Santo Jeger

Who was Santo Jeger?

Santo Wayburn Jeger was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1945 until his death.

Jeger was educated at University College, Cardiff and the London and St Mary's Hospitals. A doctor by profession, Jeger was a founder of the Socialist Medical Association. He served as a councillor on Shoreditch Borough Council from 1925 and was Mayor of the Borough 1929-30 and the Chairman of the Borough's public health committee for six years, establishing a number of clinics and public health schemes. He represented Shoreditch on the Metropolitan Boroughs Standing Joint Committee. Jeger was elected to the London County Council in 1931, serving until 1946. He was active in providing medical aid to the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

Jeger stood for Parliament without success in 1935 in St Pancras South East but won the seat at the 1945 general election. He was elected in the two subsequent elections in 1950 and 1951 for the new seat of Holborn and St Pancras South. He died in 1953 and was succeeded as Member of Parliament in the ensuing by-election by his widow, Lena Jeger, later Baroness Jeger.