ASTOR, NANCY WITCHER, VISCOUNTESS ), daughter of Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, was born on May 19, 1879, at Mirador, Virginia. In 1897 she married Robert Gould Shaw of Boston, from whom she obtained a divorce in 1903, and in 1906 married Waldorf Astor. When her husband succeeded to the viscountcy, Lady Astor, who had been his constant comrade in-arms in his constituency at Plymouth, was adopted as Unionist candidate in his place, and after a stirring campaign was elected by a substantial majority on Nov. 28, 1919. She was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons, though Countess Mar kieviecz, who did not take her seat, had been elected by an Irish constituency in the Sinn Fein interest at a slightly earlier date. Lady Astor was re-elected for Plymouth at the general elections of r922, 1923 and 1924. She took a lively interest in the questions before the house, but the fact that she was for two years the only woman member made it inevitable that the various women's or ganizations should look to her especially to represent the interests of women and children. Her sympathy and power of work helped her in this role. As soon as she entered parliament she arranged a deputation from the women's organizations to interview the prime minister on the subject of widows' pensions. She advo cated the amendment of the legitimacy laws, and the equal guar dianship of children; and in 1924 supported the Guardianship of Infants bill, which became law in that year. Lady Astor served on the joint select committee of both houses of parliament for the consideration of criminal law amendment, in and on the Home Office committee on the employment of women in police duties in Feb. 1920. Lady Astor inaugurated a movement for co-opera tion between the different women's organizations, and was chair man from the outset of the consultative committee of women's organizations established (1921) to secure that co-operation.
Outside questions relating exclusively to women, her chief work has been done for a progressive educational policy, for temperance, and for the extension of the Trade Boards Acts; in the advocacy of these causes she has shown a courage which com pelled admiration even from those who were indifferent or opposed to them. She constantly advocated the raising of the school age, in 1923 she carried through the Intoxicating Liquor (Sale to Per sons under 18) bill, and she maintained a continuous interrogation of the ministers of labour as to the low rates of wages existing in certain branches of the distributive and catering trades. Through out her parliamentary career, as a representative of a dockyard constituency, she took an active interest in the naval and dock yard services. It may be said that Lady Astor's vitality and trenchancy, her energy and the variety of her interests, her fear lessness and gaiety combined to render her a noteworthy mem ber of parliament, and emphasized the significance of a great departure—the election of women as members of the British House of Commons. She was created C.H. in 1937.