Barbara Wootton

Barbara Wootton was born on April 14, 1897 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England as Barbara Frances Adam. She was married to George Wright and Jack Wootton.

She was educated at the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England and attended Girton College At Cambridge University in Cambridgeshire, England to read Classics then Economics 1915-1919.

In 1920, she was a lecturer and Director of Studies in Economics for the Emmanuel College in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.

Her father died when she was aged 10, and her husband died of war wounds only weeks after their marriage. She also lost a brother in World War I. Her second husband, George Wright, whom she married in 1934, died in 1964.

After her degree, her focus was on social administration, criminology and the law. She took a job as a researcher for the TUC and Labour Party, then became Principal of Morley College for working men and women, and subsequently Director of Studies, and later Reader in Social Studies, at the University of London, finally being appointed Professor at Bedford College in 1948 until 1952.

In 1952, she received a Nuffield Foundation Research Fellowship, from which she produced her major publication Social Science and Social Pathology (1959).

She was awarded one of the first four Life Peers in the 1958 Queen's Honours List for her services to government and the community.

She was made an Honorary Fellow of Girton College in 1969.

In 1971, she was hailed by the London Illustrated News as 'a sociological legend in her own lifetime' and in 1984, she was named one of six remarkable women chosen for the BBC 2 series 'Women of Our Century'.

She was awarded the Companion of Honour in the 1977 Queen's Honours List for her services and contributions to society.

She was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of Cambridge in 1985.

She died in 1988 having been active in the House of Lords into her late eighties.