My Friend Baroness White--Part 2

A recent blog post introduced you to a woman I had the privilege of meeting on a train in 1981--I last left you with this woman expressing regret that she had not met me sooner, and taken me to a reception in honor of Prince Charles.  The story continues.

During our four hour train ride from Edinburgh to London, Lady White insisted on exchanging contact details.  She promised to contact me about being her guest at the Queen's State Opening of Parliament that was due to take place later in the autumn.

Yeah right.  Dotty Old Lady who thinks she's a peeress in the House of Lords.

The next week, I received a letter at my London flat inviting me and my roommate to the Queen's State Opening of Parliament.  The fairy tale continues as Roommate and I arrived at the Peer's Entrance to the Houses of Parliament and we sat in Lady's White's office and watched the main proceedings on closed circuit television.  Previously we had been admitted to a gallery and watched the pomp as Black Rod strides through the hall and raps on the door requesting admittance of the House of Commons MPs to be admitted to the Lords to listen to the Queen's speech.  I was within three feet of Lady Thatcher.  (Impressions?  Very short and VERY red hair)

The friendship continued.  Lady White invited me and Said Roommate to her flat in Cardiff Wales for a weekend later in the autumn.  We toured ruined castles in Wales, attended a performance of the Ballet Rambert and slept on a pull out sofa in her living room.  We enjoyed poking through her photo albums, and hearing stories like "Lady Astor hosted my coming out party at Clivedon" and "We used to have Sunday tea with George Bernard Shaw."  THAT George Bernard Shaw.

 Lady White is in  blue.

A small souvenir of the House of Lords--given to me--I did not steal it!!

Our friendship continued through my single years in Oak Park, to my marriage and until her death in 1999.

She was a vigorous correspondent and played hostess again and again to Dear Husbola and me and my mother.

Here is a snippet from her obituary that was published in The Guardian--

Baroness White of Rhymney

• The Guardian, Monday 27 December 1999 18.11 EST

Eirene White, Baroness White of Rhymney, who has died aged 90, was the first woman to hold the office of minister of state for foreign affairs in Harold Wilson's second Labour government of 1966. She was born into the lap of scholarship and politics: her mother came from an academic background and her father was Tom Jones, the deputy cabinet secretary to four prime ministers - Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Ramsay MacDonald and Stanley Baldwin - and had a traditional Welsh hunger for learning. Eirene was educated at St Paul's girls' school, London, and Somerville College, Oxford. She worked for a period in the ministry of labour. At the end of the second world war she spent time in the United States studying housing conditions and the provision of public libraries. While there she discovered that she and Paul Robeson could not go together to the same restaurant. This she never forgot and she fought all her life against racial discrimination.

On her return to England Eirene joined the Manchester Evening News and, in 1945, became the first accredited woman political correspondent. She unsuccessfully contested Flintshire for Labour in 1945 and entered parliament in 1950 after winning East Flint with a majority of 70. She held the seat for 20 years.

There is a Part 3--that includes a birthday visit to her brother's home and a stay at her London flat.