Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell

Anna Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell (née Creditor; formerly Frost; 25 April 1901 – 1 July 1989) was a British Labour Party politician and the wife of Hugh Gaitskell, who led the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963.

Early life She was born Anna Dora Creditor near Riga, Latvia, then part of Russia, the eldest of four sisters and a brother. Her father, Leon Creditor was a Hebrew scholar and writer. They emigrated to Britain in 1903 or soon after, arriving in Stepney, London. She was educated at Coborn High School for Girls in Bow, east London. She abandoned a career in medicine to marry Isaac Frost, a lecturer in physiology, on 15 March 1921. They had a son, Raymond, in 1925, but divorced in 1937. Two years later she received an honorary degree as Doctor of Law from the University of Leeds.

She outlived Hugh Gaitskell by 26 years after his death in January 1963, living until July 1989 and the age of 88. She died at the Gaitskell home, 18 Frognal Gardens, Hampstead.