Caroline Middleton Decamp Benn (13 October 1926-22 November 2000) was an educationalist and writer, and wife of British Labour politician, Tony Benn.

Born Caroline DeCamp, she was the elder daughter of James and Anne DeCamp of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Her father was a lawyer and she came from a priveleged background. Educated at Vassar College (BA, 1946) and the University of Cincinnati (BA, 1948), she came to England in 1948 to study at Oxford. She gained an MA in English at University College London, in 1951.

She met Benn over tea at Worcester College in 1949 and nine days later he proposed to her on a park bench in the city. Later, he bought the bench from Oxford City Council and installed it in the garden of their house in Holland Park. In June 1999, on their golden wedding anniversary, she put on the red striped dress she had worn that night. Tony and Caroline had four children - Stephen, Hilary, Melissa and Joshua, and ten grandchildren.

Decamp Benn devoted her life to comprehensive education and was co-founder of the Campaign for Comprehensive Education. She sent her own children to Holland Park comprehensive, one of the first in the country. In 1970 she wrote, together with Professor Brian Simon, Halfway There - the definitive study of the progress of comprehensive reform in the UK. This was followed up in 1997 with Thirty Years On, which she co-authored with Professor Clyde Chitty.

As well as writing extensively about education, Decamp Benn held a number of other positions: She was a member of the Inner London Education Authority from 1970 to 1977, an ILEA Governor at Imperial College, a tutor at the Open University, a lecturer at Kensington and Hammersmith Further Education College from 1970 to 1996, a governor of Holland Park School for 35 years (serving 13 of those as Chair of the Governors), President of the Socialist Education Association.

Decamp Benn played an important role in her husband's political career. She was popular with his colleagues and her views respected. She is personally credited with having suggested the title of the Labour manifesto for the 1964 general election; she proposed The New Britain, and it eventually became Let's Go With Labour For The New Britain. She supported Benn's struggles in the 1980s for Labour's leadership and direction.

She also wrote a biography of Kier Hardie, which was published in 1992. She died in London from breast cancer on 22 November 2000. In 2004, A Tribute to Caroline Benn: Education and Democracy was published, featuring essays on her life and on education reform, her life's work.

Publications

• Halfway There: Report on the British Comprehensive School Reform (1970) with Professor Brian Simon
• Lion In A Den Of Daniels (1980), a novel
• Higher Education For Everyone (1982)
• Keir Hardie: A Biography (1992)
• Thirty Years On (1997) with Professor Clyde Chitty