Born in Peterborough, Stedman attended Peterborough County Grammar School, then worked as a librarian in her home town, and served in the National Fire Service in Derbyshire during World War II.
[1] In 1946, Stedman was elected to the Soke of Peterborough County Council, representing the Labour Party, serving on it and its successors until 1976.
She was the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hampstead before the 1951 general election, but withdrew due to illness.
After the seventh recount - a record which stands to this day - Ward was defeated by the incumbent, Harmar Nicholls, by three votes.
On 25 June 1974, she was created a life peer as Baroness Stedman, of Longthorpe in the City of Peterborough,[3] to bolster the Labour Party in the House of Lords, and was appointed as a whip.