Nancy astor autobiography

A new biography of Nancy Astor, American socialite and social crusader who blazed a trail through British society amid two World Wars In 1919, Nancy Astor.
A new biography of Nancy Astor, American socialite and social crusader who blazed a trail through British society amid two World Wars.
1000 pages, Hardcover.

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We are delighted to welcome one of own alumni Lisa Berry-Waite as a guest blogger this week. Lisa is now a studying for a PhD at the University of Exeter, her research focuses on the British parliamentary election campaigns of female candidates, 1918-1931. Here she discusses ‘The Unpublished Autobiography of Nancy Astor’.

‘I loved the Plymouth life, and I loved and understood the people there.’

In November 1919, Nancy Astor won a Plymouth Sutton by-election, becoming the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. Prior to her election success, Astor enthusiastically supported her husband’s political work (Waldorf Astor), who was MP for Plymouth Sutton from 1910 to 1919. Although she initially stood as a ‘warming pan’ for Waldorf, after he was elevated to the House of Lords following the death of his father, the first Viscount Astor, Astor remained MP for Plymouth Sutton from 1919 to 1945.

Amongst the 374 boxes that make up the Nancy Astor papers, held at the University of Reading Special Collections, is Astor’s unpublished autobiography. A

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When Nancy Astor met Mahatma Gandhi, she exclaimed, “So this is the wild man of God! Think of all the trouble you’ve made in the world!” Tactless exuberance was not uncommon for Astor, the first woman elected to the House of Commons in the British Parliament. Nancy was, in fact, American, and something of a “dynamo,” as Adrian Fort puts it in Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor (St. Martins), an entertaining biography of the Virginia belle who crossed the Atlantic—and was soon engaged in conversational combat with the likes of Stalin and Churchill.

Petite and porcelain-faced—her sister was the first Gibson Girl—Nancy arrived in London in 1904, fleeing a disastrous first marriage that had left her with a comfortable settlement and a young son, Bobbie. When asked, “I suppose you came over here to capture one of our husbands?” she replied, “If you knew the trouble I had in gettin’ rid of my own. . .” Being an outsider seemed to suit Nancy (as it did that other divorcee from the American South who would rattle British society, Wallis Simpson), and armed with a puckish wit and formidab

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Nancy: The life of Lady Astor

July 31, 2016

This is a very sympathetic biography rather than a completely objective one, but is also a well researched, complete one. It considers Nancy's political career, her opinions and prejudices and attempts to explain the background behind the latter. He had access to her political and family papers and Nancy's own abandoned memoir which covered her early years in Virginia.
It is difficult not to feel that Waldorf Astor was a much greater asset to the House of Commons than his wife. She only once managed to initiate any bills (almost certainly a watered down version of the legislation she would have liked), but she did speak on various subjects, often those relating to women and children or her naval constituency, and she was always going to be a very visible MP. She also had a charm and presence which made her accepted, even by some reactionaries, which must have made life for those female MPs following her that bit easier.
Her private life and personality are shown in the book. She was lively, impetuous, energetic (much of the time), kind