Lady Astor becomes MP
American-born Nancy Astor the first woman ever to sit in the House of Commons is elected to Parliament with a substantial majority.Lady Astor took the Unionist seat of her husband Waldorf Astor who was moving up to an inherited seat in the House of Lords.Born in Danville Virginia in 1879 she was the daughter of a former Confederate officer who became a wealthy tobacco auctioneer.She married Robert Gould Shaw II a Bostonian in 1897 and they had one son before divorcing in 1903.
Soon after she visited England where she met and fell in love with Waldorf Astor the great-great-grandson of the American fur trader John Jacob Astor.In 1906 they married.Nancy Astor became an influential society hostess presiding at the Astor country estate of Cliveden.
The Cliveden set as the Astors social clique became known came to exercise considerable political influence in a number of fields especially foreign affairs.In 1910 Waldorf Astor was elected to the House of Commons as a conservative and the Astors moved to his constituency of Plymouth.Nine years later Waldorfs father died and he succeeded to his viscountcy and seat in the House of Lords.
Nancy Astor decided to campaign for his vacant seat in the House of Commons and ran a flamboyant campaign that attracted international attention.On November 28 1919 she won a resounding victory in the election and subsequently became the first woman ever to sit in the House of Commons.(She was not however the first woman to be elected to the Commons in 1918 the Irish nationalist Constance Markiewicz was elected as an MP for a Dublin constituency but refused to go to London as a protest against the British government.)Although regarded as a conservative Lady Astor took an individual approach to politics saying If you want a party hack dont elect me.
Her impassioned speeches on womens and childrens rights her modest black attire and her occasional irreverence won her a significant following.Repeatedly reelected by her constituency in Plymouth she sat in the House of Commons until her retirement in 1945.
