Charles Margerison - Amazing Careers

Until 1919, all Members of the British Parliament were men That is when I disturbed their peace Two things, in particular, disturbed them Firstly, I was the first woman to take a seat in Parliament Of equal concern was, that, I was American To many Members of Parliament, this added insult to injury How dare a woman from one of the old colonies return to taunt them? If a woman had to be allowed in, why not an English woman? This was the atmosphere surrounding my win at Plymouth Sutton For years and years, Parliament had debated giving women the vote There was more talk, than action, until the suffragettes took to the streets Only in 1918, did women over 30 years of age get the vote Ironically, the first woman elected to Parliament was not a suffragette Nor was I the first to be elected Countess Markievicz, the Irish patriot, had that honor It was an honor that she did not accept She was a member of Sinn Fein, the Irish liberation movement Although elected, she refused on principle to take her seat in Parliament It would have been difficult anyway, as she was in prison She was captured during the Easter Rising of 1916, in Dublin Therefore, the first woman elected to Parliament was a convict I was born in Virginia, the first British Colony in America One of five sisters, known as the Gibson Girls My parents called me Nancy Witcher Langhorne We were raised in the privileged surroundings of a rich family Therefore, I had an American accent and colonial heritage Many members of the House reflected on the irony I was too busy to worry about the past It had not been pleasant to me My first marriage was to Robert Shaw in 1897 It was not a good choice, though it did result in the birth of my first son We divorced in 1903 and I left the USA Mainly due to my husbands drinking problem Arriving in England, I settled into a new single lifestyle In 1906, I met and married Waldorf Astor Born in the USA, on the same day as me He was attractive and came from a rich family Also, he was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton In 1919, he succeeded to the peerage and joined the House of Lords To do this, he had to renounce his elected position We agreed that I should stand for election to take his place The good people of Plymouth Sutton agreed and elected me The majority felt I would do the job well, American or not So, that is what I did from 1919 to 1945 It was a tremendous responsibility and challenge