Geoffrey Lofthouse, Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract, JP (18 December 1925 – 1 November 2012), popularly known in his former constituency as Geoff Lofthouse, was a BritishLabour politician, MP and life peer.
Early life
He was born in Featherstone, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Ernest Lofthouse, a farm labourer in Micklefield, and Emma (née Fellows). His father died at the age of 35. At the age of 14, Geoff Lofthouse went to work at Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone. At age 29, he was the president of the local branch of the NUM. He went to the University of Leeds, gaining a BA in Political Studies in 1957, when he was 32 years old. In 1962, he became a councillor on Pontefract Borough Council. He was mayor of Pontefract in 1967, and leader of the council from 1969 to 1973.[1]
His autobiography, A Very Miner MP,[5] is available from Yorkshire Art Circus Publishers. He also wrote a further autobiography, From Coal Sack to Woolsack.[6]
Personal life
He married when he was 20 years old; he and his wife Sarah had a daughter.
A canary Or holding in the dexter foot a miner's lamp Sable glazed Proper.
Escutcheon
Azure on a pale between and conjoined to two grilles throughout Or the whole surmounted by three chevronels Argent over all on a pale Sable three ellipses palewise.
Supporters
On either side a mole sejant erect holding in the mouth a rose Argent barbed and seeded slipped and leaved Or.