Mother of the House
Mother of the House is an informal term for the most senior Member of a Parliament when that person is a woman. The term is equivalent to Father of the House, which is used to describe the longest continuously serving male member of the House of Commons in Westminster.
United Kingdom[edit]
House of Commons[edit]
So far, no woman has been the longest-serving member of the House of Commons. The longest-continuously serving woman at Westminster is currently Harriet Harman, who has been an MP since 1982. Following the 2017 election, both Prime Minister Theresa May[1] and Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn[citation needed] expressed the opinion that she should be known as the Mother of the House. Dame Margaret Beckett is the longest-serving woman to ever hold a seat in the House (in two separate tenures) since women first joined the House, but Harman has held the seat continuously since her first election.
Longest-continuously serving female MP[edit]
If the current criteria for Father of the House[2] are applied to women MPs, then the following would be the chronological sequence of the Mother of the House:
| Party | Name | Constituency | Year elected | Became Mother | Year left | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Nancy Astor[3] | Plymouth Sutton | 1919 | 1919 | 1945 | [notes 1] | |
| Independent | Eleanor Rathbone[4] | Combined English Universities | 1929 | 1945? | 1946 | [notes 2] | |
| Liberal | Megan Lloyd George[5] | Anglesey | 1929 | 1945 or 1946 | 1951 | ||
| Conservative | Frances Davidson[6] | Hemel Hempstead | 1937 | 1951 | 1959 | ||
| Labour | Edith Summerskill[7] | Fulham West & Warrington | 1938 | 1959 | 1961 | ||
| Labour | Jennie Lee[8][9] | North Lanarkshire & Cannock | 1929 & 1945 | 1961 | 1931 & 1970 | [notes 3] | |
| Labour | Barbara Castle[10] | Blackburn | 1945 | 1970 | 1979 | [notes 4] | |
| Labour | Judith Hart[11] | Lanark, then Clydesdale | 1959 | 1979 | 1987 | ||
| Conservative | Margaret Thatcher[12] | Finchley | 1959 | 1987 | 1992 | [notes 5] | |
| Conservative | Jill Knight[13] | Birmingham Edgbaston | 1966 | 1992 | 1997 | ||
| Labour | Gwyneth Dunwoody[14] | Exeter, Crewe & Crewe and Nantwich | 1966 & 1974 | 1997 | 1970 & 2008 | ||
| Labour | Harriet Harman[15] | Peckham & Camberwell and Peckham | 1982 | 2008 | Still serving | ||
- ↑ Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the House of Commons in 1918, representing Dublin St Patrick's in Ireland. As a member of Sinn Féin, she followed a policy of abstentionism and chose not to take her seat.
- ↑ Hansard does not record which woman was sworn first. Rathbone's death in 1946 results in Megan Lloyd George becoming the undisputed Mother of the House.
- ↑ Alice Bacon, Bessie Braddock, and Margaret Herbison all entered and left Parliament alongside Lee. Lee was the first new female MP sworn that day.
- ↑ Castle was sworn several minutes after Lee. Freda Corbet, who left Parliament in 1974, was sworn later that day.
- ↑ Sworn after Hart on the same day. Became Prime Minister in 1979 general election.
Scottish Parliament[edit]
The term was used to describe Dr. Winnie Ewing at the first meeting of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.[16][17] However, in accordance with the standing orders of the Scottish Parliament she was referred to as the "Oldest Qualified Member" in the Scottish Parliament Official Report.
New Zealand[edit]
United States[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Election of Speaker". Commons Hansard. 13 June 2017.
- ↑ "Father of the House: House of Commons Background Paper". House of Commons Library. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ↑ CH. Succeeded her husband Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor as MP, after he became a member of the House of Lords by inheriting the title of Viscount Astor upon the death of his father.
- ↑ Daughter of William Rathbone VI. Aunt of fellow MP John Rathbone, whose wife Beatrice Wright succeeded him.
- ↑ CH. Youngest child of David Lloyd George (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1916–1922).
- ↑ DBE. Succeeded her husband J. C. C. Davidson, 1st Viscount Davidson as MP, after he became a member of the House of Lords by being raised to the peerage as Viscount Davidson. Daughter of Willoughby Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson. She was created a life peer as Baroness Northchurch, of Chiswick in the County of Middlesex, in 1963.
- ↑ Resigned as an MP and was made a life peer as Baroness Summerskill, of Kenwood in the County of London. She was made a CH in 1966. Mother of Shirley Summerskill.
- ↑ Married to fellow MP Anuerin Bevan. She was made a life peer as Baroness Lee of Asheridge, of the City of Westminster, in 1970.
- ↑ "No. 45229". The London Gazette. 10 November 1970. p. 12333.
- ↑ Wife of Edward Castle, Baron Castle. She was made a life peer as Baroness Castle of Blackburn in 1990.
- ↑ DBE. She was made a life peer as Baroness Hart of South Lanark in 1988.
- ↑ OM. She was made a life peer as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, in 1992, and was made a KG in 1995.
- ↑ DBE. She was made a life peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire, in 1997.
- ↑ Daughter of Morgan Phillips & Norah Phillips, Baroness Phillips. Mother of Tamsin Dunwoody.
- ↑ QC
- ↑ Cowan, Edward J.; Finlay, Richard J., eds. (2002). "Scottish History: The Power of the Past". Edinburgh University Press: 253. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt1r23k0.
Winnie Ewing, as mother of the house and temporary presiding officer, uttered these words on Wednesday, 13 May 1999 to open the Scottish parliament
- ↑ "Daily Hansard - Debate". Hansard. 6 March 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
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