When the celebration for the late Jean Thornton’s life takes place at Saltaire’s Victoria Hall next Friday afternoon, the tributes may include a passage from one of her favourite books: Howard’s Spring’s Fame Is The Spur.

This fictional story based on historical fact recounts through the lives of its protagonists the struggle of the Chartist movement for political reform in Manchester and thereafter the rise of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893 and the Labour Governments of Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929, as well as the National Government he ran from 1931 to 1935.

Jean Thornton spent most of her 85 years on the radical side of left-wing politics, but like Spring’s characters Lizzie Lightowler and Ann Artingstall, her mind was a broad church.

Her daughter Janice said: “Jean inspired people constantly. She welcomed everybody into the house, even if they disagreed with her politically, so long as they were up for a discussion.”

Though a convinced atheist, she was for many years good friends with the curate of St Paul’s Church in Manningham – the family home was just round the corner at 40 St Paul’s Road.

She and her erstwhile husband Peter had a son and six daughters, among them Bradford Labour Councillor Gill Thornton and the Labour Life Peer Baroness (Glenys) Thornton of Manningham.

She said: “As children, we were consistently encouraged to question orthodoxy and to believe that through democratic political action, justice was always achievable – even if the road to it could be long and rocky.

“Jean’s political philosophy and thirst for debate didn’t stop with us. It was also a fundamental part of her relationship with her many grandchildren, all of whom felt privileged to have such a passionate and radical grandma.”

But the other side of that was a spirit of fun. Growing up in the Spen Valley, she joined the Labour League of Youth because they had the best dances.

She loved dancing, along with her friend Betty Boothroyd from Dewsbury – later the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons.

The latter part of her life was spent in Rossendale Place, Shipley.