Patricia Ford, Lady Fisher (née Smiles; known as Patsie) (5 April 1921 - 23 May 1995) was an Ulster Unionist Party

Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

 politician in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. She was the first woman MP

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,...

 from Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, and the first woman from a constituency in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 to take her seat at Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

.

Lady Fisher was born at Donaghadee

Donaghadee

Donaghadee is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles south east of Bangor. It had a population of 6,470 people in the 2001 Census...

 and educated at Bangor Collegiate School, Glendower Preparatory School

Glendower Preparatory School

Glendower Preparatory School, started in 1895 as the Cornwall and Lloyd School, is an independent preparatory school in London.-History:Cornwall and Lloyd School was founded in 1895 by Miss Lloyd and Miss Cornwall at 103A Fulham Road...

, 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...

 and abroad. Her father was Ulster Unionist MP Sir Walter D. Smiles

Walter Dorling Smiles

Lt Col Sir Walter Dorling Smiles CIE DSO DL was a Northern Irish politician.Sir Walter was the son of William Holmes Smiles, director of Belfast Ropeworks, and grandson of Samuel Smiles...

 and her mother Margaret Heigway. Lady Fisher's colourful family included Mrs Beeton

Mrs Beeton

Isabella Mary Beeton , universally known as Mrs Beeton, was the English author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, and is one of the most famous cookery writers.-Background:...

, her great-aunt.

She returned from living in Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 upon her father's death in the MV Princess Victoria

MV Princess Victoria

MV Princess Victoria was one of the earliest roll-on/roll-off ferries. Built in 1947, she operated from Stranraer to Larne. During a severe European windstorm on 31 January 1953, she sank in the North Channel with the loss of 133 lives, the deadliest maritime disaster in United Kingdom waters...

 disaster in January 1953 to be elected to his North Down constituency

North Down (UK Parliament constituency)

North Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Sylvia Hermon, elected as an Independent in the 2010 General Election. -Boundaries:The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the northern part of Down...

. In her maiden speech

Maiden speech

A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...

 to the House she was required to apologise for an article she had written in the Sunday Express in which she mentioned that Bessie Braddock

Bessie Braddock

Elizabeth Margaret Braddock JP , better known as Bessie Braddock, was a British Labour politician...

 and Edith Summerskill

Edith Summerskill

Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill CH PC was a British physician, feminist, misandrist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949.-Early life:...

 had been snoring whilst asleep in the lady members' room. The matter was referred to the Committee for Privileges. Lady Fisher was a strong proponent of equal pay between the sexes and rode in a horse-drawn carriage to Parliament to draw attention to the matter. She retired at the 1955 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1955

The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...

. in 1972 she founded and was co-chairman of the Women Caring Trust, now Hope for Youth Northern Ireland. She was expelled from the Orange Order's women's section for attending a wedding at the Brompton Oratory.

In 1941, Patricia Smiles married cricketer Neville Montagu Ford

Neville Ford

Neville Montague Ford was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire, Oxford University, Middlesex and MCC between 1926 and 1934....

, son of the Very Rev. Lionel George Bridges Justice Ford

Lionel Ford

Lionel George Bridges Justice Ford was an Anglican priest who served as Dean of York after two headmasterships at eminent English public schools....

 and grandson of 4th Lord Lyttelton

George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton

George William Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton , was a British aristocrat and Conservative politician.-Early life:...

. They had two daughters: Sally, who married Sir Michael Grylls

Michael Grylls

Sir William Michael John Grylls, known as Michael Grylls, was a British Conservative politician. He was implicated in the cash-for-questions affair, a poitical scandal of the 1990s...

 and whose son is explorer Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls

Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls is an English adventurer, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his television series Man vs. Wild, known as Born Survivor in the United Kingdom...

, and Mary Rose, who is married and has two daughters. Patricia Ford was divorced from her first husband and married Sir Nigel Fisher MP

Nigel Fisher

Sir Nigel Thomas Loveridge Fisher MC was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.Fisher was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was in the Welsh Guards of the British Army during World War II, serving as a major in north west Europe. He was awarded the...

 in 1956 and was thus stepmother to Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 MP Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher is a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 1983 to 2010 and Minister for the Arts between 1997-98.-Early life:...

.