Baroness Masham, who was a the longest-serving female member of the House of Lords ever, Paralympian medallist and disability rights campaigner, has died aged 87.
She died peacefully in hospital in Northallerton on Sunday.
Born Susan Sinclair on April 14, 1935, she became a wheelchair user after injuring her spinal cord in a riding accident in 1958.
In 1959 she married David Cunliffe-Lister, who became Earl of Swinton in 1972, to become Lady Masham.
She served as a cross-bench peer for 53 years after becoming Baroness Masham of Ilton in 1970.
Baroness Masham was the aunt of Mark Cunliffe-Lister, the 4th Earl of Swinton and husband of Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, who was elected as a Liberal Democrat to the Masham and Fountains division on North Yorkshire County Council this year in a by-election caused by the death of Conservative councillor Margaret Atkinson.
Baroness Masham won medals in swimming and table tennis at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Paralympic games.
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In 1974 she founded the Spinal Injuries Association and remained its president until her death.
The association, which announced her death today, said it was “devastated to have lost our greatest champion”, adding she was “the reason we have been able to champion, fight, serve and support thousands of spinal cord injured people”.
Baroness Masham was the subject of an episode of This Is Your Life in 1976.
She belonged to various parliamentary committees and last spoke in the House of Lords on February 2 this year.
Guy Tweedy, a Harrogate thalidomide campaigner and trustee of Disability Action Yorkshire who met Baroness Masham many times, said:
“Baroness Masham was a formidable woman. She was a trailblazer for disability rights, along with Lord Morris of Manchester and Baron Ashley of Stoke.
“Without the work of those three we wouldn’t be where we are today with disability rights.”
