Dame Lucile Newell Sayers (''née'' Schiff; 27 February 1887 – 4 November 1959) was an American-British political activist. Sayers was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, the daughter of Charles Schiff, a banker from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, Austria, and Mary Ballard Burch of

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. The family moved to London when she was a young child. In 1910, she married Maj. Lorne Sayers. From 1946 to 1949, Sayers was chairwoman of the Conservative Women's Advisory Committee. She was chairwoman of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations in 1951–52 and president of organisation in 1955–56. From 1955 to 1957, she was the United Kingdom delegate to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' Status of Women Commission and in 1955 was the UK delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. She was appointed Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

1952 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1952 were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire and Commonwealth. They were announced on 1 January 1952 for the British Empire, Austr ...

and advanced to Dame Commander of the Order (DBE) in the

1956 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1956 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 2 January 1956 to celebra ...

for political and public services. She collapsed and died in London on 4 November 1959, aged 73, from undisclosed causes.

References

External links

UK National Portrait Gallery website''London Gazette'' issue 39421, published on the 28 December 1951, p. 12''The Women's Library''
1887 births 1959 deaths British activists British women activists Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Activists from Cincinnati American emigrants to the United Kingdom British women diplomats {{UK-activist-stub