Warnock, (Helen) Mary (1924- )

English philosopher and educationist. She has contributed to or chaired important committees of inquiry into special education (1974-78), environmental pollution (1979-84), animal experiments (1979-85), human fertilization and embryology (1982-84), higher education (1984), and teaching standards (1990). She was mistress of Girton College, Cambridge 1985-91 and was awarded a life peerage in 1985.

The committee of inquiry into human fertilization and embryology, chaired by Warnock, recommended control of research into ‘test-tube’ babies and a ban on surrogate motherhood agencies in 1984. Her publications include Education:A Way Forward (1979), A Question of Life (1985), and Teacher Teach Thyself (The Dimbleby Lecture, 1985).

Warnock was born in Winchester and studied at Oxford, where she became a fellow in philosophy at St Hugh's College 1949-66 and 1976-84. She was appointed headmistress of Oxford High School 1968-72.