Conservative politician, born Mary Elaine Kay on 8 July 1923. Educated at the Quaker Mount School, York, and at St Anne's College, Oxford, she was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1964. She was a governor of the Methodist Culford School from 1963 to 2003. With her first husband Charles Norman Kellett, who died in 1959 following a car accident, she managed a farm near Dereham. Following the death of his first wife in 1970, she married Edward Bowman (1931-2020), who likewise was an active Conservative and served as a Member of the European Parliament; from 1974 he was a business and management consultant in a private practice.

She served on Denbigh Borough Council, 1952-1955 and Camden Council, 1968-1974. She stood unsuccessfully for Parliament at Nelson & Colne, 1955; South West Norfolk (twice) in 1959; Buckingham in 1964 and 1966. In 1970 she was finally elected MP for Lancaster, continuing until 1997. Meanwhile, from 1979 to 1984 she represented Cumbria in the European Parliament. She was awarded the DBE in 1988 and died on 4 March 2014.

Entry written by: DCD
Category: Person
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