Diana Elles, Baroness Elles
| The Baroness Elles | |
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Member of the European Parliament for the Thames Valley |
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In office 10 June 1979 – 15 June 1989 |
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| Succeeded by | John Stevens |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 July 1921 |
| Died | 17 October 2009 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Neil Patrick Moncrieff Elles |
| Children | Elizabeth Rosamund (born 1947), James Edmund Moncrieff (born 1949) |
| Occupation | Barrister |
Diana Louie Elles, Baroness Elles (19 July 1921 – 17 October 2009) was a barrister and United Nations representative from the United Kingdom. She was a delegate to the European Parliament for over a decade. Her son is James Elles.
Born Diana Newcombe in Bedford, she was the daughter of Colonel Stewart Francis Newcombe and his wife Elisabeth Chaki, who he had met in his war captivity. Her father was a close friend of T.E.Lawrence, who was the godfather of her brother Stuart Lawrence Newcombe (born 1920). After education at private schools in London, Paris and Florence, she went to the University of London, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in French and Italian in 1941. During the Second World War Elles served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, becoming a Flight Officer in 1944. Versed in mathematics she was attached to Bletchley Park and was part of a team of code-breakers.
Elles was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1956 and worked in the voluntary care committee in Kennington. She was director of the National Institute of Houseworkers, opening a training college in 1963. In July 1970, Elles became chairman of the British section of the European Union of Women and three years later of the organisation as a whole. In 1972, Edward Heath, at that time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom arranged for her a life peerage and on 2 May she was created Baroness Elles, of the City of Westminster. When Labour took office in 1974, she sat on the Opposition benches in the House of Lords and acted as Spokesperson for foreign and European affairs.
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