• ERNESTINE Lassalle, née Fournier, who has died aged 106 was a socialist and a lifelong member of the Labour Party.

Born on August 28 1914 in Glasgow, of a French mother who was a suffragette and a half-French, half-Scottish, father, who was a chef exempted from military service, she came to Camden when she was four.

This was where she lived most of the rest of her life, although there were some periods in France and elsewhere in England. From the late 1950s she settled permanently in Kilburn where she died.

She had a very varied career, beginning as a professional dancer and actress appearing in many West End shows and the 1932 film of the long-running musical The Maid of the Mountains.

On learning shorthand and typing she progressed through many secretarial and senior administrative jobs, with a spell in the tax office and from the 1950s with the British Council from where she retired in 1979.

Notably, when offered a job in 1938 at a salary of twenty-five shillings a week, she demanded thirty-five shillings a week and only accepted a compromise of thirty shillings until she found a better situation. She was awarded the thirty-five shillings after only working for a week! She knew what she was worth.

As a socialist, Ernestine was fully supportive of the Clement Attlee government, nationalisation and Nye Bevan’s foundation of the National Health Service.

Always very outspoken, she was highly critical of Labour leaders, particularly Tony Blair. She particularly opposed the privatisation and “outsourcing” of public services including the NHS. She was a strong supporter of Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn.

Ernestine was married twice, with her first marriage ending in divorce after 10 years. Her second husband, Gaston Lassalle, whom she married in 1949, was also French.

She had two daughters, one of whom has predeceased her. She is survived by her eldest daughter Vicky and grandson Nicky. She is very much missed by all who knew her.

KATHARINE BLIGH
Chairwoman
Finchley Road & Kilburn Labour Party