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Felixstowe Nub News delves into the life of former Felixstowe resident, economist and writer Barbara Ward.

Barbara Ward, also known as Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was born on 23 May 1914 in Heworth, York. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Felixstowe.

She studied both here and in the continent as she attended school both in Paris and in Germany.

She returned to the UK to study at university, namely Somerville College, Oxford University in 1935, where she read politics, philosophy and economics. Her decision to study these subjects stemmed from her interest in public affairs.

Her experience of witnessing antisemitism in Austria and Germany during her post-graduate work on Austrian politics led her to help Jewish refugees.

Initially she had had "sympathies to Hitler", however, her first hand experience in witnessing the systematic oppression of the Jewish people led her to quickly shed these views.

She helped to mobilise Catholic support for the war effort and, alongside Christopher Dawson, established the Sword of the Spirit as a means of bringing together Catholics and Anglicans opposing Nazism.

During World War II, she travelled through Europe and the US, working for the Ministry of Information.

She joined The Economist after Geoffrey Crowther, the editor, offered a job partly due to the strength of her 1938 book, "The International Share-out." After twelve years and becoming foreign editor, she left the magazine but regularly contributed articles throughout the remainder of her life.

Another accolade to her name is that she was president of the Catholic Women's League and member of the BBC programme The Brains Trust.

In 1950, she married an administrator for the United Nations, Australian Commander Robert Jackson. Six years later, her son Robert was born. That same year, Robert Senior was knighted.

Over the span of a few years, her and her family lived in West Africa. They also made frequent visits to India where she soon concluded that Western nations should contribute to the economy of poorer nations.

In 1962, Ward published "The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations" which became a bestseller.

Her marriage during this period, however, began to break down which culminated in a legal separation being arranged in the early 1970s however, due to her Catholic views, she did not want divorce.

At the same time, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and, in 1976, became a life peer using her husband's surname, as Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth.

Ward was ill in her earlier life with cancer, which she soon recovered from as, she believed, due to the spiritual support of Padre Pio. However, the illness came back twenty years later.

She passed away on May 31 1981, aged 67.

Pope John Paul II sent a Cardinal to represent him at her requiem service.

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