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May Blood, Baroness Blood

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May Blood, Baroness Blood, MBE (26 May 1938 – 21 October 2022) was a British politician who was a member of the House of Lords, where she was a Labour peer and the first peeress from Northern Ireland from 31 July 1999 to 4 September 2018.[1]

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Blood
MBE
Official portrait, 2018
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
31 July 1999 – 4 September 2018
Personal details
Born(1938-05-26)26 May 1938
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died21 October 2022(2022-10-21) (aged 84)
Political partyLabour
Other political
affiliations		NIWC (1996–2006)
OccupationLabour movement leader

Blood was a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC). She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1995 Birthday Honours "for services to Equal Opportunities and to Industrial Relations".[2] Blood received an honorary D.Univ. from Ulster University in 1998, Queen's University of Belfast in 2000, and Open University in 2001. In her 2007 autobiography Watch my Lips, I'm Speaking was published by Gill Books.[3]

Early life and career

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Blood was born off Roden Street, Donegal Road district of Belfast[4] on 26 May 1938[5][6] and lived on Magnetic Street, a cross-community area of Belfast, with her mother and sister. Her father worked in the shipyard, but for the first six years of Blood's life he was away in the army. Her mother worked as a cook at Mackies foundry. Blood attended Donegall Road Methodist Church Primary School and went on to Linfield Secondary School on Sandy Row.[7]

After leaving school at age fourteen, she began working at a local linen mill. Blood joined the Transport and General Workers' Union very soon after starting at the mill and would go on to deal with health and safety issues, such as long working hours, as well as wages. She remained at the mill until it closed in 1989 and during this time Blood became the shop steward and was elected to the regional committee of the Transport and General Workers' Union.[5][failed verification]

Community work

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In 1989, Blood became a community worker on a project for long-term unemployed men. She also worked with the Great Shankill Early Years Project as Information Officer from 1994 to 1998 where she helped to establish three community centres in the Shankill area, and as Chair for Early Years (Belfast) from 2000 to 2009.[5][8] Blood was a Chair for Barnardo's Northern Ireland committee from 2000 to 2009.[8]

In January 2013, Blood was awarded the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award under the Social Driver category for her tireless campaign for integrated education in Northern Ireland, where she helped to raise over £15 million.[9]

Political career

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Blood's political career began in the 1990s as she participated at a grassroots level in the Peace Process and helped set up Northern Ireland Women's Coalition in 1996 where she was chosen to be Campaign Manager for the party.[10]

In 1995, Blood was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire for her labour relations work.[10]

Blood was created a life peeress as Baroness Blood, of Blackwatertown in the County of Armagh on 31 July 1999.[11] She was the first woman in Northern Ireland to be given a life peerage.[12]

In the May 2016 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly Baroness Blood made an appeal to the electorate to vote for the Labour Party in Northern Ireland members standing as candidates on behalf of the Northern Ireland Representation Committee.[13] The Labour Party (UK) is not a registered political party in Northern Ireland and its members there are not permitted to stand for election as official Labour candidates.[14]

Blood retired from the House of Lords on 4 September 2018.[15]

Personal life and death

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Blood died from brain cancer on 21 October 2022, at the age of 84.[16][17]

Books

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  • Watch My Lips, I'm Speaking. Gill & Macmillan. September 2007. ISBN 978-0-7171-4252-1.

Honours and awards

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References

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  1. ^ Llewelyn, Abbie (25 October 2022). "Peers pay tribute to Baroness May Blood following death aged 84". Independent. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b "No. 54066". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 1995. p. 15.
  3. ^ Watch my Lips, I'm Speaking, Gill & Macmillan (September 2007); ISBN 0-7171-4252-3
  4. ^ Wilson, Jade (21 October 2022). "May Blood, founder member of Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, dies aged 84". Irish Times. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c "Herstory: Baroness May Blood". 4 September 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ "Belfast trade unionist and feminist activist May Blood dies". RTE. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Baroness Blood: from linen mills to the Lords". newsletter.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Baroness Blood". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  9. ^ "Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who". Grassroot Diplomat. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  10. ^ a b "May Blood". Northern Visions. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  11. ^ "No. 55574". The London Gazette. 6 August 1999. p. 8518.
  12. ^ "Celebrated citizen: Baroness May Blood MBE", City Matters, September–October 2009. Belfast City Council.
  13. ^ "Baroness May Blood urges Labour vote in N Ireland Assembly election" – via YouTube.
  14. ^ "Labour rebels defy party to set up new Northern Ireland party". News Letter. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Baroness Blood". UK Parliament.
  16. ^ Leebody, Christopher (21 October 2022). "Tributes paid to former Labour peer and 'tireless campaigner' Baroness May Blood following death aged 84". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Baroness Blood obituary". The Times. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Circles Since 1974". globalcitizenscircle.org. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Honorary graduates". ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Queen's University Belfast (formerly Queen's College Belfast) Honorary Degrees 1871–2018" (PDF). Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  21. ^ "Honorary graduate cumulative list" (PDF). Open University. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  22. ^ "Baroness May Blood wins the Grassroot Diplomat Social Driver Award". Integrated Education Northern Ireland. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
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