Mourners set to gather for the funeral of Dewsbury's Betty Boothroyd

Friends, family and politicians will be amongst those paying respect to Dewsbury-born Betty Boothroyd, who died aged 93 last month.

Born into a working-class family in 1929, Betty was the only child of Ben Archibald Boothroyd Mary Butterfield, who were both textile workers in Dewsbury.

Betty was educated at council-run schools and went on to study at Dewsbury College of Commerce and Art - now known as Kirklees College.

From 1946 to 1952, Betty worked as a dancer, as a member of the Tiller Girls dancing troupe - briefly appearing at the London Palladium.

However, after a sudden end to her dancing career due to an infection she decided to take a leap into politics.

During the mid to late 1950s, Boothroyd worked as secretary to Labour MPs Barbara Castle and Geoffrey de Freitas, before travelling to the United States in 1960 to see the Kennedy campaign. It is here where she subsequently began work in Washington as a legislative assistant for American congressman, Silvio Conte, between 1960 and 1962.

On Betty’s return to London she continued her work as secretary and political assistant to various senior Labour politicians and in 1965, she was elected onto a seat for the Hammersmith Borough Council, in Gibbs Green ward, where she remained until 1968.

After Betty contested for several seats, she was then elected as a Member of Parliament for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West in 1973, a role she carried out until 2000.

From 1992 to 2000, Betty was the first, and the only, woman to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons.

Betty also served as a baroness in the House of Lords from 2001 until her death.