Editing Shirley Williams (section)

== Early life and education ==
Born at 19 Glebe Place{{cn|date=February 2022}} [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London, Williams was the daughter of the [[political scientist]] and philosopher [[Sir George Catlin]] and the [[pacifist]] writer [[Vera Brittain]]. Williams's grandmother, Brittain's mother, was born in [[Aberystwyth]], Wales.<ref>{{cite book |title=Vera Brittain: A Life |date=2016 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=9780349008547 |pages=15 |first1=Mark |last1=Bostridge |first2=Paul |last2=Berry |access-date=16 September 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hyAlCwAAQBAJ&q=Edith+Mary+(Bervon)+Brittain |via=Google Books snippets}}</ref> She was educated at various schools, including Mrs Spencer's School in Brechin Place, South Kensington; Christchurch Elementary School in Chelsea; [[Talbot Heath School]] in [[Bournemouth]]; and [[St Paul's Girls' School]] in London. During the [[Second World War]], from 1940 to 1943, she was evacuated to [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], in the United States, where she attended the all-girls' [[St. Paul Academy and Summit School|Summit School]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thecomet.net/news/shirley-williams-dies-aged-90-7892364  |title=Former Hitchin and Stevenage MP Shirley Williams dies aged 90 |first=Maya |last=Derrick |work=The Comet |location=Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock |date=12 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/12/lady-williams-of-crosby-obituary |title=Lady Williams of Crosby obituary Labour minister in the 60s and 70s who defected to form the SDP as one of the Gang of Four |first=Julia |last=Langdon |work=The Guardian |date=12 April 2021}}</ref> 

While she was an undergraduate and an Open Scholar at [[Somerville College, Oxford]], Williams was a member of the [[Oxford University Dramatic Society]] (OUDS) and toured the United States playing the role of Cordelia in an OUDS production of [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[King Lear]]'' directed by a young [[Tony Richardson]]. In 1950, she became chair of the [[Oxford University Labour Club]], believing herself to be the first woman to hold the position<ref name="Guardian Obituary">{{cite news |last1=Langdon |first1=Julia |author-link = Julia Langdon |title=Lady Williams of Crosby obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/12/lady-williams-of-crosby-obituary |access-date=12 April 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=12 April 2021}}</ref> though it has been shown that Betty Tate had chaired a session in 1934.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/apr/01/betty-tate-obituary|title=Betty Tate obituary|date=1 April 2010|work=The Guardian|author1=Jean Tate|author2=Annie Sedley|author3=Sue Tate|access-date=8 July 2021}}</ref> After graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in [[philosophy, politics and economics]], Williams was awarded a [[Fulbright Scholarship]] and studied American trade unionism at [[Columbia University]] in New York City for a master's degree, awarded by Oxford in 1954.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0403/03142.html | title= Shirley Williams | work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]| first=Robert | last=Marquand | date=3 April 1991 | access-date=12 April 2021}}</ref>

On returning to Britain, she began her career as a journalist, working firstly for the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' and then for the ''[[Financial Times]]''. In 1960, she became General Secretary of the [[Fabian Society]], a role she held until 1964.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Williams of Crosby, Baroness, (Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams) (born 27 July 1930)|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-39901|access-date=2021-04-15|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u39901|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4}}</ref><ref name="Guardian Obituary" />