My wife, Rita Austin, who has died aged 82, was the first Asian woman to stand for the Labour party in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1983. Later, she founded the Welsh Refugee Council.
Rita attended Loreto House in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Loreto Convent in Darjeeling, before arriving in England, in 1955, where she continued her secondary education at Loreto college in St Albans. She then studied for a year (1960-61) at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. During this time, Rita and I met, at Fircroft College, Birmingham, where I was studying economics, politics and English. We were married in 1962 and had two children.
She went on to take a diploma in public and social administration at Swansea University (1963-65), a BA in economics, politics and sociology at Birmingham University (1966-68), and a PhD at the University of Wales, Cardiff (1972-76). Her doctorate promoted advanced nursing education and developed the concept of nurse practitioners.
Rita taught in a variety of institutions before embarking on a career in public service, including roles as a registrar at the Council for National Academic Awards (1977-83), director of South Glamorgan Race Equality Council (1989-93), and assistant chief executive for equalities and the third sector at Bristol city council (1993-95).
In the mid-1960s, Rita joined the Birmingham Northfield parliamentary constituency. For the 1983 general election, Labour selected her to stand for the party in St Albans. The family then returned to Cardiff and, in 1985, she became South Glamorgan county council’s first Asian county councillor and was chair of its finance committee. At this time, Rita also was part of the Labour party’s working group on Black sections alongside Paul Boateng, Diane Abbott and Bernie Grant. As a councillor, she was an active member of the local health and police authorities and the Welsh joint education committee.
In 1992, she founded and became the first chair of the Welsh Refugee Council. She was also chair of the South Wales Citizens Advice bureaux.
Her forensic articulacy and strong will was not always welcomed within or outside the Labour party and other organisations, but her pioneering efforts paved the way for others.
Her final job, from 1995 to 1997, was as chief executive of CareerPaths – now Careers Wales – (Cardiff and Vale), which she set up as a newly constituted organisation before retiring. In retirement she remained in Cardiff, continuing to promote social justice in a variety of public appointments, notably in health, education and local government.
Born in Calcutta, Rita was the daugher of Nirmala (nee Ghosal), a teacher and translator, who died in 1969, and Niren De, who was attorney general of India from 1968 to 1977. Rita grew up in an India still in the throes of ethnic and social discrimination, which instigated a lifetime spent resisting and fighting all forms of social injustice.
She cared selflessly for family and friends, and was passionate about gardening, where her capacity for nurturing was demonstrated against resistant soil.
Rita is survived by me, our children, Paul and Sarah, and grandson, Tomos.
