Barbara Castle was born in Chesterfield and entered parliament as MP for Blackburn in 1945. In 1964, she was promoted to the cabinet as Minister for Overseas Development. In 1965 she became the first woman minister of state, and as Minister of Transport oversaw the introduction of seat belts and the 'breathalyser'. In 1970, as Secretary of State for Employment, she oversaw the introduction of the Equal Pay Act. She also published In Place of Strife which brought her into conflict with the unions.
After a stint as Minister of Health and Social Security, Barbara Castle left Westminster in 1979 for European politics, becoming an MEP and later Vice-Chairman of the Socialist Group. In 1990 she was promoted to the House of Lords. Never one to stop working, during her later years she took up the cause of pensioners' rights.
