Background
Eirene was born in Belfast, the daughter of Doctor Thomas Jones, commonly known as "TJ", a noted civil servant, educationalist and friend of the establishment.
Eirene was born in Belfast, the daughter of Doctor Thomas Jones, commonly known as "TJ", a noted civil servant, educationalist and friend of the establishment.
She was educated at Street Paul"s Girls" School and Somerville College, Oxford, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Back in England, she studied housing policies and the problems of the homeless.
She spent a year in Heidelberg before working for the New York Public Library. During World World War II, White joined the Women"s Voluntary Service and became Welsh Regional Secretary. She was recruited by the Ministry of Labour to help with the training of workers in Wales, particularly women, for the war effort.
White stood in the 1945 general election in Flintshire without success.
She was elected Labour Member of Parliament for East Flint in 1950, one of the first female MPs in Wales. An early private member"s bill encouraged the government to relax divorce laws.
Annoyed by fights between left and right, she stepped down from the Nippon Electric Corporation in 1953 but returned in 1959 until 1972. When Labour came to power under Harold Wilson in 1964, White became parliamentary under-secretary at the Colonial Office, in 1966 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and in 1967 Minister of State at the Welsh Office for three years.
White managed to hang on to her marginal constituency for 20 years, at one election by just 72 votes.
White served as chairman of the Fabian Society and of the Labour Party Nippon Electric Corporation 1968-1969. In 1970, she retired from the House of Commons and was created a life peer on 12 October 1970 taking the title Baroness White, of Rhymney in the County of Monmouth. Later posts included president of Coleg Harlech and governor of the National Library of Wales.
She was Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords from 1979 to 1989.
She was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Bath in 1983. She died, aged 90, in Abergavenny.
She also worked as a civil servant at the Board of Education until 1945 and after the War as a political correspondent for both the Manchester Evening News and the British Broadcasting Corporation. A viewfinder monument is erected on the summit of Allt yr Esgair 393 metres/1290 feet(Grid Ref SO126243).
39th United Kingdom Parliament. 40th United Kingdom Parliament. 41st United Kingdom Parliament.
42nd United Kingdom Parliament.
43rd United Kingdom Parliament. 44th United Kingdom Parliament]
She was elected a member of the Labour Party"s National Executive Committee in the women"s section in 1947.
She was a governor of the British Film Institute and a member of the board of Trade Films Council. She was chairman of the Land Authority for Wales (1976-1980), deputy chairman of the Metrication Board (1972-1976), and a member of the Royal Commission on Environment Pollution (1974-1981).