I was privileged recently to see an advance viewing of the upcoming film ‘Suffragette’, starring Carey Mulligan as Maud Watts. I would warmly recommend it and you can read my review of ‘Suffragette’ exclusively on the Vote 100 blog. Some of the scenes were filmed on location in Parliament. The House of Commons gave special … More ‘Suffragette’ film: women and Parliamentary committees
I was very excited last week to be interviewed by Jenni Murray about the early female MPs on Woman’s Hour! I was appearing with historian Dr Paula Bartley, who has published a new biography of Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson, Ellen Wilkinson: From Red Suffragist to Government Minister. Paula talked about Ellen, her background, her role … More Ellen Wilkinson and the Kitchen Committee
Last Friday I was on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today in Parliament’ programme, interviewed by Mark D’Arcy about early women staff in Parliament. You can catch it on iPlayer for a few days still – my bit starts around 17:00. I talk for about 5 minutes about how women came to be employed in new roles … More The Home Front in Parliament: early women staff
This weekend I saw ‘The Winslow Boy’, a play by Terence Rattigan at the Old Vic. It was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was one moment however, when I thought, ‘I really don’t think that’s likely!’ That was when Catherine (Kate) Winslow, the intelligent and principled daughter of the family, went to … More The Winslow Girl and the Ladies’ Gallery
The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art at the House of Commons is hosting a public lecture to mark a newly acquired portrait of Margot Asquith by Philip de Laszlo. The lecture is on ‘Margot Asquith and the role of the political hostess’ by Krista Cowman, Professor of History, University of Lincoln. I’m very … More Upcoming lecture for International Women’s Day
One always has to be careful answering the question ‘who was the first woman MP?’ as there are two answers. First there was Constance Markievicz, who was the first woman to be elected at the general election of 1918, but as a Sinn Fein MP who was in prison at the time, she never took … More Nancy Astor, first woman MP to take her seat
Edit July 2014: great news that the Church of England has finally backed women bishops. Maude Royden would be proud! Below is my blog article on early campaigns for women priests and bishops, originally published in November 2012. Following the decision of the General Synod this week not to allow female bishops in the Church … More Early 20th century campaigns for women priests
Over the bank holiday weekend I went to Hever Castle in Kent, most famous as the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. I didn’t know until I got there, though, that Hever was also a home of the Astor family. William Waldorf Astor bought Hever Castle in 1903, and it passed to his second son John … More Lady Astor of the rowing boat
In the UK women were allowed to become MPs in 1918, which was the same year some women got the vote. Curiously, this was not always the case elsewhere. During the debates on women MPs, the hostile Mr Peto MP argued that in New Zealand for twenty-five years women had… been eligible to sit as … More Early women MPs: New Zealand, Australia, Finland
Perhaps surprisingly, a number of MPs who had opposed women’s suffrage came out in favour of women being MPs in 1918. Among the converts were former Prime Minister H H Asquith, who said ‘You have the camel; you ought not to strain at the gnat’, Charles Hobhouse, and Arnold Ward, who asked in Parliament, ‘What … More Parliamentary Sampsons
Parliament and Women in the early 20th century 