Dame Barbara Estelle Shenfield (Farrow, later Mrs Lewis; 9 March 1919 – 17 June 2004) was a British academic and Liberal Party politician. She was Chair of the Women's Royal Voluntary Service. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1986.
Born in Smethwick, Staffordshire to George and Jane Farrow, of Bearwood, she attended Langley High School, Worcester and the University of Birmingham, where she received Honors in Social and Political Science, graduating in three years.
In May 1941 she married Flt-Lt. Gwilym Ivor Lewis who was killed in action in August 1941. Their son, Peter, was born in 1942.[1]
During the war she worked in the Women's Land Army. After the war she worked as a University Lecturer in social studies at her alma mater, the University of Birmingham. In 1959, after a three-year break, she worked as a Lecturer at the Department of Economics and Social Studies, Bedford College, London University, until 1965.
She was a member of the Academic Council at the newly established University Buckingham from 1972 to 1973. She was Visiting Professor in the United States: at Michigan State University in 1960 and Temple University (Philadelphia) in 1974, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Rockford College (Illinois) from 1969 to 1971 and again in 1974. She was Consultant at the US Department of Labor in 1964.
She was Director of PEP Study of Company Boards' Social Responsibilities from 1965 to 1968. She was a Member of the UK Government Committee on Local Taxation from 1965 to 1966, the UK Government Committee on Abuse of Welfare Services from 1971 to 1973 and the Government Review Team on Social Security from 1984 to 1985.
She was Chairman of the National Executive of the National Old People's Welfare Council (later Age Concern) from 1971 to 1973. She was Chairman of the Women's Royal Voluntary Service from 1981 to 1988, in recognition of which she was created Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1986.
She was Chair of the Friends of the Imperial War Museum from 1991 to 2002. She was a member of the Pornography and Violence Res. Trust from 1996 to 2002. She was a Trustee of the Social Affairs Unit from 1990 to 2003.[2]
She was Liberal candidate for the Handsworth division of Birmingham at the 1950 General Election. She had an uphill battle to win the seat as it had been Conservative for decades;She continued her activity in the party and was elected a member of the Liberal Party national executive. She was also involved in party policy development being a joint author of the Liberal report The Aged and the Nation.[3] She did not contest the 1950 General Election. She was Liberal candidate for the Walsall division of Staffordshire at the 1951 General Election; She did not stand for parliament again.
She was a notable writer on social and political affairs. Among her publications were:
In 1951, ten years after the death of her first husband, she married Birmingham lecturer Arthur Shenfield (died 1990).[1] A decade her senior, he was also active in the Liberal Party. In 1939 he was prospective parliamentary candidate for Willesden East.[4] Due to the outbreak of war, the election did not take place. By 1945 he had switched to stand as Liberal candidate for Birmingham Edgbaston. Like her, he finished third;[5]
The Shenfields had one son, Martin.[1] By 1955, Arthur Shenfield had cut his ties with the Liberal Party to become economic director at the Federation of British Industries.[6] Shenfield was a notable writer on economic and political affairs and had published the following works;