Florence Ruth Dalton, Baroness Dalton (née Hamilton Fox; 9 March 1890 – 15 March 1966 at Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages) was a British Labour Party politician. A long serving member of the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

, she holds the record for being one of the two shortest-serving female Members of Parliament (MP).Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics: Records
/ref>

Career

A graduate of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, she married

Hugh Dalton Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton, (16 August 1887 – 13 February 1962) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party economist and politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947. He shaped Labour Party foreig ...

, later a Labour Party Member of Parliament, in 1914; they had one child, a daughter. The family lived at West Leaze, Aldbourne, Wiltshire and at Carlisle Mansions, Carlisle Place, London. In 1925 she was elected a member of the

.Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics: Women MPs Elected 1918-1929
/ref> Her husband was MP for

Peckham Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, later a solidly Labour seat, but then highly marginal; his majority in 1924 was only 947 votes. He had been selected as Labour candidate for the

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, where the sitting MP Ben Spoor was retiring, but Spoor died shortly before Christmas 1928, necessitating a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. However, Hugh Dalton could not stand without resigning his Peckham seat, and the candidate selected to succeed him in Peckham was John Beckett, then MP for

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, so Hugh Dalton could not stand without triggering another two by-elections. The Bishop Auckland

Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

therefore needed a candidate who would agree to stand down at the next general election. The seventy-strong general committee unanimously chose Ruth Dalton, because she could be relied on to make way for her husband as soon as Parliament was dissolved; no other candidate was even considered. Ruth Dalton duly won the by-election on 7 February with a large majority, receiving 57% of the votes cast, and served until

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

was dissolved on 10 May for the 1929 general election. She had thus been a Member of Parliament for only 92 days, a record for a female MP. It was equalled 45 years later by

Margo MacDonald Margo Symington MacDonald (''née'' Aitken; 19 April 1943 – 4 April 2014) was a Scottish politician, teacher and broadcaster. She was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Govan from 1973 to 1974 and was D ...

, the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

MP for Glasgow Govan from 8 November 1973 to 8 February 1974. Dalton did not enjoy 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 ...

, and as agreed did not stand for Parliament again. She felt that more work was accomplished on London County Council, where she held her seat as an elected member until 1931, then returning from 1935 to 1942 as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

, including a period as Chairman of the Parks Committee. She later served on the Board of Governors of the Royal Ballet and from 1957 to 1962 was on the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

. Her husband was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in 1960, and she was then known as Lady Dalton.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Ruth 1890 births 1966 deaths 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English politicians 20th-century English women politicians Alumni of the London School of Economics British baronesses Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of London County Council Spouses of life peers UK MPs 1924–1929 Women councillors in England

Career

See also

References

External links