The Viscountess Astor | |
|---|---|
 Astor in 1923 | |
| Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton | |
| In office 28 November 1919 – 15 June 1945 | |
| Preceded by | Waldorf Astor |
| Succeeded by | Lucy Middleton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nancy Witcher Langhorne 19 May 1879 Danville, Virginia, US |
| Died | 2 May 1964 (aged 84) Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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| Relatives | Astor family |
| Residence(s) | Cliveden and Grimsthorpe Castle |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Signature |  |
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, CH (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945.[a][1] Astor was born in Danville, Virginia and raised in Greenwood, Virginia. Her first marriage, to socialite Robert Gould Shaw II, was unhappy and ended in divorce. She then moved to England and married American-born Englishman Waldorf Astor in 1906.
After her second husband succeeded to the peerage and entered the House of Lords, she entered politics as a member of the Unionist Party (now the Conservative Party) and won his former seat of Plymouth Sutton in 1919, becoming the first woman to sit as an MP in the House of Commons.[a] During her time in Parliament, Astor was an advocate for temperance, welfare, education reform and women's rights. She was also an ardent anti-Catholic and anti-communist, and received criticism for her antisemitism and sympathetic view of Nazism.[2][3][4]
Astor served in Parliament until 1945 when she was persuaded to step down, as her outspokenness had made her a political liability in the final years of the Second World War. She retired from politics and largely withdrew from public life following the death of her husband. Astor died in 1964 at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire and was interred at her family estate at Cliveden.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Women in the House of Commons". UK Parliament. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ^ Brazell, Emma (29 November 2019). "Theresa May under fire after unveiling statue of 'Nazi-sympathising' MP". Metro. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ JC Reporter (2 December 2019). "Who was Nancy Astor?". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ Morris, Steven (28 November 2019). "Theresa May unveils statue of pioneering MP Nancy Astor". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 December 2019.