Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
Encyclopedia
Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess Astor, CH, (19 May 18792 May 1964) was the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament
(MP) in the British House of Commons.Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the House of Commons in December 1918 after running for the Sinn Féin
party in 1918 General Election, but in line with Sinn Féin's abstentionist
policy she did not take her seat. Markievicz was also detained in Holloway Prison at the time. Nancy Astor represented the Conservative Party
and was the wife of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
.
, in the United States. Her father was Chiswell Dabney Langhorne
and her mother was Nancy Witcher Keene. Her father's earlier business venture had depended at least in part upon slave labour, and the outcome of the American Civil War
caused the family to live in near-poverty for several years before Nancy was born. After her birth her father began working to regain the family wealth, first with a job as an auctioneer and later with a job that he obtained with the railroad by using old contacts from his work as a contractor. By the time she was thirteen years old, the Langhornes were again a rich family with a sizeable home. Chiswell Langhorne later moved the family to their estate, known as Mirador, in Albemarle County, Virginia
.
Nancy Langhorne had four sisters and three brothers. All the sisters were known for their beauty; her sister Irene later married the artist Charles Dana Gibson
and became a model for the Gibson girl
. Nancy and Irene both went to a finishing school
in New York City. In New York, Nancy met her first husband, Robert Gould Shaw II
, a cousin of the Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
who commanded the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. They were married in New York City on October 27, 1897, when she was 18.
This first marriage was a disaster. Shaw's friends accused Nancy of becoming puritanical and rigid after she married; Nancy's friends contended that Shaw was an alcoholic rapist. The couple were married for four years and had one son, Bobbie. Nancy left Shaw numerous times during their brief marriage, the first time during their honeymoon. In 1903, Nancy's mother died and Nancy moved back to Mirador to try to run the household, but she was unsuccessful. She left there and took a tour of England, and fell in love with the country while she was there. Because she was so happy there, her father suggested that Nancy move to England. Nancy was reluctant to go, so he suggested that the move had been her mother’s wish and that it would also be good for Nancy's younger sister, Phyllis, to accompany her. Nancy and Phyllis finally moved to England in 1905.
The earlier trip to England had launched Nancy's reputation there as an interesting and witty American. Her tendency to be witty and saucy in conversation, yet religiously devout and almost prudish in behavior, confused many of the English men but pleased some of the older socialites. They liked conversing with the lively and exciting American who at the same time largely conformed to decency and restraint. Nancy also began at this time to show her skill at winning over critics. She was once asked by an English woman, "Have you come to get our husbands?" Her unexpected response, "If you knew the trouble I had getting rid of mine..." charmed her listeners and displayed the wit that later became famous.
Despite her denial, however, she indeed married an Englishman. Her second husband, Waldorf Astor
, was born in the United States but his father
had moved the family to England when Waldorf was twelve and raised his children as English aristocrats
. The couple were well matched from the start. Not only were they both American expatriate
s with similar temperaments, but they were of the same age, being born on the same day, 19 May 1879. He shared some of Nancy's moral attitudes, and his heart condition may have encouraged him toward a restraint that she found comforting. The marriage's success, therefore, seemed assured.
After the Astors married, Nancy moved into Cliveden
, a lavish estate in Buckinghamshire
on the River Thames
, and began her life as a prominent hostess for the social elite. The Astors also owned a grand London
house, No. 4 St. James's Square
, which is now the premises of the Naval & Military Club
. Through her many social connections, Lady Astor became involved in a kind of political circle called Milner's Kindergarten
. Considered liberal
in their age, the group advocated unity and equality among English-speaking people and a continuance or expansion of British imperialism
.
, which was to be one of the most important relationships of her life. Indeed, it came at a critical juncture for both of them. The two met shortly after Kerr had suffered a spiritual crisis regarding his once devout Catholicism
. The two of them were both searching for spiritual stability and their search led them toward Christian Science
, to which they both eventually converted. Astor's beliefs and activities as a Christian Scientist would become one of the most consistent elements of her life.
Astor's conversion was gradual and was influenced by a number of factors. Her sister Phyllis (who never converted to Christian Science) had given her Science and Health
by Mary Baker Eddy
because she thought Nancy might find it interesting. At first Lady Astor had only marginal interest, but after a period of illness and surgery
she decided that those events had not been what God wanted. In the past, many of her illnesses had been psychosomatic
, so the idea of physical illness being a mental construct rang true for her and she embraced the belief system wholeheartedly. At the same time, her former spiritual mentor and good friend, Archdeacon Frederick Neve, disapproved of her conversion and their relationship soured.
Philip Kerr's conversion came only after experimenting with Eastern religion
, but he later became a spiritual advisor for Astor. In time, his bitter rejection of Catholicism also influenced Lady Astor, intensifying her own anti-Catholicism
. She was also affected when her friendship with Hillaire Belloc, who was Catholic, began to grow cold because of his disdain for the rich and her efforts to convert his daughters to Christian Science. The loss of that relationship further alienated her against Roman Catholicism. Lady Astor's devotion to Christian Science was more intense than orthodox, and she sent some practitioners away for disagreeing with her. But she was deeply committed to her own interpretation of the faith and held to it almost fanatically. Many of her letters from that time on mentioned Christian Science, and letters from others to her joked about her efforts to convert peers to her beliefs. This vehemence of belief demonstrates that she was, by this time, considered "insane" by secular intellectuals; it is therefore by all accounts astonishing that she was taken even remotely seriously in later years by the English establishment.
During World War I
Cliveden was a hospital for Canadian
soldiers. Although Astor, as a Christian Scientist, did not believe in the use of medical practices, she got along well with the doctors, especially Colonel Mewburn, a surgeon. She justified her position there by helping those who needed non-medical assistance. Lady Astor became known as a friend to soldiers, and that proved useful when she ran for office. At the same time, the horrors of poison gas
attacks and the deaths of friends turned her against war itself.
as the 2nd Viscount Astor
. This meant that he automatically became a member of the House of Lords
and forfeited his seat of Plymouth Sutton in the House of Commons. So Lady Astor decided to contest the vacant parliamentary seat.
Astor had several disadvantages in her campaign. One of them was her lack of connection with the women's suffrage
movement. The first woman elected to the British Parliament
, Constance Markievicz, said Lady Astor was "of the upper classes, out of touch". (While Lady Astor was the first female member of the House of Commons who actually took up her seat, she was not the first woman to be elected to the House. Markievicz did not take up her seat because of her Irish Republican
views.) Countess Markievicz had been in Holloway prison
for Sinn Féin
activities during her election, and other suffragette
s had been imprisoned for arson
; Astor had no such background. Even more damaging to Astor's campaign were her well-known hostility to alcohol consumption and her ignorance of current political issues. These points did not endear her to the people of Plymouth
, the constituency from which she was elected. Perhaps worst of all, her tendency to say odd or outlandish things sometimes made her look rather unstable.
However, Astor also had some positive attributes in her campaign, such as her earlier work with the Canadian soldiers, her other charitable work during the war, her vast financial resources for the campaign and, most of all, her ability to improvise. Her ability to turn the tables on the heckler
s was particularly useful. Once a man asked her what the Astors had done for him and she responded with, "Why, Charlie, you know,"A mildly sexual innuendo and later had a picture taken with him. This informal style baffled yet amused the British public. She rallied the supporters of the current government, was pragmatic enough to moderate her Prohibition
ist views, and used women’s meetings to gain the support of female voters. A by-election
was held on 28 November 1919, and she took up her seat in the House on 1 December as a Unionist
(also known as "Tory") Member of Parliament.
and smoking room
s frequented by the men.
Early in her first term, a fellow Member of Parliament named Horatio Bottomley
, who felt Astor was an obstacle in his desire to dominate the "soldier’s friend" issue, sought to ruin her political career. He did this by capitalising on the first substantial controversies in which she participated, namely her opposition to divorce
reform and her efforts to maintain wartime alcohol restrictions. He depicted her as a hypocrite in his newspaper
, saying that the divorce reform bill she opposed allowed women to have the kind of divorce she had had in America. However, a budget crisis and his bitter tone caused this effort to backfire. Bottomley eventually went to prison for fraud
, a fact that Astor used to her advantage in later campaigns.
Among Astor's early political friends were the first female candidates to follow her to Parliament, including members of the other parties. The first of these friendships began when Margaret Wintringham
was elected after Astor had been in office for two years, but the most surprising might have been her friendship with "Red Ellen" Wilkinson
, a former Communist representative in the Labour Party. Astor later proposed creating a "Women’s Party", but the female Labour MPs thought it was a ridiculous idea because at that time their party had power and promised them positions. Astor conceded this, but her closeness with other female MPs dissipated with time and by 1931 she became hostile to female Labour members such as Susan Lawrence
.
Lady Astor's accomplishments in the House of Commons were relatively minor. She never held a position with much influence. Indeed, the Duchess of Atholl
(elected to Parliament in 1923, four years after Lady Astor) rose to higher levels in the Tory Party before Astor did, and this was largely as Astor wished. She felt that if she had a position in the party, she would be less free to criticise her party’s government. One of her few significant achievements in the House was the passage of a bill she sponsored to increase the legal drinking age
to eighteen unless the minor
has parental approval.
During this period Lady Astor did some significant work outside the political sphere. The most famous was her support for nursery school
s. Her involvement with this cause was somewhat surprising because she was introduced to it by a socialist named Margaret McMillan who believed that her dead sister still had a role in guiding her. Lady Astor was initially skeptical, but later the two women became close and Astor used her wealth to aid their social efforts.
Although she was active in charitable efforts, Astor also became noted for a streak of cruelty and callousness. On hearing of the death of a political enemy, she openly expressed her pleasure. When people complained about this, she did not apologise but instead said, "I’m a Virginian; we shoot to kill". A friend from Virginia, Angus McDonnell
, had angered her when he married without consulting her after having agreed to seek her permission first. She later told him, regarding his maiden speech, that he "really must do better than that". During the course of her adult life, Astor alienated many others with her sharp words as well.
The 1920s were the most positive period in Parliament for Astor as she made several effective speeches and introduced a bill that passed. Her wealth and persona also brought attention to women who were serving in government. Furthermore, she worked to bring more women into the civil service
, the police
force, education reform
, and the House of Lords
. She remained popular in her district and well liked in the United States during the 1920s, but this period of success is generally believed to have declined in the following decades.
. Because Bobbie had previously shown tendencies toward alcoholism and instability, Astor's friend Philip Kerr, now Marquess of Lothian
, told her that the arrest might be positive for him. This prediction would turn out to be incorrect. Astor also made a disastrous speech stating that alcohol use was the reason England's national cricket team was defeated by the Australian national cricket team. Both the English and Australian teams objected to this statement. Astor remained oblivious to her growing unpopularity almost to the end of her career.
A mixed element in these difficult years was Astor's friendship with George Bernard Shaw
. He helped her through some of her problems, but also made some things worse. They held opposing political views and had very different temperaments, but he liked her as a fellow non-conformist, and she had a fondness for writers in general. Nevertheless, his tendency to make controversial statements or put her into awkward situations proved to be a drawback for her.
After Astor's son Bobbie was arrested, Shaw invited her to accompany him on his trip to the Soviet Union
. Although it was helpful in some ways, this trip turned out to be bad overall for Lady Astor's political career. During the trip Shaw made many flattering statements about Stalinist
Russia
, while Nancy often disparaged it because she did not approve of Communism. She even asked Stalin
directly why he had slaughtered so many Russians, but many of her criticisms were translated into innocuous statements instead, leading many of her conservative supporters to fear she had "gone soft" on Communism. (Her question to Stalin may have been translated correctly only because he insisted that he be told what she had actually said.) Furthermore, Shaw's praise of the USSR made the trip seem like a coup for Soviet propaganda
and made her presence there disturbing for the Tories.
. Although Astor had criticised the Nazis
for devaluing the position of women, she was also adamantly opposed to the idea of another World War. Several of her friends and associates, especially Lord Lothian (Philip Kerr), became heavily involved in the German
appeasement
policy; this group became known as the "Cliveden set
". The term was first used in The Week, a newspaper run by the radical journalist Claud Cockburn
, but over time the allegations became more elaborate. The Cliveden set was seen variously as the prime mover for appeasement, or a society that secretly ran the nation, or even as a beachhead for Nazism in Britain. Astor was viewed by some as Hitler's
woman in Britain, and some went so far as to claim that she had hypnotic
powers.
Despite her anti-Catholicism
, Lady Astor also had a friendship with Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
, and the correspondence between them is reportedly filled with anti-Semitic language. As Edward J. Renehan, Jr. notes:
Lady Astor's actual connection to anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi policies is, however, debatable. Astor did occasionally meet with Nazi officials in keeping with Neville Chamberlain
's policies, and it is true that she distrusted and disliked British Foreign Secretary (later Prime Minister) Anthony Eden
, stating that the more she saw of him the "more certain" she was that he would "never be a Disraeli". She told one Nazi official, who later turned out to be working against Nazis from within, that she supported their re-armament, but she supported this policy because Germany was "surrounded by Catholics" in her opinion. She also told Joachim von Ribbentrop
, the German ambassador who later became the Foreign Minister of Germany, that Hitler looked too much like Charlie Chaplin
to be taken seriously. These statements are the only documented incidents of Nazi sympathy directed to actual Nazis.
Lady Astor did not seem to be bothered by the fact that so many of her public statements caused difficulties. She became increasingly harsh in her anti-Catholic
and anti-Communist
sentiments. After passage of the Munich Agreement
, she said that if the Czech
refugee
s fleeing Nazi oppression were Communists, they should seek asylum with the Soviets instead of the British. Even supporters of appeasement felt that this was out of line, but Lord Lothian encouraged her attitudes. He railed against the Pope
for not supporting Hitler's annexation
of Austria
and his words influenced Lady Astor in many ways.
conspiracy was subverting the foreign office. Her long-time hatred of Communists continued and she insulted Stalin's role as an ally during the war. Her speeches became rambling and incomprehensible, and even her enemies lamented that debating her had become "like playing squash
with a dish of scrambled eggs". She had become more of a joke than an adversary to her enemies.
The period from 1937 to the end of the war was traumatic on a personal level. In the period of 1937-38 Astor's sister Phyllis and only surviving brother died. In 1940 her close friend and spiritual advisor Lord Lothian died as well. Although his influence had a definite negative aspect, he had been her closest Christian Scientist friend even after her husband converted. George Bernard Shaw’s wife also died about two years later. During the war, Astor got into a fight with her husband about chocolate
and soon after he had a heart attack. After this, their marriage grew cold, probably due at least in part to the harsh effects of such a petty argument and her subsequent discomfort with his health problems. She ran a hospital for Canadian soldiers as she had before, but openly expressed a preference for the veterans of the previous World War.
It was generally believed that it was Lady Astor who, during a World War II
speech, first referred to the men of the 8th Army who were fighting in the Italian campaign
as the "D-Day Dodgers
". Her implication was that they had it easy because they were avoiding the "real war" in France and the future invasion. The Allied
soldiers in Italy
were so incensed that Major Hamish Henderson
of the 51st Highland Division composed a bitingly sarcastic song to the tune of the haunting German song Lili Marleen
(popularised in English by Marlene Dietrich
) called "The Ballad Of The D-Day Dodgers". One stanza says, "Dear Lady Astor, you think you know a lot/Standing on your platform and talking bloody rot./You're England's sweetheart and its pride;/We think your mouth's too bleeding wide./That's from your 'D-Day Dodgers' in sunny Italy." Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXl_xzqIRgk
Lady Astor also made a disparaging remark about troops involved in the Burma Campaign
, warning the public to "[b]eware the men with crows' feet". This was an allusion to the white lines often found around the eyes of white soldiers in hot climates due to squinting in the bright sunlight as it tanned their faces. Soldiers of the UK's 14th Army were slightly bemused to be accorded such attention and it was strongly rumored among them that her prejudice was the result of a 14th Army officer on leave either impregnating Astor's daughter or infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease
.
Lady Astor did not feel that her final years were a period of personal decline. Instead, in her opinion, it was her party and her husband who caused her retirement
in 1945. The Tories felt that she had become a liability in the final years of World War II, and her husband told her that if she ran for office again the family would not support her. She conceded, but with irritation and anger, according to contemporary reports.
Lady Astor's retirement years proved difficult, especially for her marriage. She publicly blamed her husband for forcing her to retire; for example, in a speech commemorating her 25 years in parliament she stated that her retirement was forced on her and that it should please the men of Britain. The couple began traveling separately and living apart soon after. Lord Astor also began moving toward left-wing politics
in his last years, and that exacerbated their differences. However, the couple reconciled before his death on 30 September 1952.
This period also proved to be hard on Lady Astor's public image. Her racial views were increasingly out of touch with cultural changes, and she expressed a growing paranoia
regarding ethnic minorities. In one instance she stated that the President of the United States
had become too dependent on New York City. To her this city represented "Jewish and foreign" influences that she feared. During her U.S. tour she told a group of African-American students that they should aspire to be like the black servants she remembered from her youth. On a later trip she told African-American church members that they should be grateful for slavery
because it had allowed them to be introduced to Christianity
. In Rhodesia
she proudly told the white minority government leaders that she was the daughter of a slave owner.
After 1956 Lady Astor became increasingly isolated. Her sisters had all died, "Red Ellen" Wilkinson died in 1947, George Bernard Shaw died in 1950, and she did not take well to widowhood. Her son Bobbie became increasingly combative and after her death he committed suicide
. Her son Jakie married a prominent Catholic woman, which hurt his relationship with his mother, and her other children became estranged from her. Ironically, these events mellowed her and she began to accept Catholics as friends. However, she stated that her final years were lonely. Lady Astor died in 1964 at her daughter's home at Grimsthorpe
in Lincolnshire
. She was buried in Buckinghamshire
, England.
By far the most famously reported quotes are taken from alleged exchanges between Lady Astor and Winston Churchill
but, like the statements above, these are not well documented and may be misattributed. Examples include an instance in which Churchill is supposed to have told Lady Astor that having a woman in Parliament was like having one intrude on him in the bathroom, to which she retorted, "You’re not handsome enough to have such fears". Lady Astor was also said to have responded to a question from Churchill about what disguise he should wear to a masquerade ball by saying, "Why don't you come sober, Prime Minister?" Possibly the most famous of all such anecdotes reports that Lady Astor said to Churchill, "If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea," to which he responded, "Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!"
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) in the British House of Commons.Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the House of Commons in December 1918 after running for the Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
party in 1918 General Election, but in line with Sinn Féin's abstentionist
Abstentionism
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself...
policy she did not take her seat. Markievicz was also detained in Holloway Prison at the time. Nancy Astor represented the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and was the wife of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor was an American-born British politician and newspaper proprietor.-Early life:...
.
Early life
Astor was born Nancy Witcher Langhorne in Danville, VirginiaDanville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
, in the United States. Her father was Chiswell Dabney Langhorne
Chiswell Langhorne
Colonel Chiswell Dabney Langhorne was an American railroad millionaire. He was the father of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor and the maternal grandfather of both Joyce Grenfell and Michael Langhorne Astor....
and her mother was Nancy Witcher Keene. Her father's earlier business venture had depended at least in part upon slave labour, and the outcome of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
caused the family to live in near-poverty for several years before Nancy was born. After her birth her father began working to regain the family wealth, first with a job as an auctioneer and later with a job that he obtained with the railroad by using old contacts from his work as a contractor. By the time she was thirteen years old, the Langhornes were again a rich family with a sizeable home. Chiswell Langhorne later moved the family to their estate, known as Mirador, in Albemarle County, Virginia
Albemarle County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 79,236 people, 31,876 households, and 21,070 families residing in the county. The population density was 110 people per square mile . There were 33,720 housing units at an average density of 47 per square mile...
.
Nancy Langhorne had four sisters and three brothers. All the sisters were known for their beauty; her sister Irene later married the artist Charles Dana Gibson
Charles Dana Gibson
Charles Dana Gibson was an American graphic artist, best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent American woman at the turn of the 20th century....
and became a model for the Gibson girl
Gibson Girl
The Gibson Girl was the personification of a feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical pen-and-ink-illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States.Some people argue that the...
. Nancy and Irene both went to a finishing school
Finishing school
A finishing school is "a private school for girls that emphasises training in cultural and social activities." The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the educational experience, with classes primarily on etiquette...
in New York City. In New York, Nancy met her first husband, Robert Gould Shaw II
Robert Gould Shaw II
Robert Gould Shaw II was a wealthy landowner and socialite of the leisure class in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts during the late 19th century, in an era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States referred to as the Gilded Age.Born in 1872 into one of the wealthiest and...
, a cousin of the Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As colonel, he commanded the all-black 54th Regiment, which entered the war in 1863. He was killed in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina...
who commanded the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. They were married in New York City on October 27, 1897, when she was 18.
This first marriage was a disaster. Shaw's friends accused Nancy of becoming puritanical and rigid after she married; Nancy's friends contended that Shaw was an alcoholic rapist. The couple were married for four years and had one son, Bobbie. Nancy left Shaw numerous times during their brief marriage, the first time during their honeymoon. In 1903, Nancy's mother died and Nancy moved back to Mirador to try to run the household, but she was unsuccessful. She left there and took a tour of England, and fell in love with the country while she was there. Because she was so happy there, her father suggested that Nancy move to England. Nancy was reluctant to go, so he suggested that the move had been her mother’s wish and that it would also be good for Nancy's younger sister, Phyllis, to accompany her. Nancy and Phyllis finally moved to England in 1905.
England
Despite her denial, however, she indeed married an Englishman. Her second husband, Waldorf Astor
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor was an American-born British politician and newspaper proprietor.-Early life:...
, was born in the United States but his father
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor was a very wealthy American who became a British nobleman. He was a member of the prominent Astor family.-Life in United States:...
had moved the family to England when Waldorf was twelve and raised his children as English aristocrats
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
. The couple were well matched from the start. Not only were they both American expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s with similar temperaments, but they were of the same age, being born on the same day, 19 May 1879. He shared some of Nancy's moral attitudes, and his heart condition may have encouraged him toward a restraint that she found comforting. The marriage's success, therefore, seemed assured.
After the Astors married, Nancy moved into Cliveden
Cliveden
Cliveden is an Italianate mansion and estate at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. Set on banks above the River Thames, its grounds slope down to the river. The site has been home to an Earl, two Dukes, a Prince of Wales and the Viscounts Astor....
, a lavish estate in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, and began her life as a prominent hostess for the social elite. The Astors also owned a grand London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
house, No. 4 St. James's Square
St. James's Square
St. James's Square is the only square in the exclusive St James's district of the City of Westminster. It has predominantly Georgian and neo-Georgian architecture and a private garden in the centre...
, which is now the premises of the Naval & Military Club
Naval & Military Club
The Naval and Military Club is a gentlemen's club in London, England. It was founded in 1862 because the three then existing military clubs in London - the United Service, the Junior United Service and the Army and Navy - were all full. The membership was long restricted to military officers...
. Through her many social connections, Lady Astor became involved in a kind of political circle called Milner's Kindergarten
Milner's Kindergarten
Milner's Kindergarten is an informal reference to a group of Britons who served in the South African Civil Service under High Commissioner Alfred, Lord Milner, between the Second Boer War and the founding of the Union of South Africa. They were in favour of the South African union and, ultimately,...
. Considered liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
in their age, the group advocated unity and equality among English-speaking people and a continuance or expansion of British imperialism
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
Christian Science
The political significance of Milner's Kindergarten was limited, but it yielded a much more significant result for Lady Astor personally. It was the source of her friendship with Philip KerrPhilip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian
Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian KT CH PC was a British politician and diplomat.Philip Kerr was the son of Lord Ralph Drury Kerr, the third son of John Kerr, 7th Marquess of Lothian...
, which was to be one of the most important relationships of her life. Indeed, it came at a critical juncture for both of them. The two met shortly after Kerr had suffered a spiritual crisis regarding his once devout Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. The two of them were both searching for spiritual stability and their search led them toward Christian Science
Christian Science
Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
, to which they both eventually converted. Astor's beliefs and activities as a Christian Scientist would become one of the most consistent elements of her life.
Astor's conversion was gradual and was influenced by a number of factors. Her sister Phyllis (who never converted to Christian Science) had given her Science and Health
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the central text of the Christian Science religion. It was written by Mary Baker Eddy, inspired by studies of the Bible she undertook in 1867 following a healing experience....
by Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian Science , a Protestant American system of religious thought and practice religion adopted by the Church of Christ, Scientist, and others...
because she thought Nancy might find it interesting. At first Lady Astor had only marginal interest, but after a period of illness and surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
she decided that those events had not been what God wanted. In the past, many of her illnesses had been psychosomatic
Psychosomatic illness
Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field studying the relationships of social, psychological, and behavioral factors on bodily processes and well-being in humans and animals...
, so the idea of physical illness being a mental construct rang true for her and she embraced the belief system wholeheartedly. At the same time, her former spiritual mentor and good friend, Archdeacon Frederick Neve, disapproved of her conversion and their relationship soured.
Philip Kerr's conversion came only after experimenting with Eastern religion
Eastern religion
This article is about far east and Indian religions. For other eastern religions see: Eastern_world#Eastern_cultureEastern religions refers to religions originating in the Eastern world —India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia —and thus having dissimilarities with Western religions...
, but he later became a spiritual advisor for Astor. In time, his bitter rejection of Catholicism also influenced Lady Astor, intensifying her own anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
. She was also affected when her friendship with Hillaire Belloc, who was Catholic, began to grow cold because of his disdain for the rich and her efforts to convert his daughters to Christian Science. The loss of that relationship further alienated her against Roman Catholicism. Lady Astor's devotion to Christian Science was more intense than orthodox, and she sent some practitioners away for disagreeing with her. But she was deeply committed to her own interpretation of the faith and held to it almost fanatically. Many of her letters from that time on mentioned Christian Science, and letters from others to her joked about her efforts to convert peers to her beliefs. This vehemence of belief demonstrates that she was, by this time, considered "insane" by secular intellectuals; it is therefore by all accounts astonishing that she was taken even remotely seriously in later years by the English establishment.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Cliveden was a hospital for Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
soldiers. Although Astor, as a Christian Scientist, did not believe in the use of medical practices, she got along well with the doctors, especially Colonel Mewburn, a surgeon. She justified her position there by helping those who needed non-medical assistance. Lady Astor became known as a friend to soldiers, and that proved useful when she ran for office. At the same time, the horrors of poison gas
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
attacks and the deaths of friends turned her against war itself.
First campaign for Parliament
Several elements of Lady Astor's life to this point influenced her first campaign, but the main reason she became a candidate in the first place was her husband's situation. He had enjoyed a promising career for several years before World War I in the House of Commons, but then he succeeded to his father's peeragePeerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
as the 2nd Viscount Astor
Viscount Astor
Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the financier and statesman William Waldorf Astor, 1st Baron Astor. He had already been created Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, in 1916, also in the...
. This meant that he automatically became a member of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and forfeited his seat of Plymouth Sutton in the House of Commons. So Lady Astor decided to contest the vacant parliamentary seat.
Astor had several disadvantages in her campaign. One of them was her lack of connection with the women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
movement. The first woman elected to the British Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, Constance Markievicz, said Lady Astor was "of the upper classes, out of touch". (While Lady Astor was the first female member of the House of Commons who actually took up her seat, she was not the first woman to be elected to the House. Markievicz did not take up her seat because of her Irish Republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
views.) Countess Markievicz had been in Holloway prison
Holloway (HM Prison)
HM Prison Holloway is a closed category prison for adult women and Young Offenders, located in the Holloway area of the London Borough of Islington, in north and Inner London, England...
for Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
activities during her election, and other suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
s had been imprisoned for arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
; Astor had no such background. Even more damaging to Astor's campaign were her well-known hostility to alcohol consumption and her ignorance of current political issues. These points did not endear her to the people of Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, the constituency from which she was elected. Perhaps worst of all, her tendency to say odd or outlandish things sometimes made her look rather unstable.
However, Astor also had some positive attributes in her campaign, such as her earlier work with the Canadian soldiers, her other charitable work during the war, her vast financial resources for the campaign and, most of all, her ability to improvise. Her ability to turn the tables on the heckler
Heckler
A heckler is a person who harass and try to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes.Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or interrupts set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting, with intent to disturb its performers or...
s was particularly useful. Once a man asked her what the Astors had done for him and she responded with, "Why, Charlie, you know,"A mildly sexual innuendo and later had a picture taken with him. This informal style baffled yet amused the British public. She rallied the supporters of the current government, was pragmatic enough to moderate her Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
ist views, and used women’s meetings to gain the support of female voters. A by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
was held on 28 November 1919, and she took up her seat in the House on 1 December as a Unionist
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
(also known as "Tory") Member of Parliament.
Early years in Parliament
Astor's parliamentary career was the most public phase of her life, making her an object of both love and hatred. Her presence almost immediately gained attention, both as a woman and as someone who did not follow the rules. On her first day in the House of Commons, she was called to order for chatting with a fellow House member, not realising that she was the person who was causing the commotion. She did try in some ways to minimise disruption by dressing more sedately than usual and by avoiding the barsBar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
and smoking room
Smoking room
A Smoking room is a room which is specifically provided and furnished for smoking, generally in buildings where smoking is otherwise prohibited....
s frequented by the men.
Early in her first term, a fellow Member of Parliament named Horatio Bottomley
Horatio Bottomley
Horatio William Bottomley was a British financier, swindler, journalist, newspaper proprietor, populist politician and Member of Parliament .-Early life:...
, who felt Astor was an obstacle in his desire to dominate the "soldier’s friend" issue, sought to ruin her political career. He did this by capitalising on the first substantial controversies in which she participated, namely her opposition to divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
reform and her efforts to maintain wartime alcohol restrictions. He depicted her as a hypocrite in his newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, saying that the divorce reform bill she opposed allowed women to have the kind of divorce she had had in America. However, a budget crisis and his bitter tone caused this effort to backfire. Bottomley eventually went to prison for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, a fact that Astor used to her advantage in later campaigns.
Among Astor's early political friends were the first female candidates to follow her to Parliament, including members of the other parties. The first of these friendships began when Margaret Wintringham
Margaret Wintringham
Margaret Wintringham , née Longbottom, was a British Liberal Party politician. She was the second woman to take her seat in the British House of Commons.- Early life :...
was elected after Astor had been in office for two years, but the most surprising might have been her friendship with "Red Ellen" Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...
, a former Communist representative in the Labour Party. Astor later proposed creating a "Women’s Party", but the female Labour MPs thought it was a ridiculous idea because at that time their party had power and promised them positions. Astor conceded this, but her closeness with other female MPs dissipated with time and by 1931 she became hostile to female Labour members such as Susan Lawrence
Susan Lawrence
Arabella Susan Lawrence was a British Labour Party politician, one of the first female Labour MPs.Lawrence was the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Lawrence, a wealthy solicitor, and Laura Bacon, daughter of Sir James Bacon, a bankruptcy judge and Vice-Chancellor. She was educated in London and at...
.
Lady Astor's accomplishments in the House of Commons were relatively minor. She never held a position with much influence. Indeed, the Duchess of Atholl
Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl
Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, DBE , born Katharine Marjory Ramsay and known as the Marchioness of Tullibardine from 1899 to 1917, was a British noblewoman and Unionist politician....
(elected to Parliament in 1923, four years after Lady Astor) rose to higher levels in the Tory Party before Astor did, and this was largely as Astor wished. She felt that if she had a position in the party, she would be less free to criticise her party’s government. One of her few significant achievements in the House was the passage of a bill she sponsored to increase the legal drinking age
Legal drinking age
Laws about the legal drinking age cover a wide range of issues and behaviours, addressing when and where alcohol can be consumed. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different to the age when it can be purchased. These laws vary among different countries and many laws have...
to eighteen unless the minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
has parental approval.
During this period Lady Astor did some significant work outside the political sphere. The most famous was her support for nursery school
Nursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
s. Her involvement with this cause was somewhat surprising because she was introduced to it by a socialist named Margaret McMillan who believed that her dead sister still had a role in guiding her. Lady Astor was initially skeptical, but later the two women became close and Astor used her wealth to aid their social efforts.
Although she was active in charitable efforts, Astor also became noted for a streak of cruelty and callousness. On hearing of the death of a political enemy, she openly expressed her pleasure. When people complained about this, she did not apologise but instead said, "I’m a Virginian; we shoot to kill". A friend from Virginia, Angus McDonnell
Angus McDonnell
The Honourable Angus McDonnell CB CMG was a British engineer, diplomat and Conservative Party politician.He was the second son of William Randal McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim and Louisa McDonnell, Countess of Antrim. Following education at Eton College, he briefly entered business as a merchant...
, had angered her when he married without consulting her after having agreed to seek her permission first. She later told him, regarding his maiden speech, that he "really must do better than that". During the course of her adult life, Astor alienated many others with her sharp words as well.
The 1920s were the most positive period in Parliament for Astor as she made several effective speeches and introduced a bill that passed. Her wealth and persona also brought attention to women who were serving in government. Furthermore, she worked to bring more women into the civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
, the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
force, education reform
Education reform
Education reform is the process of improving public education. Small improvements in education theoretically have large social returns, in health, wealth and well-being. Historically, reforms have taken different forms because the motivations of reformers have differed.A continuing motivation has...
, and the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. She remained popular in her district and well liked in the United States during the 1920s, but this period of success is generally believed to have declined in the following decades.
The 1930s
The 1930s were a decade of personal and professional difficulty for Lady Astor. An early sign of future problems came in 1928 when she won only a narrow victory over the Labour candidate. In 1931 her problems became more acute when Bobbie, her son from her first marriage, was arrested for homosexualityHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Because Bobbie had previously shown tendencies toward alcoholism and instability, Astor's friend Philip Kerr, now Marquess of Lothian
Marquess of Lothian
Marquess of Lothian is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1701 for Robert Kerr, 4th Earl of Lothian. The Marquess of Lothian holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Lothian , Earl of Lothian , Earl of Ancram , Earl of Ancram , Viscount of Briene , Lord Newbattle ,...
, told her that the arrest might be positive for him. This prediction would turn out to be incorrect. Astor also made a disastrous speech stating that alcohol use was the reason England's national cricket team was defeated by the Australian national cricket team. Both the English and Australian teams objected to this statement. Astor remained oblivious to her growing unpopularity almost to the end of her career.
A mixed element in these difficult years was Astor's friendship with George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
. He helped her through some of her problems, but also made some things worse. They held opposing political views and had very different temperaments, but he liked her as a fellow non-conformist, and she had a fondness for writers in general. Nevertheless, his tendency to make controversial statements or put her into awkward situations proved to be a drawback for her.
After Astor's son Bobbie was arrested, Shaw invited her to accompany him on his trip to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Although it was helpful in some ways, this trip turned out to be bad overall for Lady Astor's political career. During the trip Shaw made many flattering statements about Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, while Nancy often disparaged it because she did not approve of Communism. She even asked Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
directly why he had slaughtered so many Russians, but many of her criticisms were translated into innocuous statements instead, leading many of her conservative supporters to fear she had "gone soft" on Communism. (Her question to Stalin may have been translated correctly only because he insisted that he be told what she had actually said.) Furthermore, Shaw's praise of the USSR made the trip seem like a coup for Soviet propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and made her presence there disturbing for the Tories.
Nancy Astor and Nazism
The tarnishing of Lady Astor's image accelerated with the rise of NazismNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. Although Astor had criticised the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
for devaluing the position of women, she was also adamantly opposed to the idea of another World War. Several of her friends and associates, especially Lord Lothian (Philip Kerr), became heavily involved in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
policy; this group became known as the "Cliveden set
Cliveden set
The Cliveden Set were a 1930s right-wing, upper class group of prominent individuals politically influential in pre-World War II Britain, who were in the circle of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor...
". The term was first used in The Week, a newspaper run by the radical journalist Claud Cockburn
Claud Cockburn
Francis Claud Cockburn was a British journalist. He was well known proponent of communism. His saying, "believe nothing until it has been officially denied" is widely quoted in journalistic studies.He was the second cousin of novelist Evelyn Waugh....
, but over time the allegations became more elaborate. The Cliveden set was seen variously as the prime mover for appeasement, or a society that secretly ran the nation, or even as a beachhead for Nazism in Britain. Astor was viewed by some as Hitler's
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
woman in Britain, and some went so far as to claim that she had hypnotic
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
powers.
Despite her anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
, Lady Astor also had a friendship with Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
, and the correspondence between them is reportedly filled with anti-Semitic language. As Edward J. Renehan, Jr. notes:
As fiercely anti-Communist as they were anti-Semitic, Kennedy and Astor looked upon Adolf Hitler as a welcome solution to both of these "world problems" (Nancy's phrase).... Kennedy replied that he expected the "Jew media" in the United States to become a problem, that "Jewish pundits in New York and Los Angeles" were already making noises contrived to "set a match to the fuse of the world."
Lady Astor's actual connection to anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi policies is, however, debatable. Astor did occasionally meet with Nazi officials in keeping with Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
's policies, and it is true that she distrusted and disliked British Foreign Secretary (later Prime Minister) Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
, stating that the more she saw of him the "more certain" she was that he would "never be a Disraeli". She told one Nazi official, who later turned out to be working against Nazis from within, that she supported their re-armament, but she supported this policy because Germany was "surrounded by Catholics" in her opinion. She also told Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
, the German ambassador who later became the Foreign Minister of Germany, that Hitler looked too much like Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
to be taken seriously. These statements are the only documented incidents of Nazi sympathy directed to actual Nazis.
Lady Astor did not seem to be bothered by the fact that so many of her public statements caused difficulties. She became increasingly harsh in her anti-Catholic
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
and anti-Communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
sentiments. After passage of the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, she said that if the Czech
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s fleeing Nazi oppression were Communists, they should seek asylum with the Soviets instead of the British. Even supporters of appeasement felt that this was out of line, but Lord Lothian encouraged her attitudes. He railed against the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
for not supporting Hitler's annexation
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and his words influenced Lady Astor in many ways.
World War II
When war did come, Astor admitted that she had made mistakes, and even voted against Chamberlain, but hostility remained. She was taken far less seriously than before, with some calling her "The Member for Berlin". In addition, her abilities as an MP had declined with age. Her increasing fear of Catholics led her to make a speech regarding her belief that a CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
conspiracy was subverting the foreign office. Her long-time hatred of Communists continued and she insulted Stalin's role as an ally during the war. Her speeches became rambling and incomprehensible, and even her enemies lamented that debating her had become "like playing squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
with a dish of scrambled eggs". She had become more of a joke than an adversary to her enemies.
The period from 1937 to the end of the war was traumatic on a personal level. In the period of 1937-38 Astor's sister Phyllis and only surviving brother died. In 1940 her close friend and spiritual advisor Lord Lothian died as well. Although his influence had a definite negative aspect, he had been her closest Christian Scientist friend even after her husband converted. George Bernard Shaw’s wife also died about two years later. During the war, Astor got into a fight with her husband about chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
and soon after he had a heart attack. After this, their marriage grew cold, probably due at least in part to the harsh effects of such a petty argument and her subsequent discomfort with his health problems. She ran a hospital for Canadian soldiers as she had before, but openly expressed a preference for the veterans of the previous World War.
It was generally believed that it was Lady Astor who, during a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
speech, first referred to the men of the 8th Army who were fighting in the Italian campaign
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
as the "D-Day Dodgers
D-Day Dodgers
The D-Day Dodgers is a term for those Allied servicemen who fought in Italy during the Second World War, which also inspired a popular wartime soldier's song...
". Her implication was that they had it easy because they were avoiding the "real war" in France and the future invasion. The Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
soldiers in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
were so incensed that Major Hamish Henderson
Hamish Henderson
Hamish Scott Henderson, was a Scottish poet, songwriter, soldier, and intellectual....
of the 51st Highland Division composed a bitingly sarcastic song to the tune of the haunting German song Lili Marleen
Lili Marleen
"Lili Marleen" is a German love song which became popular during World War II.Written in 1915 during World War I, the poem was published under the title "Das Lied eines jungen Soldaten auf der Wacht" in 1937, and was first recorded by Lale Andersen in 1939 under the...
(popularised in English by Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
) called "The Ballad Of The D-Day Dodgers". One stanza says, "Dear Lady Astor, you think you know a lot/Standing on your platform and talking bloody rot./You're England's sweetheart and its pride;/We think your mouth's too bleeding wide./That's from your 'D-Day Dodgers' in sunny Italy." Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXl_xzqIRgk
Lady Astor also made a disparaging remark about troops involved in the Burma Campaign
Burma Campaign
The Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was fought primarily between British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces against the forces of the Empire of Japan, Thailand, and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from...
, warning the public to "[b]eware the men with crows' feet". This was an allusion to the white lines often found around the eyes of white soldiers in hot climates due to squinting in the bright sunlight as it tanned their faces. Soldiers of the UK's 14th Army were slightly bemused to be accorded such attention and it was strongly rumored among them that her prejudice was the result of a 14th Army officer on leave either impregnating Astor's daughter or infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
.
Final years
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
in 1945. The Tories felt that she had become a liability in the final years of World War II, and her husband told her that if she ran for office again the family would not support her. She conceded, but with irritation and anger, according to contemporary reports.
Lady Astor's retirement years proved difficult, especially for her marriage. She publicly blamed her husband for forcing her to retire; for example, in a speech commemorating her 25 years in parliament she stated that her retirement was forced on her and that it should please the men of Britain. The couple began traveling separately and living apart soon after. Lord Astor also began moving toward left-wing politics
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
in his last years, and that exacerbated their differences. However, the couple reconciled before his death on 30 September 1952.
This period also proved to be hard on Lady Astor's public image. Her racial views were increasingly out of touch with cultural changes, and she expressed a growing paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
regarding ethnic minorities. In one instance she stated that the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
had become too dependent on New York City. To her this city represented "Jewish and foreign" influences that she feared. During her U.S. tour she told a group of African-American students that they should aspire to be like the black servants she remembered from her youth. On a later trip she told African-American church members that they should be grateful for slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
because it had allowed them to be introduced to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. In Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
she proudly told the white minority government leaders that she was the daughter of a slave owner.
After 1956 Lady Astor became increasingly isolated. Her sisters had all died, "Red Ellen" Wilkinson died in 1947, George Bernard Shaw died in 1950, and she did not take well to widowhood. Her son Bobbie became increasingly combative and after her death he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Her son Jakie married a prominent Catholic woman, which hurt his relationship with his mother, and her other children became estranged from her. Ironically, these events mellowed her and she began to accept Catholics as friends. However, she stated that her final years were lonely. Lady Astor died in 1964 at her daughter's home at Grimsthorpe
Grimsthorpe
Grimsthorpe is a hamlet in Lincolnshire, England situated about north-west of Bourne on the A151. It falls within the parish of Edenham Grimsthorpe Elsthorpe & Scottlethorpe.Nearby is Grimsthorpe Castle....
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. She was buried in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England.
Quotes
Lady Astor is nearly as famous for her scathing wit as she is for her political career. Many of her best known quotes are indicative of her personal and political views, such as feminism, temperance, and conservatism; others are merely humorous. However, because she is known for her wit, statements are sometimes attributed to her without conclusive proof that she actually said them. Examples of statements that have been attributed to her include:- I married beneath me. All women do.
- I refuse to admit that I am more than fifty-two, even if that does make my sons illegitimate.
- In passing, also, I would like to say that the first time Adam had a chance he laid the blame on a woman.
- My vigour, vitality, and cheek repel me. I am the kind of woman I would run from.
- One reason why I don't drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.
- Pioneers may be picturesque figures, but they are often rather lonely ones.
- Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer; into a selflessness which links us with all humanity.
- The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything... or nothing.
- The only thing I like about rich people is their money.
- The penalty for success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you.
- Women have got to make the world safe for men since men have made it so darned unsafe for women.
- We women talk too much, but even then we don't tell half what we know.
- Jakie, is it my birthday or am I dying? (Seeing all her children assembled at her bedside in her last illness.)
By far the most famously reported quotes are taken from alleged exchanges between Lady Astor and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
but, like the statements above, these are not well documented and may be misattributed. Examples include an instance in which Churchill is supposed to have told Lady Astor that having a woman in Parliament was like having one intrude on him in the bathroom, to which she retorted, "You’re not handsome enough to have such fears". Lady Astor was also said to have responded to a question from Churchill about what disguise he should wear to a masquerade ball by saying, "Why don't you come sober, Prime Minister?" Possibly the most famous of all such anecdotes reports that Lady Astor said to Churchill, "If you were my husband, I'd poison your tea," to which he responded, "Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!"
Children
- Robert Gould Shaw III (1898–1970)
- William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount AstorWilliam Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount AstorWilliam Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician and a member of the prominent Astor family.-Biography:...
(1907–1966) - Nancy Phyllis Louise Astor (1909–1975)
- Francis David Langhorne AstorDavid AstorFrancis David Langhorne Astor CH was an English newspaper publisher and member of the Astor family.-Early life and career:...
(1912–2001) - Michael Langhorne Astor (1916–1980)
- John Jacob AstorJakie AstorSir John Jacob "Jakie" Astor MBE was a British politician and sportsman and a member of the prominent Astor family....
(1918–2000)
Sources
- Astor, Michael, Tribal Feelings (Readers Union, 1964)
- Cowling, MauriceMaurice CowlingMaurice John Cowling was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.-Life:Cowling was born in Norwood, South London, to a lower middle-class family. His family then moved to Streatham, where Cowling attended an LCC elementary school, and from 1937 the Battersea Grammar School...
, The Impact of Hitler - British Policies and Policy 1933-1940, Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1975, p. 402, ISBN 0-521-20582-4 - Musolf, Karen J, From Plymouth to Parliament (St. Martin’s Press, 1999)
- Wearing, J.P., (editor) Bernard Shaw and Nancy Astor (University of Toronto Press, 2005)
External links
- Portrait of Nancy Langhorne Shaw Astor by Edith Leeson Everett, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia
- Mirador Historical Marker, Albemarle County, VirginiaAlbemarle County, VirginiaAs of the census of 2000, there were 79,236 people, 31,876 households, and 21,070 families residing in the county. The population density was 110 people per square mile . There were 33,720 housing units at an average density of 47 per square mile...