Patricia Ford (politician)
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The Lady Fisher | |
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![]() Fisher in 1953 | |
Member of Parliament for North Down | |
In office 15 April 1953 – 6 May 1955 | |
Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
Preceded by | Walter Smiles |
Succeeded by | George Currie |
Personal details | |
Born | Patricia Smiles 5 April 1921 Donaghadee, County Down, Ulster, Ireland |
Died | 23 May 1995 Chilton, Buckinghamshire, England | (aged 74)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Ulster Unionist Party |
Spouse(s) |
; 2 daughters |
Children | 2 |
Patricia Ford, Lady Fisher (née Smiles; 5 April 1921 – 23 May 1995), was briefly an Ulster Unionist Party politician in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. She was the first woman Member of Parliament from Northern Ireland, and the second woman to be returned to a seat in Westminster from a constituency on the island of Ireland (the first to take her seat).[1]
Early life
[edit]She was born at Donaghadee, County Down, and educated at Bangor Collegiate School, Glendower Preparatory School, London, and abroad. Her father was Ulster Unionist MP Sir Walter D. Smiles and her mother, Margaret Heigway.[1]
Career
[edit]Ford returned from living in Cheshire upon her father's death in the MV Princess Victoria disaster in January 1953 and was returned unopposed to Parliament from his North Down constituency. In her maiden speech 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 and Edith Summerskill had been snoring whilst asleep in the lady members' room. The matter was referred to the Committee for Privileges.[1]
Ford was an advocate for equal pay and supported the Equal Pay Campaign Committee in their cross-party efforts. On 9 March 1954 she joined Conservative Party's Irene Ward and Labour Party's Edith Summerskill and Barbara Castle to submit the 'Equal Pay in the public services' petition, with over 80,000 signatures, to Parliament.[2] The four policiticians arrived together in a horse drawn carriage decorated in suffragette colours.[3]
She retired at the 1955 general election. In 1972 she founded and was co-chairman of the Women Caring Trust, now Hope for Youth Northern Ireland. She was expelled from the Ladies Orange Benevolent Association (L.O.B.A.) for attending a wedding at the Brompton Oratory.[1]
Personal life
[edit]In 1941, she married cricketer Neville Montagu Ford, son of the Very Rev. Lionel George Bridges Justice Ford and grandson of 4th Lord Lyttelton. They had two daughters: Sarah, who married Sir Michael Grylls and whose son is explorer Bear Grylls, and Mary Rose, who is married and has two daughters.[1]
Patricia Ford was divorced from her first husband and married Sir Nigel Fisher, MP, in 1956, becoming stepmother to Mark Fisher, later a Labour Party MP.[1] She acquired the title of Lady Fisher when her husband was knighted in 1974.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f O'Riordan, Turlough (2009). "Fisher, Patricia". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ "Equal Pay petition". UK Parliament.
- ^ ukvote100 (9 November 2017). "Women Demand Equal Pay!". UK Vote 100: Looking forward to the centenary of Equal Franchise in 2028 in the UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
External links
[edit]- Hope for Youth Northern Ireland (official website). Accessed 23 November 2022.
- Image, npg.org.uk. Accessed 23 November 2022.
- Patricia Ford MP - first woman to sit for a Northern Ireland constituency, ukvote100.org. 15 September 2016.
- 1921 births
- 1995 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Down constituencies (since 1922)
- Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies
- Ulster Unionist Party MPs
- People from Donaghadee
- People educated at Glendower Preparatory School
- Politicians from County Down
- UK MPs 1951–1955
- 20th-century women politicians from Northern Ireland
- Wives of knights
- Spouses of British politicians
- People educated at Glenlola Collegiate School