Beatrice Frederika Wright, Lady Wright, MBE, formerly Rathbone, née Clough, (17 June 1910 – 17 March 2003), was an American-born British politician.

Early life

Wright was born in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, in the United States on 17 June 1910; her father was an international banker. She came to England as an exchange student at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, where she met, and in 1932 married,

John Rathbone John Rankin Rathbone (5 February 1910 – 10 December 1940) was a British Conservative Party politician. Early life He was born in 1910 to William Rathbone, a marine architect, and Agnes Dorothea Rankin. Education For his education, Rat ...

, with whom she had two children, including Tim, later MP for Lewes. Her husband was elected in 1935 as

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out, John, a trained pilot joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

as a fighter pilot, he was killed shortly after the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

, aged 30. In March 1941, she was elected unopposed as his successor and sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

for the rest of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She stepped down at the 1945 general election, after becoming the first sitting MP to give birth to a child.

Later life

In 1942, she married Paul Wright, who had a distinguished career as a diplomat and was knighted in 1975. They both converted to the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. They had one child, Faith Beatrice Wright, who married firstly Julian Shuckburgh (son of Evelyn Shuckburgh), and secondly Colin Clark, younger brother of the politician and diarist

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tr ...

. She served as Vice President of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf from 1978 to 2003. In 1996, she was appointed an MBE. In 1982, she co-founded the charity

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Hearing Dogs for Deaf People is a UK charity which trains dogs to alert deaf people to a variety of sounds. The Charity's dogs provide emotional support through companionship, and practical support by alerting deaf people to life-saving sou ...

, along with vet Dr. Bruce Fogle (father of Ben Fogle), serving as the charity's president until 1988. The charity's northern training centre, in Bielby,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, is named the Beatrice Wright Training Centre after her, and her daughter Faith Clark served as trustee and chairman of the charity between 2002 and 2022. An American-born woman would not be elected to Parliament again until 2019, when another Conservative,

Joy Morrissey Joyce Rebekah "Joy" Morrissey (née Inboden; born 30 January 1981) is an American-born British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield since 2019. She was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasur ...

, was elected in that year's general election for

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

References

External links

Beatrice Wright (Beatrice Rathbone)
at the Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics
Obituary, Sir Paul Wright
''Daily Telegraph'', 13 June 2005

''The Times'', 30 June 2005
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People
* 1910 births 2003 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Bodmin Members of the Order of the British Empire Converts to Roman Catholicism English Roman Catholics UK MPs 1935–1945 Rathbone family Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies 20th-century British women politicians Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford American emigrants to the United Kingdom Catholics from Connecticut English women philanthropists Founders of charities Philanthropists from Connecticut Politicians from New Haven, Connecticut 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women philanthropists 20th-century British women philanthropists {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1910s-stub