Beatrice Frederika Wright, Lady Wright, MBE, formerly Rathbone, née Clough, (17 June 1910 – 17 March 2003), was an American-born British politician.
Beatrice Rathbone | |
|---|---|
 Rathbone in 1943 | |
| 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 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3, including Tim Rathbone |
Early life
editWright 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. When World War II broke out, John, a trained pilot joined the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot , he was killed shortly after the Battle of Britain, aged 30.[2][3] In March 1941, she was elected unopposed as his successor and sat in the House of Commons for the rest of the Second World War. She stepped down at the 1945 general election, after becoming the first sitting MP to give birth to a child.
Later life
editIn 1942, she married Paul Wright, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat and was knighted in 1975. They both converted to the Roman Catholic Church. They had one child, Faith Beatrice Wright, who married firstly Julian Shuckburgh (son of Evelyn Shuckburgh),[4] and secondly Colin Clark, younger brother of the politician and diarist Alan Clark.[5][6]
She served as Vice President of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf from 1978 to 2003. In 1996, she was appointed an MBE.[7]
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, 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 in that year's general election for Beaconsfield.
References
edit- ^ "CLOUGH-GENEALOGY-L Archives". RootsWeb.
- ^ "Flight Lieutenant John Rankin Rathbone | Christ Church, Oxford University". www.chch.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Casualty - Flight Lieutenant (Pilot) John Rankin Rathbone". www.cwgc.org. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ Times, Special to The New York (28 June 1963). "Faith B. Wright Is Married To Julian J.E. Shuckburgh". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ "Colin Clark". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ Obituaries, Telegraph (7 October 2021). "Julian Shuckburgh, publisher and Bach scholar who wrote a highly original book on the great composer's work and personality – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ "Hearing Dogs: our history". Hearing Dogs. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ "Faith Clark". www.hearingdogs.org.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ "Worthington Christian grad earns a spot in UK's House of Commons". Worthington Christian School. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
External links
edit- Beatrice Wright (Beatrice Rathbone) Archived 24 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine 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
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