Sheila Faith
BORN NEWCASTLE, JUNE 3, 1928. DIED GOSFORTH, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014, AGED 86
AMAGISTRATE, a County Councillor, first in Northumberland and then on Newcastle City Council, Sheila Faith dedicated most of her working life to public service. Following her schooldays at Central Newcastle High School, Sheila qualified as a dental surgeon at Durham University in 1950, the same year of her marriage to local businessman Dennis Faith.
Whilst initially it appeared that she would lead a life of quiet professional domesticity in Newcastle, it was not to be.
Following the tragedy of a stillborn child she decided that she would make her life more fulfilling in politics and public service. She wrote in The Times: “Any other disappointment paled into insignificance.”
As a Newcastle City Councillor she was talent-spotted by the Conservative Party. She was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Newcastle Central in the 1974 General Election, and then as the Tory candidate for the marginal constituency of Belper in the 1979 General Election.
She won with a majority of 844 votes. She served one term as MP for Belper fromMay 3, 1979 to June 9, 1983, sharing an office with John Major.
Sheila Faith represented the interests of the medical profession in Parliament from the backbenches. She was the only female MP in the intake of 77 new MPs in that Parliament and one of eight Conservative women serving at that time.
When the boundaries changed in 1984 she decided not to seek re-selection and was succeeded in the new constituency by Conservative member Edwina Currie.
Sheila Faith decided to change direction, with her sights on Europe. With the encouragement of Willie Whitelaw, she offered herself for selection as the Conservative Candidate for Cumbria and Lancashire North in the 1985 elections for the European Parliament. She was adopted, moved to Kendal and elected to this safe Conservative seat where she served until 1989.
She helped win EEC aid to compensate Fleetwood for its declining fishing industry and, as a member of the