Beatrice Wright
Beatrice Frederika Wright, Lady Wright MBE, née Clough, later Rathbone (17 June 1910 – 17 March 2003) was an American-born British politician.
Beatrice Wright | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of Parliament for Bodmin | |
| In office 11 March 1941 – 4 July 1945 | |
| Preceded by | John Rathbone |
| Succeeded by | Douglas Marshall |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Beatrice Frederika Clough 17 June 1910 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | 17 March 2003 (aged 92) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | John Rathbone
( m. 1932; died 1940) |
| Children | 3, including Tim Rathbone |
Early life
Wright was born in New Haven, Connecticut in the United States on 17 June 1910, her father was an international banker. She came to England as an exchange student at Christ Church, Oxford where she met and in 1932 married John Rathbone, with whom she had two children, including Tim, later MP for Lewes.[1] Her husband was elected in 1935 as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bodmin, but was killed in December 1940 in the Battle of Britain, aged 30. In March 1941 she was elected unopposed as his successor and sat in the Commons for the rest of World War II. She stepped down at the 1945 general election, after becoming the first sitting MP to give birth to a child.
Later life
In 1942, she married Paul Wright, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat and was knighted in 1975. They had one child, and both converted to the Roman Catholic Church.
She served as Vice President of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf from 1978 to 2003. In 1996, she was awarded an MBE.[2]
In 1982, she co-founded the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, along with vet Dr. Bruce Fogle (father of Ben Fogle), serving as the charity's President until 1988. The charity's northern training centre, in Bielby, East Riding of Yorkshire, is named the Beatrice Wright Training Centre after her.
An American-born woman would not be elected to Parliament again until 2019,[3] when another Conservative, Joy Morrissey, was elected in that year's general election for Beaconsfield.
References
- "CLOUGH-GENEALOGY-L Archives". RootsWeb.
- "Hearing Dogs: our history". Hearing Dogs. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- "Worthington Christian grad earns a spot in UK's House of Commons". Worthington Christian School. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
External links
- Beatrice Wright (Beatrice Rathbone) at the Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics
- Obituary, Sir Paul Wright, Daily Telegraph, 13 June 2005
- Obituary, Sir Paul Wright, The Times, 30 June 2005
- Hearing Dogs for Deaf People
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Beatrice Wright
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Rathbone |
Member of Parliament for Bodmin 1941–1945 |
Succeeded by Sir Douglas Marshall |