club which took her to Paris in 1962 when she was only 15. Fellow members reported that she already had a strong presence and a real talent for directing the group. At 18, she won the Most Promising Youngster Award at the Southall Music & Drama Festival, where young Alan Rickman acted beside her.Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002480/19640423/040/0003{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002480/19620426/002/0001 |title=Register |access-date=27 August 2023 |url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}
Career
Horton won election as a Labour Party councillor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council in 1986, serving as its Chief Whip and a spokesperson on education during her tenure.{{sfn|Wood|1992|p=76}} She lost her place on the council in May 2006, as "part of the national shift" (in which there was a swing against Labour, who had been in government nationally for nine years by that point). She twice ran as a Labour candidate for Parliament, losing to the Conservative candidate both times.{{cite web|last=Owoseje|first=Toyin|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/who-rima-horton-childhood-sweetheart-alan-rickman-married-shortly-before-his-death-1538008|title=Who is Rima Horton, the childhood sweetheart Alan Rickman married shortly before his death?|work=International Business Times|date=14 January 2016|accessdate=19 January 2016}}{{indent|3}}{{cite news|url=http://living.scotsman.com/features/A-man-for-all-seasons.2796621.jp|title=A man for all seasons|work=The Scotsman|location=Edinburgh|first=Jackie|last=McGlone|date=31 July 2006|accessdate=15 January 2016}} Horton also worked as a senior economics lecturer at Kingston University in London. She retired in 2012.{{sfn|Wood|1992|p=76}}
Horton served on the board of directors of The Making Place, a children's charity. She was appointed in 2002 and stepped down in 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/director/2749345/rima-horton|title=Ms Rima Elizabeth Horton|website=Companies In the UK|accessdate=21 January 2016}} She has also served on the board of trustees of the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill.{{sfn|Cabal|2005|p=3}}
Writing
Horton was a contributor to The Elgar Companion to Radical Political Economy in 1994, penning a piece titled "Inequality". In it, she posed three questions: whether people are "naturally equal in essence"; whether and when the redistribution of wealth is justified; and, if so, how much is "fair"? She cited "much recent work" suggesting that health status and mortality rates in developed countries "actually depends on the distribution of income".{{sfn|Elgar|1994|pp=203–207}}
Personal life
Horton met aspiring actor Alan Rickman in 1965,{{cite web |last1=Cain |first1=Sian |title=Alan Rickman's 27 volumes of diaries to be published as one book |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/21/alan-rickman-27-volumes-of-diaries-to-be-published-as-one-book-canongate |website=The Guardian |access-date=23 October 2023 |date=21 November 2020}} when they both found themselves in an amateur theatre group at Chelsea College of Arts{{cite web |title=Alan Rickman And Wife Rima Horton Had A 50-Year Love Story |url=https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/alan-rickman-wife_n_8982062 |website=HuffPost |access-date=23 October 2023 |language=en |date=14 January 2016}} he was attending. She was 18 and he was 19.{{cite web |title=Alan Rickman secretly marries Rima Horton |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/04/23/alan-rickman-is-married/26251503/ |website=USA TODAY |access-date=23 October 2023}} They were married in a private ceremony in New York City in 2012.{{Cite web|url=https://people.com/celebrity/alan-rickman-and-rima-horton-are-married/|title=Alan Rickman and Longtime Love Rima Horton Secretly Wed 3 Years Ago|website=PEOPLE.com|language=en|access-date=2019-09-19}} Their marriage was announced publicly three years afterwards, in 2015. Horton lived with Rickman from 1977 until his death in January 2016.{{cite web|last=Chiu|first=Melody|url=http://www.people.com/article/alan-rickman-married-rima-horton|title=Alan Rickman and Longtime Love Rima Horton Secretly Wed 3 Years Ago|work=People|date=23 April 2015|accessdate=14 January 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://hitberry.com/alan-rickman-rima-horton-lovestory|title=Alan Rickman and 50 Years of Love with Rima Horton|website=Hitberry|language=en|access-date=2019-09-20}}
References
=Footnotes=
{{Reflist}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book|last=Cabal|first=Fermín|title=Tejas Verdes: Gate Theatre Presents|publisher=Oberon Books|date=2005|isbn=1840025379|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tejasverdes0000caba}} Cited as Cabal 2005.
- {{cite book|last=Horton|first=Rima|editor1-last=Arestis|editor1-first=Philip|editor1-link=Philip Arestis|editor2-last=Sawyer|editor2-first=Malcolm C.|title=The Elgar Companion to Radical Political Economy|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|date=1994|isbn=184376864X|ref={{sfnref|Elgar|1994}}}} Cited as Elgar 1994.
- {{cite book|editor1-last=Wood|editor1-first=Alan H.|editor2-last=Wood|editor2-first=Roger|title=Guide to the House of Commons, April 1992|publisher=Times Newspapers Ltd.|date=1992|ref={{sfnref|Wood|1992}}}} Cited as Wood 1992.
{{Authority control}}
{{#related:Alan Rickman}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horton, Rima}}
Category:20th-century English women politicians
Category:21st-century English women politicians
Category:Academics of Kingston University
Category:Alumni of the University of Southampton
Category:Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors
Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Category:People educated at the City of London School for Girls
Category:People from Bayswater
Category:People from Kensington