Beatrice, Lady Wright | |
|---|---|
 Rathbone in 1943 | |
| Member of Parliament forBodmin | |
| In office 11 March 1941 – 4 July 1945 | |
| Preceded by | John Rathbone |
| Succeeded by | Douglas Marshall |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Beatrice Frederika Clough (1910-06-17)17 June 1910 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | 17 March 2003(2003-03-17) (aged 92) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3, includingTim Rathbone |
Beatrice Frederika Wright, Lady Wright,MBE, formerlyRathbone, néeClough, (17 June 1910 – 17 March 2003), was an American-born British politician.
Wright was born inNew Haven,Connecticut, in the United States on 17 June 1910; her father was an international banker. She came to England as an exchange student atChrist Church, Oxford, where she met, and in 1932 married,John Rathbone, with whom she had two children, includingTim, later MP for Lewes.[1] Her husband was elected in 1935 asConservativeMember of Parliament (MP) forBodmin. WhenWorld War II broke out, John, a trained pilot joined theRoyal Air Force as a fighter pilot, he was killed shortly after theBattle of Britain, aged 30.[2][3] In March 1941, she was elected unopposed as his successor and sat in theHouse of Commons for the rest of theSecond World War. She stepped down at the1945 general election, after becoming the first sitting MP to give birth to a child.
In 1942, she marriedPaul Wright, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat and was knighted in 1975. They both converted to theRoman Catholic Church. They had one child, Faith Beatrice Wright, who married firstly Julian Shuckburgh (son ofEvelyn Shuckburgh),[4] and secondlyColin Clark, younger brother of the politician and diaristAlan Clark.[5][6]
She served as Vice President of theRoyal National Institute for the Deaf from 1978 to 2003. In 1996, she was appointed anMBE.[7]
In 1982, she co-founded the charityHearing Dogs for Deaf People, along with vet Dr.Bruce Fogle (father ofBen Fogle), serving as the charity's president until 1988. The charity's northern training centre, inBielby,East Riding of Yorkshire, is named the Beatrice Wright Training Centre after her, and her daughter Faith Clark served as trustee and chairman of the charity between 2002 and 2022.[8]
An American-born woman would not be elected to Parliament again until 2019,[9] when another Conservative,Joy Morrissey, was elected inthat year's general election forBeaconsfield.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBodmin 1941–1945 | Succeeded by |
   | This article about aConservativeMember of theParliament of the United Kingdom representing anEnglish constituency and born in the 1910s is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |