![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Regius_Professorship_Lecture_%252815648721150%2529.jpg/640px-Regius_Professorship_Lecture_%252815648721150%2529.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Shirley Williams
British politician and academic (1930–2021) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, CH, PC (née Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Regius_Professorship_Lecture_%2815648721150%29.jpg/640px-Regius_Professorship_Lecture_%2815648721150%29.jpg)
Williams was originally a Labour MP - first elected to the House of Commons in 1964 - but left to found the Social Democratic Party (later the Liberal Democrats) in 1981. She served in government through the 1960s and 70s, but was defeated as an MP in 1983. She was awarded a life peerage in 1993 and retired in 2016. She was made a Companion of Honour in 2017.
Williams was the daughter of the author Vera Brittain and Sir George Catlin. She died on 12 April 2021, aged 90.[1]