Arquivo LMJ - Letter to Lena Jeger

1 letter

Donated to the GNM archive by Lena Jeger's niece.

The collection comprises one letter from John Beavan (Lord Ardwick), then director of Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd, to Miss Lena Chivers (later Jeger), then employed in the Russian Section of the Ministry of Defence. Beavan offers Chivers feedback on her writing and offers advice in order to help her decide whether she should attempt a career in journalism after the war.

Administrative/Biographical history: Lena Jeger, Baroness Jeger (nee Chivers) was a British politician and journalist. Born in Gloucestershire in 1915, she joined the civil service in 1936, working first in Customs and Excise and then the Ministry of Information. In 1951 Jeger began writing for the Manchester Guardian before leaving to become an MP for Holborn and St Pancras South in 1953 following the death of the incumbent, her husband Dr Santo Jeger. She lost the seat in 1959, but regained it in 1964 and retained it until 1979. She served as a member of the consultative assembly of the Council of Europe and became UK delegate to the status of women commission of the UN in 1967. She was a member of the Labour party's National Executive Committee from 1968 to 1980, becoming the party's chair in 1979. In 1979 she was also made a peer. She resumed writing for the Manchester Guardian in 1964, and continued to contribute profile pieces and obituaries to the Guardian until 2003. Lena Jeger died on 26 February 2007.
Creator: Beavan, John Cowburn (1910-1994) Baron Ardwick, journalist