Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess Astor, CH, (19 May
1879 – 2 May 1964) was the first woman to sit as a Member of
Parliament (MP) in the House of
Commons.
Nancy Astor’s husband, Waldorf Astor,
had enjoyed a promising career for several years before World War I in the House of
Commons, but then he succeeded to his father's peerage as the 2nd Viscount Astor. This meant
that he automatically became a member of the House of Lords and
forfeited his seat of Plymouth
Sutton in the House of Commons. So Lady Astor decided to contest the
vacant Parliamentary seat.
A By-election
was held on 28 November 1919, and she took up her seat in the House on 1
December as a Unionist
(also known as "Tory")
Member of Parliament.
Lady Astor's accomplishments in the House of Commons were
relatively minor. She never held a position with much influence. Indeed, the Duchess of
Atholl (elected to Parliament in 1923, four years after Lady Astor)
rose to higher levels in the Tory Party before Astor did, and this was largely
as Astor wished. She felt that if she had a position in the party, she would be
less free to criticise her party’s government. One of her few significant
achievements in the House was the passage of a bill she sponsored to increase
the legal
drinking age to eighteen unless the minor has parental
approval.
Lady Astor died in 1964 at her daughter's home at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire. She was
cremated and her ashes interred at the Octagon Temple at Cliveden.
Research courtesy of Wikipedia
Images courtesy of The Boston Public Library Under the Commons agreement on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/6140452231/
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