Mervyn Pike

British politician and peer (1918–2004)

Harold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home

Preceded byCharles Fletcher-CookeSucceeded byGeorge ThomasAssistant Postmaster-GeneralIn office
22 October 1959 – 1 March 1963Prime MinisterHarold MacmillanPreceded byKenneth ThompsonSucceeded byRay MawbyMember of the House of Lords
Lord TemporalIn office
15 May 1974 – 11 January 2004
Life peerageMember of Parliament
for MeltonIn office
19 December 1956 – 8 February 1974Preceded byAnthony NuttingSucceeded byMichael Latham Personal detailsBorn

Irene Mervyn Parnicott Pike

(1918-09-16)16 September 1918
Castleford, Yorkshire, EnglandDied11 January 2004(2004-01-11) (aged 85)
Kelso, Scottish BordersPolitical partyConservativeAlma materUniversity of ReadingMilitary serviceAllegianceUnited KingdomBranch/service

Royal Air ForceUnitWomen's Auxiliary Air Force

Irene Mervyn Parnicott Pike, Baroness Pike, 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.^[1]

Early life

Born in Castleford, Yorkshire,^[2] 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.^[1]

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,^[3] and was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1981 Birthday Honours.^[4]

Coat of arms of Mervyn Pike
	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^[5]

Death

She died in 2004, unmarried, at a nursing home in Kelso, Scottish Borders, aged 85, from pneumonia following a stroke.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b Roth, Andrew (16 January 2004). "Obituary: Baroness Pike of Melton". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
^ ^a ^b Sutherland, Duncan (24 May 2008). "Pike, (Irene) Mervyn Parnicott, Baroness Pike (1918–2004), businesswoman, politician, and voluntary worker". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/93152. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "No. 46292". The London Gazette. 17 May 1974. p. 6033.
^ "No. 48639". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 1981. p. 8.
^ Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. 2000.