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FORMER WOMEN MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS BY DECADE
Listed below (accurate as at 1 July 2008)
are all the women who were elected to the House of Commons from the 1918
election in which women stood and voted for the first time until the election
of 1997 which saw the number of women MPs double. MPs are listed in the
decade in which they were first elected: 1920s, 1930s,
1940s, 1950s, 1960s,
1970s, 1980s, 1990s
and 2000s. Women whose surnames changed during their
political career have both names listed.
Table 9 gives a gender breakdown
of each new House of Commons returned since 1918, and Table
10 shows what proportion of by-elections in each parliament between
1918 and 2001 resulted in a woman’s election. Fourteen of the 51 women
elected in by-elections were elected for seats vacated by a father or
husband. This page provides
a printable version of the tables below.
Table 1: Former women MPs first elected
1918 to 1929
|
Name
|
Party
|
Constituency
|
Dates
|
|
Constance
Markievicz
|
Sinn
Féin
|
Dublin
St Patrick's
|
1918-22
|
|
Viscountess
Astor
|
Conservative
|
Plymouth
Sutton
|
1919-45
|
|
Margaret
Wintringham
|
Liberal
|
Louth
|
1921-24
|
|
Duchess
of Atholl
|
Conservative
|
Perth
& Kinross
|
1923-38
|
|
Margaret
Bondfield
|
Labour
|
Northampton,
Wallsend (1926-)
|
1923-4, 1926-31
|
|
Dorothy
Jewson
|
Labour
|
Norwich
|
1923-24
|
|
Susan
Lawrence
|
Labour
|
East
Ham North
|
1923-24, 1926-31
|
|
Mabel
Philipson
|
Conservative
|
Berwick-upon-Tweed
|
1923-29
|
|
Lady
Terrington
|
Liberal
|
Wycombe
|
1923-24
|
|
Ellen
Wilkinson
|
Labour
|
Middlesbrough
East,
Jarrow (1935-)
|
1924-31, 1935-47
|
|
Countess
of Iveagh
|
Conservative
|
Southend-on-Sea
|
1927-35
|
|
Hilda
Runciman
|
Liberal
|
St
Ives
|
1928-29
|
|
Ruth
Dalton
|
Labour
|
Bishop
Auckland
|
1929
|
|
Jennie
Lee
|
Labour
|
Lanarkshire
North,
Cannock (1945-)
|
1929-31, 1945-70
|
|
Ethel
Bentham
|
Labour
|
Islington
East
|
1929-31
|
|
Mary
Agnes Hamilton
|
Labour
|
Blackburn
|
1929-31
|
|
Megan
Lloyd George
|
Liberal,
Labour (1957-)
|
Anglesey,
Camarthen (1957-)
|
1929-51, 1957-66
|
|
Cynthia
Mosley
|
Labour,
New Party (1931)
|
Stoke-on-Trent
|
1929-31
|
|
Marion
Phillips
|
Labour
|
Sunderland
|
1929-31
|
|
Edith
Picton-Turberville
|
Labour
|
The
Wrekin
|
1929-31
|
|
Eleanor
Rathbone
|
Independent
|
Combined
English Universities
|
1929-46
|
Return
to top.
Table 2: Former women MPs first elected
in the 1930s
|
Name
|
Party
|
Constituency
|
Dates
|
|
Lady
Noel-Buxton
|
Labour
|
Norfolk
North, Norwich (1945-)
|
1930-31, 1945-50
|
|
Leah
Manning
|
Labour
|
Islington
East, Epping (1945-)
|
1931, 1945-50
|
|
Thelma
Cazalet-Keir (Cazalet until 1939)
|
Conservative
|
Islington
East
|
1931-45
|
|
Ida
Copeland
|
Conservative
|
Stoke-on-Trent
|
1931-35
|
|
Marjorie
Graves
|
Conservative
|
Hackney
South
|
1931-35
|
|
Florence
Horsbrugh
|
Conservative
|
Dundee,
Manchester Moss Side (1950-)
|
1931-45, 1950-59
|
|
Mary
Pickford
|
Conservative
|
Hammersmith
North
|
1931-34
|
|
Norah
Runge
|
Conservative
|
Rotherhithe
|
1931-35
|
|
Helen
Shaw
|
Conservative
|
Bothwell
|
1931-35
|
|
Mavis
Tate
|
Conservative
|
Willesden
West, Frome (1935-)
|
1931-45
|
|
Irene
Ward
|
Conservative
|
Wallsend,
Tynemouth (1950-)
|
1931-45,
1950-Feb. 1974
|
|
Sarah
Ward
|
Conservative
|
Cannock
|
1931-35
|
|
Viscountess
Davidson
|
Conservative
|
Hemel
Hempstead
|
1937-59
|
|
Agnes
Hardie
|
Labour
|
Glasgow
Springburn
|
1937-45
|
|
Edith
Summerskill
|
Labour
|
Fulham
West, Warrington (1955-)
|
1938-61
|
|
Jennie
Adamson
|
Labour
|
Dartford
|
1938-46
|
Table 3: Former women MPs first elected in the 1940s
Return
to top.
Table 4: Former women MPs first elected
in the 1950s
Table 5: Former women MPs first elected in the 1960s
|
Name
|
Party
|
Constituency
|
Dates
|
|
Joan
Quennell
|
Conservative
|
Petersfield
|
1960-Feb. 1974
|
|
Anne
Kerr
|
Labour
|
Rochester
& Chatham
|
1964-70
|
|
Margaret
McKay
|
Labour
|
Clapham
|
1964-70
|
|
Renee
Short
|
Labour
|
Wolverhampton
North East
|
1964-87
|
|
Shirley
Summerskill
|
Labour
|
Halifax
|
1964-83
|
|
Shirley
Williams
|
Labour,
SDP (1981-)
|
Hitchin,
Hertford & Stevenage (Feb. 1974-79), Crosby (1981-)
|
1964-79
1981-83
|
|
Jill
Knight
|
Conservative
|
Birmingham
Edgbaston
|
1966-97
|
|
Joan
Lestor
|
Labour
|
Eton
& Slough, Eccles (1987-)
|
1966-83, 1987-97
|
|
Gywneth Dunwoody
|
Labour
|
Crewe & Nantwich
|
1966-1970; Feb 1974-2008
|
|
Winifred
Ewing
|
SNP
|
Hamilton,
Moray & Nairn (Feb. 1974-)
|
1967-70
Feb. 1974-79
|
|
Bernadette
Devlin
(McAliskey
from 1973)
|
Independent
Unity
|
Mid
Ulster
|
1969-Feb. 1974
|
Return
to top.
Table 6: Former women MPs first elected
in the 1970s
Table 7: Former women MPs first elected in the 1980s
Return
to top.
Table 8: Former women MPs first elected
in the 1990s
Return to top
Table 9: Former women MPs first elected
in the 2000s
|
Name
|
Party
|
Constituency
|
Dates
|
|
Patsy Calton
|
Liberal Democrat
|
Cheadle
|
2001-2005
|
Return to top.
Table 10: House of Commons general election results by
gender 1918 to 2001
|
Election
|
Women
|
Men
|
%
Women
|
|
1918
|
..1
|
706
|
.....0.14
|
|
1922
|
..2
|
613
|
...0.3
|
|
1923
|
..8
|
607
|
1
|
|
1924
|
..4
|
611
|
1
|
|
1929
|
14
|
601
|
2
|
|
1931
|
15
|
600
|
2
|
|
1935
|
..9
|
606
|
1
|
|
1945
|
24
|
616
|
4
|
|
1950
|
21
|
604
|
3
|
|
1951
|
17
|
608
|
3
|
|
1955
|
24
|
606
|
4
|
|
1959
|
25
|
605
|
4
|
|
1964
|
29
|
601
|
5
|
|
1966
|
26
|
604
|
4
|
|
1970
|
26
|
604
|
4
|
|
Feb. 1974
|
23
|
607
|
4
|
|
Oct. 1974
|
27
|
603
|
4
|
|
1979
|
19
|
616
|
3
|
|
1983
|
23
|
627
|
4
|
|
1987
|
41
|
609
|
6
|
|
1992
|
60
|
591
|
9
|
|
1997
|
120..
|
539
|
18.
|
|
2001
|
118..
|
541
|
18.
|
|
2005
|
128..
|
517
|
20.
|
Return to
top.
Table 11: House of Commons by-election results by gender
1918 to 2001
|
Parliament
|
Women
|
Men
|
%
women
|
|
1918-22
|
2
|
106
|
2
|
|
1922-23
|
1
|
15
|
6
|
|
1923-24
|
0
|
10
|
0
|
|
1924-29
|
6
|
57
|
10
|
|
1929-31
|
2
|
34
|
6
|
|
1931-35
|
0
|
62
|
0
|
|
1935-45
|
6
|
213
|
3
|
|
1945-50
|
2
|
50
|
4
|
|
1950-51
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
|
1951-55
|
4
|
44
|
8
|
|
1955-59
|
4
|
48
|
8
|
|
1959-64
|
1
|
61
|
2
|
|
1964-66
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
|
1966-70
|
2
|
36
|
5
|
|
1970-74
|
2
|
28
|
7
|
|
Feb-Oct. 1974
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
1974-79
|
1
|
29
|
3
|
|
1979-83
|
4
|
16
|
20
|
|
1983-87
|
5
|
26
|
16
|
|
1987-92
|
3
|
21
|
13
|
|
1992-97
|
4
|
14
|
22
|
|
1997-2001
|
2
|
15
|
12
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