Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles

Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles (13 November 1927 – 27 March 1998) was a British Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Eton and Slough from the 1966 general election until her defeat in 1983, and MP for Eccles from the 1987 general election until her retirement in 1997.

Early life Lestor was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1927.

Parliamentary career Lestor contested Lewisham West in 1964 and was elected member of parliament for Eton and Slough in 1966. Lestor blamed the SDP for her defeat. No longer an MP, Lestor worked for the World Development Movement, campaigning for child welfare and setting up a unit to investigate child abuse, including sexual abuse, an area neglected by mainstream politicians at the time.

House of Lords On 4 June 1997, Lestor was created a life peer as Baroness Lestor of Eccles, of Tooting Bec in the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Personal life and death In 1952, Lestor married David McGregor, but they divorced soon afterwards. In the late 1960s, Lestor adopted two children. She died from motor neuron disease at the Royal Trinity Hospice in London on 27 March 1998.