SHE was one of Oxford’s best-loved politicians. And now the former councillor and two-time Lord Mayor, Olive Gibbs, is to be honoured with a blue plaque.

Fiery socialist Mrs Gibbs, who died aged 77 in 1995, served in local government for more than 30 years at both the city and county councils.

She was known as the “enfant terrible of the local Labour Party” and was also the national chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) between 1964 and 1967.

To celebrate her achievements, Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme will unveil a plaque at the Old Christ Church Buildings in Osney Lane tomorrow.

Mrs Gibbs was born there on February 17, 1918, in the parish of St Thomas, between Westgate and the city’s railway station - and grew up there.

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme secretary Eda Forbes said: “She was a true daughter of Oxford, always proud of her origins in St Thomas.”

After winning a scholarship to Milham Ford School in Headington, Olive Gibbs gained a school certificate – as well as a record 37 successive detentions.

After education, she tried at first to follow her brother Syd Cox to the Oxford Mail, but its chief reporter turned her down because she was a woman.

It was after she met Edmund Gibbs, the son of a city councillor and future councillor himself, that she became involved in politics and campaigning.

They married in 1940.

Mrs Gibbs was also a passionate opponent of nuclear weapons. In her autobiography, Mrs Gibbs recalled being at an RAF dance in Boars Hill, when news of the Hiroshima bombings broke in August 1945: “The entire mess rose to its feet, throwing caps in the air and wildly cheering.

“I alone remained slumped in my seat, pale and trembling... I knew for a certainty that the worst crime in the history of man had just been committed.”

In 1951, she decided one “had to be organised if you wanted to achieve anything” and joined the Labour Party and her first political battle came when a Conservative-controlled council decided to close five nursery classes in South and West Oxford.

A group of mothers called at her home to seek her help – Mrs Gibbs had two sons of her own – and so she approached four Conservative councillors about the issue.

“It was the first time they felt the full impact of her fiery personality,” Oxford Mail feature writer Don Chapman would later write.

But it was just the first of many campaigns.

Other celebrated fights included her struggle to preserve the community at Jericho and prevent a road being built through Christ Church Meadow.

She went on to be Lord Mayor of Oxford twice – a feat only equalled by current lord mayor, Mohammed Abbasi.

She was first lord mayor in 1974/75, and again in 1981/82 after Henry Nimmo died in office.

Mrs Gibbs was also the first Labour chairman of Oxfordshire County Council and a deputy lieutenant of the county.

She was made an honorary "Freeman of the city" for her contributions to Oxford in 1982 and, in 1986, her work with the CND earned her the Frank Cousins’ Peace Award.