View source for Evelyn Denington, Baroness Denington

{{Short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name             = The Baroness Denington
|honorific-suffix = [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire|DBE]]
|image            =
|imagesize        =
|smallimage       =
|caption          =
|birthname        = Evelyn Joyce Bursill
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1907|8|9|df=yes}}
|birth_place      = [[Woolwich]], [[London]], [[England]]
|death_date       = {{death date and age|1998|8|22|1907|8|9|df=yes}}
|death_place      = [[Brighton]], [[Sussex]], [[England]]
|spouse           = Cecil Dallas Denington (1935-19??)
|nationality      = [[United Kingdom|British]]
|party            = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
|profession       = Teacher
|occupation       = Politician}}
'''Evelyn Joyce Denington, Baroness Denington''', [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire|DBE]] (née '''Bursill'''; 9 August 1907 – 22 August 1998) was a British [[politician]]. She served as chair of the [[Stevenage]] [[Development corporation|Development Corporation]] from 1966–80 and chair of the [[Greater London Council]] from 1975–77.
==Early life and career==
Denington was born Evelyn Joyce Bursill on 9 August 1907 to Philip Charles Bursill and Edith Rowena Montford. She was educated at [[Blackheath High School]], [[Bedford College (London)|Bedford College]] and [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]], where she attended evening classes.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage online |date=2022 |title=Baroness Denington, of Stevenage in the County of Hertfordshire (Life Peer) 1978 |url=https://www.debretts1769.com/f/5051?_gl=1*dg89w*_ga*MzU1NzQyMjYwLjE2NTExMzY1NzM.*_ga_SRVBY4V3Y2*MTY1MTEzNjU3My4xLjEuMTY1MTEzNjU3My42MA..&query=Denington&page=1&indices%5BFamilies%5D%5Bconfigure%5D%5BhitsPerPage%5D=100 |access-date=28 April 2022 |website=Debrett.com}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In 1927, she became an editorial assistant at ''Architecture and Building News'', leaving in 1931 to retrain as a teacher. Denington became secretary to the National Association of Labour Teachers (1938–47), and taught in London junior schools until 1950.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=1998-09-11 |title=Obituary: Baroness Denington |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-baroness-denington-1197526.html |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
==Marriage==
She married Cecil Dallas Denington, a stockbroker's clerk but later a schoolteacher, in 1935.<ref name=":0" />
==Politics==
She, and her husband, were elected to [[Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras|St Pancras Borough Council]] in 1945, serving until 1959. She was also elected to the [[London County Council]] in 1946, representing [[St Pancras North (London County Council constituency)|St Pancras North]], and continued to serve on its successor, the [[Greater London Council]] representing [[Camden (electoral division)|Camden]], then [[Islington (electoral division)|Islington]] and finally [[Islington Central (electoral division)|Islington Central]]. In 1964, Denington became chair of the London Housing Committee and was the landlady of 120,000 London homes, expanding to sites anywhere between Swindon and King's Lynn.<ref name=":2" />
She served as a member of the [[Stevenage]] Development Corporation Board (Stevenage became a new town following the [[New Towns Act 1946]]) from 1950 and was appointed as its chair in 1966 by [[Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin|Lewis Silkin]], then Minister for Town and Country Planning, where she served until the Corporation was dissolved in 1980.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Balchin |first=Jack |title=First New Town: An Autobiography of the Stevenage Development Corporation 1946-1980 |year=1980 |pages=25–26}}</ref> She became [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1966.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44004|supp=y|page=6539|date=3 June 1966}}</ref>
During her time as a member of the Corporation, Stevenage town centre became Britain's first pedestrianized town centre.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cole, E. and Harwood, E. |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/8209/TheNewTownCentreStevenageHertfordshire_ArchitectureandSignificance |title=THE NEW TOWN CENTRE, STEVENAGE, HERTFORDSHIRE: Architecture and Significance |year=2020}}</ref> The local art gallery was named after her, and she became an honorary fellow of the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]] and an honorary member of the [[Royal Town Planning Institute]].<ref name=":2" />
Denington became a member of London County Council's new and expanding towns committee, and served as chair of the design subcommittee. Following the creation of the Greater London Council, she became chair of the housing committee with responsibility for around 200,000 homes. During opposition (1967–1973), she became [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]'s deputy leader on the Council, before serving as chair of the transport committee from 1973 to 1975, establishing free buses for pensioners.<ref name=":2" />
In 1974, she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=46310|supp=y|page=6799|date=7 June 1974}}</ref> and from 1975–76, she became [[chair of the Greater London Council]]. She retired from the Greater London Council in 1977 and was created a [[life peer]] as '''Baroness Denington''', of Stevenage in the County of Hertfordshire, on 10 July 1978.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=47590|page=8395|date=13 July 1978}}</ref>
==Death and legacy==
She and her husband retired to [[Hove]] and they had no children. She died of heart failure on 22 August 1998 in [[Brighton]], aged 91.<ref name=":2" /> Evelyn Denington Road in [[London Borough of Newham|Newham, London]] was named in her honour.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929134600/http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2814600/Evelyn-Denington-a-personal-appreciation.html "Evelyn Denington, a personal appreciation" (tribute)]
*[http://www.thepeerage.com/index_life_peer.htm The Peerage.com profile]
*{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/70683|title=Denington, Evelyn Joyce, Baroness Denington|last=Sutherland|first=Duncan|date=October 2005|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/70683|accessdate=2009-06-06}}
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[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from London]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Woolwich]]
[[Category:People from Stevenage]]
[[Category:Members of London County Council]]
[[Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Camden]]
[[Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Islington]]
[[Category:Members of St Pancras Metropolitan Borough Council]]
[[Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Bedford College, London]]
[[Category:People educated at Blackheath High School]]
[[Category:20th-century British women politicians]]
[[Category:Women councillors in England]]
[[Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]