Nelia Penman (''née'' Muspratt; 6 November 1915 – 16 August 2017) was a British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

politician and barrister.

Background

She was born Nelia Muspratt, a daughter of Clifford Muspratt and Bertha Noble. in Hampstead, London. She was part of an established Liverpool Liberal family; she was the niece of the MP

Max Muspratt Sir Max Muspratt, 1st Baronet (3 February 1872 – 20 April 1934) was a British chemist and a politician in the city of Liverpool, England. Early life and education He was born at Seaforth Hall, Seaforth, Lancashire, the son of Edmund Knowles M ...

and the

suffragists Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

Nessie Stewart-Brown Nessie Stewart-Brown JP (née Muspratt; 5 September 1864 – 7 April 1958) was a British Women's suffrage, suffragist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician. Her name and picture is on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in P ...

and Julia Solly and granddaughter of the industrialist

Edmund Knowles Muspratt Edmund Knowles Muspratt (6 November 1833 – 1 September 1923) was an English chemical industrialist. Early life and background Edmund Knowles Muspratt was born in Seaforth, near Liverpool, England, the fourth and youngest son of James Muspra ...

. She was educated privately. On 29 May 1947 she married Derek Penman. They had three daughters,The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1959. Fiona, Alison and Wendy. The marriage was dissolved in 1974.

Career

She trained as a fencing instructor. She joined the Ministry of Information during the war and also served as a station officer with the London Ambulance Service. In 1945 she became a barrister, being

Called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

Political career

While in her early twenties her activity in the Liberal party took the form of membership of the 8.30 Club, a young Liberal group that monthly debated international issues from its founding in 1936 to 1939. In 1936 she advocated the creation of an International Police Force under the control of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. In 1937 she advocated the suppression of Fascist and Communist propaganda. In 1938 she was selected as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for

Liverpool Wavertree Liverpool Wavertree is a borough constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1997 and every election since has been won by a Labour Party candidate. It has been represented by Paula Barker since 2019. An earlier co ...

for a general election expected to take place in 1939/40. It was not a promising seat, although the Liberals had won the seat in 1923, they had come fourth at a by-election in 1935. During the war, she continued as PPC for Wavertree and spoke at the 1941

Liberal Assembly The Liberal Party Assembly was the annual party conference of the British Liberal Party before its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats; the name is still used by the continuity Liberal Party created as ...

in favour of the creation of a Ministry of Civil Defence. She did not contest Wavertree and instead was Liberal candidate for the

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

Division of Kent at the 1945 general election. Sevenoaks was a safe Conservative seat that the Liberals had not won since 1923. They were second in 1935 when no Labour candidate stood. Labour had no candidate in place in 1939/40. A two-party contest between Conservative and Liberal would have been an attractive prospect for any Liberal in 1945. However Labour intervened and pushed the Liberals into third place; Four general elections later she stood again at Sevenoaks, but did no better; She stood again at the following election and slightly increased her vote share; She was Chairman of the Liberal Party's Social Security Panel, before resigning in 1977 to become President of the

Women's Liberal Federation The Women's Liberal Federation was an organisation that was part of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom. History The Women's Liberal Federation (WLF) was formed on the initiative of Sophia Fry, who in 1886 called a meeting at her house of f ...

. Penman died in August 2017 at the age of 101.Nelia Penman, eminent Liberal - obituary
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penman, Nelia 1915 births 2017 deaths People from Hampstead British people of Irish descent British women centenarians Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Muspratt family